Title: I Know Who You Are
Author: Alice Feeney
Publisher: HQ
[Synopsis]
l Know Who You Are is the brilliant tale of two stories. One is about Aimee Sinclair—well-known actress on the verge of being full-on famous. If you saw her, you’d think you knew her. One day towards the near-end of her shoot on her latest film, Aimee comes home from filming to find her husband’s cell phone and wallet on the dining room table. He never goes anywhere without them. But he’s nowhere to be found. She’s not too concerned—they had a huge fight the night before. They both said things they didn’t mean. He might have done things he didn’t mean, things she can’t forget. Even though she has a history of supposedly forgetting. After all, she’s a very good actress.
The next morning she goes for her morning run and then goes to her favorite coffee shop. But her card is denied. When she calls the bank they say her account has been emptied of $10,000. She immediately suspects her husband. But they say no, it was Aimee herself who closed out the account. And thus begins a bizarre rabbit hole into which Aimee finds herself falling where nothing is at it seems.
Alternating with Aimee’s story is that of a little girl who wandered away from home. We always tell our kids not to talk to strangers or bad things will happen. Well, bad things happen.
In I Know Who You Are, Alice Feeney proves that she is a master at brilliantly complicated plots and twists after twists
[My Review]
I Know Who You Are is gripping, crazy and completely absorbing. That ‘surprise’ too…!
The characters in this novel are so interesting – you’re never sure who to trust, but you know Aimee’s past is going to come back to haunt her. Aimee is a fascinating person and I struggled throughout the novel to work out how much blame could be placed on her, and how much on those around her. There’s always that seed of doubt, where you wonder if you’re being taken in by someone who isn’t quite telling the truth – and the doubt here is what makes it such an engaging, disarming novel. It keeps you feeling just that little bit unsure, and I loved it!
That, coupled with the plot – crazy, with PLENTY of WTF moments (that ending!), makes for addictive reading. The ending is absolutely bound to divide people, and I get why. In fact the whole last quarter of the book gets weird quickly, but I couldn’t put it down – and who wants to please everyone, anyway?!
Switching between the two narratives – covering Aimee as a child, and the present day as an adult – slowly unravels more and more about Aimee’s awful childhood and the person she’s become, whilst leaving some hints for the reader to try and unpick (though nothing that ruins the brilliant twists that are coming).
As mentioned, this gets really fucked up in places so it’s not for those after a light-hearted read. It might not all be utterly believable but it sure did keep me reading, and I hugely admire Alice Feeney’s writing style and tight plotting.
I really wanted to work out what the hell was going on, and I have to say I got nowhere close to guessing correctly, but really enjoyed trying!
[Rating: 4/5]
Many thanks to HQ for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.