“Someone We Know” is a mystery novel released this past summer by the Canadian author Shari Lapena. Along with this novel, she also is the internationally bestselling author of “The Couple Next Door,” “A Stranger in the House” and “An Unwanted Guest.” Lapena has also won numerous awards including New York Times Bestselling author, Notable Barnes & Noble Pick for 2019, Canadian Bestseller and The Sunday Times Bestselling author.
“Someone We Know” takes place in upstate New York in a suburban neighborhood. A teenager has been sneaking into his neighbors’ houses, looking through their computers and learning secrets. After two anonymous letters are received, neighbors begin to talk and suspicions of who this teenager is begin to crop up. The tensions reach their breaking point when a woman from the same street is murdered. All the neighbors are on edge, and questioning everything. Everyone has secrets, and you never know what people are capable of to keep those secrets safe.
This book was an excellent example of a common theme/thought people often forget and overlook about humans\; this is the theme that you can never really trust anyone in the world. This is prevalent throughout the entire book, as the neighbors continue to talk to each other, they realize how little they know about their supposed best friends and family members. Not so spoiler alert: these neighbors have LOTS of secrets that will shock you from beginning to end. It’s crazy to think that your good friends could even be keeping secrets, but if you think about it, everyone has something they hide from the rest of society.
“Someone We Know” is a great read, but is best understood when you’re only focusing on reading the book. Every chapter the perspective changes between various mothers, fathers, and teenagers that live in the neighborhood. The chapters also sometimes repeat a certain time frame, but change the perspectives. So, if you’re planning on doing homework or going on your phone every few minutes while reading, it’s possible to still know what’s going on, but not fully get into the book. The most interesting perspective was the beginning of the book, when it started from the murderer’s perspective. Lapena did an excellent job describing the gruesome murder without giving away who was doing the killing. There are also a lot of characters to mentally keep track of, I personally found myself a few times forgetting who was married to whom.
Overall though, this book was very enjoyable to read. It kept you questioning who was the murderer all the way to the very last chapter. It wasn’t until the Epilogue was everything finally resolved. Along with the mystery aspect, there are also many scandals throughout the story that adds to the drama. There truly is never a dull moment in the book with break-ins, murders and affairs. If you’re one who’s into reading mysteries that have less action, but more plot and drama, this is definitely the book for you. It’s a great book really for any reader who loves a good, realistic mystery, because honestly this story could easily happen in today’s society. The only person I’d not suggest this book to is people who either hate reading or hate mysteries. I’d highly suggest this book and author for anyone who loves a good, complex mystery.
Spartan Heads: 4/5