What I Know (formerly titled "Good Girl") by Miranda Smith
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 18th March 2021
Published: 24th June 2020
★ 1 star
DESCRIPTION:
This is what Della knows: that the worst monsters hide behind a confident smile. That most people don’t want to accept that. That no matter what you say, they won’t believe you…
Della was just eleven years old when her brother first tried to kill her. She has never forgotten the lessons she learned as a child—or forgiven herself for the mistakes she made.
So when Della meets Zoey, and looks into her cold, calculating eyes, she freezes. For a moment, terrifying memories threaten to overwhelm her. She has been watching out for people like her brother all her life, and she’s convinced that Zoey has darkness inside her.
When someone is attacked in their small town, and Della is sent a detailed description of the crime, she knows that Zoey is taunting her. She knows she has to stop her.
But to make people believe her, Della needs proof. Will she risk everything to get it? And without it, can she be sure she’s right?
Prepare to be hooked by this dark, gripping crime thriller, perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter, Gillian Flynn and Rachel Caine.
MY REVIEW:
Family can be evil. People can be evil. And evil can make its presence felt.
The story opens with the words "My brother was thirteen the first time he tried to kill me". Okay. So that gives sibling rivalry a whole new meaning in that case. But Della's brother Brian was not normal. Not in the sense that we know it. Brian was a psychopath - that much was clear. Even at 13 years of age. And if he wasn't a psychopath he was just plain cruel. I hated him on sight. And that wasn't the first time he tried to kill her either. The whole watermelon wrestle I could see that coming...besides the fact the juvenile game was dangerous and went against pool safety anyway. And what was it about Della's mum? Brian could do no wrong in her eyes. Was the woman blind, or what? Everything, and I mean everything, was always Della's fault. She needed a good slap and I felt like delivering it more than once.
Then the story moves into the present day. Della is now a teacher of American Literature (why can't they just call it English like everyone else?) and happily married to her brother's former best friend Danny Mayfair, a doctor now in general practice. The couple live, not an extravagant life, but a comfortable one with no children so they could enjoy late nights and have the means to travel to various parts of the world on holiday. Della was adamant that she didn't want children...not after her childhood growing up with Brian. Brian who was no in prison for murder. And she put him there. Della and Danny escaped Florida to start their lives somewhere new...somewhere where they were unknown and people wouldn't be pointing the finger at Della and knowing what her brother did.
As a teacher at Victory Falls, Della has kept her past a secret and only Danny and her therapist know pain and shame she bears. She spends every day trying to block out any memory of her past...and she's succeeded fairly well. Until a new student arrives late in the school year, just a few weeks until summer. Something about Zoey Peterson reminds her of Brian. Her eyes have that same dead stare he gave her most of her childhood. They are cold and calculating. They are empty of emotion. Like black pools of nothingness. Zoey gets under Della's skin from the moment she arrives, causing controversy over the literature they are reading which Zoey claims to have read "just for fun".
And when, with that dead stare of hers, Zoey mentions she is from Florida Della freezes and feels her heartrate quicken. But upon checking with admin she learns that there is no mention of Zoey having come from Florida. So why did she say that she was? She can't know about her past...can she? Something about this girl doesn't ring true. Something about her is dangerous and Della feels she must do something before it's too late.
But Della's fears go unnoticed by others. The other teachers think Zoey is charming and don't take Della's suspicions that she may be dangerous seriously. But instinctively Della knows there is something evil about Zoey. Just like before, when no one believed her about her brother - the town's darling - no one sees the evil in Zoey. But psychopaths can be charming. They can be likeable. They can be the person next door. But that's what makes them so dangerous...their ability to blend in and appear normal. A chameleon.
But Della knows that if she doesn't do something soon before it's too late that history will repeat itself.
One word for this book - besides boring - is evil. Evil made its presence felt. And I felt it from the first pages, despite it not being enough to hold my interest. I've no idea why I requested this book and upon re-reading the premise I'm still none the wiser. But I dived in with an open mind ready to devour whatever it threw at me. However, I only got 15% in when I couldn't stomach any more and flipped to the final three chapters to find out how it all ended. It was really no surprise and if there was a big reveal, then I missed it.
The premise did promise a dark, disturbing creepy thriller and I guess it was that but...everyone just irritated me too damn much! From Della to her mum to Brian to Zoey to basically everyone. They were all pretty much unlikeable. And I felt like I knew the ending before I had barely begun. Brian and Zoey was just too evil for words and I honestly couldn't stomach them...or really anyone else for that matter.
Maybe it's just me, having come from a brilliant read I devoured in a day to something as confusing and as disturbing as this...I don't know. I usually enjoy deliciously dark and disturbing. I love creepy and twisted. But this just didn't do it for me. It could be that I prefer British thrillers and American personalities are a whole lot different. Or that I am just not a fan of teenage angst and anger and behaviour. I generally don't read books where the focus is on a school and teenagers.
Whatever it is, WHAT I KNOW just didn't do it for me. I couldn't finish it and at the same time I feel like I didn't miss much either. I really hope her next one is better as I am on the publicity tour for it.
I would like to thank #MirandaSmith, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #WhatIKnow in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Miranda has been a staff writer at a local newspaper and a secondary English teacher. When it comes to fiction, Miranda writes about complicated women, dark impulses and Southern settings.
She lives in East Tennessee with her husband and three children.
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