No One Can Know

August 1, 2023

After their parents are murdered, sisters Emma, Juliette, and Daphne Palmer leave home, and 14 years elapse before a pregnant Emma returns to the house she and her estranged sisters still own. There are secrets to uncover, including her own--that night, she heard the whispered comment, "No one can know"--and the sisters are drawn together again. Following the multi-starred What Lies in the Woods; with a 75,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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October 23, 2023
Marshall’s propulsive mystery-cum-psychological drama (after What Lies in the Woods) plunges readers into the precarious world of expectant mother Emma Palmer, whose husband, Nathan, has just lost his job. Faced with eviction, the couple returns (at Nathan’s insistence) to Emma’s childhood home of Arden Hills, which she has not visited since the murder of her parents 14 years earlier. No one was ever arrested for the crime, but many locals—including a police detective—believe Emma was responsible. Following the deaths, Emma and her younger sisters, Juliette and Daphne, were separated, with the two younger girls going into foster care. Emma’s return stirs up old animosities, frightening memories, and a killer’s instincts. When another murder occurs shortly after Emma arrives, the sisters reunite to finally address what really happened to their parents, sharing long-buried secrets in the process. Marshall shrewdly interlaces past and present timelines, alternating perspectives between the three sisters to shed new light on old information. Even genre veterans will have trouble sussing out the culprit. Skillful misdirection and urgent plotting make this a winner. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Folio Literary.

Starred review from November 15, 2023
A newly pregnant woman finds herself confronting a grisly incident from her past in this propulsive and intricate psychological thriller. Emma has just discovered she's pregnant when she's also faced with an astonishing financial deception on the part of her husband, Nathan. Since they're about to lose their rental apartment, she agrees that they can temporarily move back into the spacious family home she owns jointly with her sisters. Trouble is, that house was the site of her parents' deaths 14 years ago--when Emma was just 16--and, as it turns out, Emma has her own secrets that she's been keeping from Nathan and others. Once they return to Emma's New England hometown to an often unfriendly reception, Emma slowly begins to reestablish previous relationships, including those with her estranged sisters, Daphne and Juliette. But, as Marshall's meticulously plotted novel reveals quite quickly, Juliette and Daphne have just as many secrets. The time-shifting account, even given its multiple narrators, flows at a furious pace, exposing the bare bones of a familial horror show in the form of some seriously bad parenting. But is that the only nefarious element driving the characters' lives? Marshall's deft writing teases out revelations aplenty, perpetually ratcheting up the tension--and an element of violence--while keeping the story skimming along. Family connections prove both their damage and their worth in this community-focused thriller.

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December 22, 2023
No One Can Know opens with the murder of a wealthy couple. Their three teenage daughters are all prime suspects. Juliette, Emma, and Daphne each have cause to want their parents dead; however, their silence ultimately protects them from prison, though not from small-town gossip. Years later, the girls have grown up, but the memory of and secrets behind their parents' murder haunts the three and has left them estranged. After falling on hard times, Emma is forced to return to the house where the murders occurred and must confront the mystery of the house and its secrets, all while locals still suspect her and her sisters of the murders. The dual time line and shifting points of view keep the reader hooked, revealing a complex web of family dynamics and characters. Marshall (What Lies in the Woods, 2023) has penned an extremely twisty suspense novel, especially in the final portion, where a cascade of revelations could leave the reader dizzy. Despite this, the story is a well-paced and solid psychological thriller.

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