You Don't Know Me by Sara Foster is a great Australian mystery thriller. Alice and Noah each have a troubled past but when they meet in Thailand, they seem to have an instant connection and a whirlwind romance ensues. Alice is escaping her dark past back home in Australia by teaching English in Bangkok. Noah is on a short holiday enjoying a brief respite from the family restaurant and the upcoming inquest into the disappearance of his older brother's girlfriend Lizzie years earlier.

With two mysteries to be solved, I was keen to learn Noah's and Alice's backstories in equal measure. Thankfully only a little time is spent on the budding romance between the two characters before events in their lives drag them back to the harsh reality and the pressures they've been avoiding.

As the inquest begins, the reader is left to speculate on what happened to Lizzie. Long held secrets are slowly revealed by all characters and the tension steadily builds towards a dramatic ending with an unexpected conclusion.

I enjoyed the dual settings in Thailand and the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney in addition to the relatability of the characters. Lizzie's fate came as a complete surprise and I certainly didn't see it coming. Highly recommended.

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster * ( )

While on vacation in Thailand, Noah Carruso meets Alice Pryce. A mutual attraction leads to a passionate affair. Unfortunately, Noah must return home to Australia because he will have to testify at an inquest into the disappearance of Lizzie Burdett 12 years earlier. Lizzie was the girlfriend of Noah’s older brother Tom who has long been suspected of knowing something about Lizzie’s fate because of an argument the night of her disappearance, an argument that Noah witnessed. Noah eventually tells Alice about Lizzie, and Alice reveals a secret about her family, but neither tells the entire truth for fear of destroying their relationship.

The book is marketed as a thriller, but it is much more of a romance. Though there is a mystery and there are certainly elements of a family drama, it is the romance that takes precedence. I am not a romance fan so I found myself, especially at the beginning, losing interest. Love-at-first-sight relationships are especially irksome to me.

Chapters alternate between Alice and Noah, but they do not emerge as fully developed characters because they think so much about each other. It is difficult to connect with characters who are so infatuated. Both are consumed by guilt and shame (and Noah also by anger) so they are not the most engaging of people.

The pace at the beginning is almost glacial. Only once the inquest begins does the pace pick up. Then there’s a scene where everything seems to happen at once, including an overly dramatic confession. That confession is not convincing. The identity of the guilty was not a surprise to this reader so it is unbelievable that so many people were misled for so long. Narcissism is a motivation for murder? An 18-year-old would behave as Lizzie did that night?

Parts of the novel are repetitive. Tom bullied Noah when they were boys and every encounter between the two of them in the present just shows more of Tom’s aggressiveness (so any efforts to suggest a possible reconciliation are unconvincing). The meetings between Alice and Noah always involve much more sex than real communication (so the true depth of their relationship is questionable).

This is not a bad book; it is just not the intense thriller I expected. There is little that is particularly memorable, so I’d recommend it for a light summer holiday/beach read.

Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher.

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ( )

Alice Pryce reminds Noah Carruso of his brother's girlfriend Lizzie Burdett who vanished one night twelve years before. Alice is in Thailand teaching English and Noah is having a holiday before attending an inquest back in Australia called to finally resolve what happened to Lizzie.
They fall in love as if their lives depend on it. Both have secrets about what has happened to them in Australia, and Alice is planning never to return.

Noah puts off his return to Australia as long as he can, but eventually he must return to Australia for the inquest and to face his brother Tom. After Noah has left for home Alice gets a visit from the Australian High Commission which means she has to return too.

I kept wondering if this is really crime fiction, but in reality at least one crime needs to be resolved. But on another level it is a romance, but also an attempt to by the main characters to come to terms with shame and guilt. ( )

“The search parties move through the forest shortly after dawn, flashes of neon jackets among the trees, the slumbering air stirring towards an early morning chill. They call her name again and again, then wait, hoping for something in return.”

For just a moment, when Noah glimpses a woman with long red hair on a ferry while holidaying In Thailand escaping the pressures of work and family, he thinks it could be his brother’s missing girlfriend, Lizzie, more than a decade later and thousands of kilometres from where she was last seen. Of course it’s not, but he is drawn to the beautiful redheaded stranger, and when he sees her next, he learns her name.
Alice is almost half way through her six month contract teaching English in Thailand, having fled Australia in search of anonymity. She’s not looking for anything that might complicate her attempt at building a new life for herself, but she finds Noah irresistible.
Though Noah has to return to Sydney in a few days, and Alice can’t leave Thailand, they embark on a passionate affair, and vow to find a way to make their relationship work, but the truth is, sometimes love just isn’t enough.

Unfolding from the perspectives of Noah, and Alice, You Don’t Know Me is an absorbing story of family drama, mystery, and romance from Sara Foster.

Foster deftly explores the complicated dynamics that has both shaped and ultimately twisted the members of the Carruso family. Meeting Alice causes Noah to question the path he has taken in life stirring up lots of family drama that is exacerbated by the return of Noah’s older brother, Tom, after an eleven year absence. With no love lost between the two brothers stemming from childhood rivalry and the uncertainty surrounding Lizzie’s disappearance, the tension ratchets, and then explodes, just as a coronial inquiry to determine Lizzie’s fate forces Noah to confront the guilt, shame, and anger he has been repressing for years.

I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding Lizzie’s disappearance, the details of which are communicated through the transcript of a podcast. Foster presents several suspects, and creates some stunning twists as the coronial inquiry plays out. I was left guessing about what happened to Lizzie, and who was responsible, until very nearly the end.

While Noah struggles with his conscience, Alice unexpectedly returns to Australia when her father is badly injured and must face her own demons. The combined drama and its emotional toll leaves its mark on Noah and Alice’s fledgling relationship, which Foster explores thoughtfully as they try to support one another through all the turmoil, and desperately attempt to hold on to the joy they find in each other.

I found You Don’t Know Me to be gripping story. ( )

FROM AMAZON: A stunning new thriller about the burden of shame from blockbuster author Sara Foster.

Lizzie Burdett was 18 when she vanished, and Noah Carruso has never forgotten her. She was his first crush, his unrequited love. She was also his brother's girlfriend.

Tom Carruso hasn't been home in over a decade. He left soon after Lizzie disappeared under a darkening cloud of suspicion, and now he's back for the inquest into Lizzie's disappearance - intent on telling his side of the story.

As the inquest looms, Noah meets Alice Pryce on holiday. They fall for each other fast and hard, but Noah can't bear to tell Alice his deepest fears. And Alice is equally stricken...she carries a terrible secret of her own.

Is the truth worth telling if it will destroy everything?

He’s hiding a dark secret … But so is she. ( )