Thought I Knew You / Kate Moretti

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Mystery/Chick Lit/Romance

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Kate Moretti lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She's worked in the pharmaceutical industry for ten years as a scientist, and has been an avid fiction reader her entire life.

She enjoys traveling and cooking, although with two kids, a day job, and writing, she doesn't get to do those things as much as she'd like.

Her lifelong dream is to buy an old house with a secret passageway.”

For more, visit Moretti’s blog.

Description:

“Claire Barnes is shattered when her husband, Greg, goes on a business trip and never returns. Unwilling to just wait for the police to find him, Claire conducts her own investigation. Her best friend Drew helps her look for answers, but all she finds are troubling questions. With every clue, she discovers that Greg may not be the man she thought she married. While battling her growing feelings for Drew and raising her two young children, Claire must learn to live with the knowledge that the truth behind Greg’s disappearance may never be revealed.”

Appraisal:

It’s a good thing I don’t have to shelve Thought I Knew You at the local bookstore. I’m not sure where I’d put it. It could fit in romance, although the typical man who doesn’t read romance, but enjoys books with a female protagonist, would never stumble on it, despite its being a book he might like. Chick-Lit presents the same problem. The female lead is working through issues, not unlike what you might find in that genre; however, chick-lit is typically lighter and more humorous than you’ll find here. We’ve also got a mystery at the heart of the story, but that isn’t a good fit either. There is both much more to the story than that, and not as much mystery as a typical reader of that genre would expect.

Luckily, I don’t have to shelve this and you won’t need to know where to look to find it. From my ramblings above and the description, you should have a reasonable idea of the kind of story you’ll find. Anyone who reviews a lot of anything, whether music, video games, or books, loves to find something that is different enough to push the normal boundaries, while still being high quality and not going so far as to exceed the typical comfort zone. This is one of those books. Claire and Drew, the main characters (in addition to the missing Greg) are people I cared about, always important to grab and hold my interest. I assumed the main story conflict would come to a resolution, but I was constantly flip-flopping among the various ways that might happen and, when I finally got there, was still surprised. This is an engaging debut novel, that deserves to do well.

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review based on an advanced reader copy.

Rating: ***** Five stars