Genre: Mystery/Chick
Lit/Romance
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.”
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.
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.
Added for
Reprise Review: Thought I
Knew You by Kate Moretti was the Winner in the Chick Lit category for
B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran October 9, 2012
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review based on an advanced reader copy.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 85-90,000 words
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