No One Knows

No One Knows by J.T. Ellison
Published by Gallery Books on March 22nd 2016
Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Psychological
Pages: 368
Format: eBook, Audiobook
Source: NetGalley & Gallery Books

In an obsessive mystery as thrilling as The Girl on the Train and The Husband’s Secret, New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison will make you question every twist in her page-turning novel—and wonder which of her vividly drawn characters you should trust.
The day Aubrey Hamilton’s husband is declared dead by the state of Tennessee should bring closure so she can move on with her life. But Aubrey doesn’t want to move on; she wants Josh back. It’s been five years since he disappeared, since their blissfully happy marriage—they were happy, weren’t they?—screeched to a halt and Aubrey became the prime suspect in his disappearance. Five years of emptiness, solitude, loneliness, questions. Why didn’t Josh show up at his friend’s bachelor party? Was he murdered? Did he run away? And now, all this time later, who is the mysterious yet strangely familiar figure suddenly haunting her new life?
In No One Knows, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Nicholas Drummond series expertly peels back the layers of a complex woman who is hiding dark secrets beneath her unassuming exterior. This masterful thriller for fans of Gillian Flynn, Liane Moriarty, and Paula Hawkins will pull readers into a you’ll-never-guess merry-go-round of danger and deception. Round and round and round it goes, where it stops…no one knows.

**Special thanks to NetGalley & Gallery Books for supplying my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

No one knows is my first read for J.T Ellison and for sure it won’t be the last. I’ve been keeping an eye on her books as they were very intriguing for me.

No One Knows is the kind of psychological thriller that drags you in like the ocean. Aubrey has been a widow for five years. She actually spent those five years not knowing where her husband Josh had disappeared. It has been five years since Josh didn’t show up at his best friend’s bachelor party that he was heading to with Aubrey. No one had ever known anything about Josh since then. Now, the state had finally declared him dead. And to make things worse (or better who knows), Aubrey is to receive the insurance money.

What starts with a mourning sad Aubrey mourning the loss of her sweetheart Josh, actually turns into an entangled web of mysteries, disturbed people and secrets. And just like the ocean, the reader is dragged in the middle of all these waves. I couldn’t tell whom to trust, and with Aubrey as the narrator, I couldn’t even tell whether everything she was telling was true. What a beautiful mess. For mystery lovers like me, nothing could have been more mesmerizing.

The book has a wide cast of characters. All of them are one way or the other linked, and all have hidden motives. No one can be excused. The more I read, the more the mystery unraveled. But as it unraveled, more mysteries came to the surface.

The narration kept switching back and forth between past and present. Like a skillful painter, J.T Ellison kept adding details to the plot. I actually enjoy this style of narration a lot. Knowing a bit from the past then back to the present. And as the two timelines get closer, my heart beats get faster expecting the big bang.

Then came the ending, the mind blowing ending that left me out of breath.

A very smart plot indeed. This kind of plot doesn’t come from an average writer. It takes a smart witty writer to write such a plot. I also enjoyed listening to the audiobook. The narration was so wonderful.

Now to be honest, this is a book I had to read and I have enjoyed reading. And as this was my first read for J.T Ellison, I think I will go back and read most of her books if not all. What a witty skillful writer she is.