🕵️♀️📚 Someone We Know by Shari Lapena — A Twisty Suburban Thriller
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 out of 5)
"A secret is only safe if everyone who knows it is dead."
Shari Lapena does it again with Someone We Know. If you love twisty, domestic psychological thrillers where everyone is hiding something and the gossip is just as deadly as the secrets—this book delivers. It's set in the fictional town of Aylesford (also the setting for Not a Happy Family), and the atmosphere is peak HOA suburbia: nosy neighbors, immaculate hedges, and enough drama to fill ten therapy sessions.
🧨 The Hook: A Hammer, a Homicide, and a Hacker Teen
We open with a chilling scene: a woman is attacked with a hammer. We don’t know who she is. We don’t know who did it. But we know it’s going to get messy.
Shortly after, Robert Pierce reports his wife Amanda missing. And let’s just say—he is not winning any Husband of the Year awards. He’s cold, suspicious, and secretive. But since this is a psychological thriller, that probably makes him innocent… or does it?
🧑💻 Meanwhile, across the street...
Olivia Sharpe discovers her teenage son, Raleigh (yes, Raleigh), has been breaking into neighbors’ homes just for fun—and hacking their computers. She’s horrified, and while her husband Paul suggests sweeping it under the rug, Olivia insists on writing anonymous apology letters to the families affected.
But guess what? One of those homes belongs to Robert Pierce… the guy with the missing wife and a sketchy burner phone.
And the other? Carmine Torres, the neighborhood’s sharpest tongue and most suspicious mind. Olivia’s confession sets off a chain of paranoia and finger-pointing that spreads faster than wildfire at a book club.
🚓 Amanda’s Body Surfaces… and So Do the Secrets
Amanda’s car is found submerged in a lake—windows down, body in the trunk, pregnant, and bludgeoned with a hammer. Cue the detectives: Webb and Moen. As they pull the threads, they discover Amanda had her hands (and heart) in a lot of places they shouldn’t have been—including affairs with multiple married men on the street.
As the cops investigate, everyone becomes a suspect:
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Paul, who may have had an affair with Amanda.
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Keith, his neighbor and friend, who definitely did.
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Larry, another husband caught in Amanda’s tangled web.
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Becky, the neighbor across the street, who might know way too much.
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And even teenagers like Adam, Glenda’s troubled son, who's started drinking heavily.
And then... blood is found in a lakeside cabin owned by Paul and Olivia. Things are not looking good.
😱 The Truth Unravels: It’s Not Who You Think
This book pulls a classic Lapena: you think it’s one person. Then another. Then everyone’s guilty of something, but not quite this.
Turns out, Amanda was murdered by Adam—Glenda’s 16-year-old son—who found out about his dad’s affair and flew into a rage. He killed her with a hammer at the cabin. Then he called his mom. Glenda cleaned it up, moved the body, and went full suburban Dexter. Later, when Carmine started sniffing around too close to the truth, Glenda strangled her.
Both Adam and Glenda are arrested. Adam will serve a few years due to his age. Glenda? She’s not getting off so easy.
😬 Meanwhile, Robert’s Inner Monologue? Unhinged.
Robert is thrilled to be off the hook. He wasn't the killer—but he was thinking about it. He reads the burner phone messages, which confirm Amanda’s affairs with Keith and Larry. He decides to destroy the phone... but it’s gone. He knows where he buried it. He suspects Becky. He thinks she took it.
The last chilling line of his chapter suggests… he might still be planning something.
🧠 Final Thoughts
This book was a RIDE. Tightly plotted, fast-paced, and full of unreliable characters, Someone We Know is perfect if you love:
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Domestic thrillers
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Twist-heavy narratives
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Suburban secrets and betrayals
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Multiple POV storytelling
It also gave off strong Desperate Housewives meets Big Little Lies energy. Highly bingeable, thoroughly satisfying.
📚 You Might Also Like…
If you loved Someone We Know, check out:
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Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena — Same town, similar vibes, but dead parents instead of a missing wife.
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The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena — Her breakout hit. Baby goes missing. Secrets explode.
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The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine — A juicy thriller about wealth, lies, and calculated revenge.
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The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell — Another house, another mystery. Creepy, twisty, and addictive.
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Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda — A murder in a gated community. Everyone’s got a motive.
🛒 Buy the Book
Grab your copy of Someone We Know:
📕 Amazon
📗 Bookshop
📘 Barnes & Noble
Want more reviews like this one? Follow my blog for twisty thrillers, easy reads, and occasional emotional devastation. 💀📖💕
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