I’m very fond of a psychological thriller so when Lucy at Legend Press asked me if I’d like to be part of the launch celebrations for You Don’t Know Me by Sara Foster I readily agreed. I’m delighted to share my review today.

Published by Legend Press on 30th June 2020, You Don’t Know Me is available for pre-order here.

You Don’t Know Me

Lizzie Burdett was eighteen when she vanished. 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. Now he’s coming home for the inquest into Lizzie’s death, intent on telling his side of the story for the first time.

As the inquest looms, Noah meets Alice Pryce while on holiday in Thailand. They fall in love fast and hard, but Noah can t bear to tell Alice his deepest fears. And Alice is equally stricken, for she carries a terrible secret of her own.

He’s guarding a dark secret, but so is she.

My Review of You Don’t Know Me

Alice and Noah both have secrets.

There’s a really interesting structure to You Don’t Know Me that makes for an entertaining plot. Although there was a little too much about the relationship between Alice and Noah in the early part if the book for my taste, I thoroughly appreciated the way it reflected their need to escape their pasts, and avoid their futures, through a more hedonistic present. It makes the reader fully aware that there is much more to be revealed about both these young people. The use of podcasts to unfold the narrative is a clever device as it unlocks detail for the reader, as well as for the characters, whilst maintaining the suspense. The more I read, the more drawn in I became and I found You Don’t Know Me entertaining.

I thought the attention to detail in the settings was very vivid and found myself transported back to Thailand through Sara Foster’s meticulous appeal to the senses. Food in particular felt realistic and I liked the way it ‘fed’ Alice and Noah’s early relationship in both a literal and metaphorical way. The way the heat of Bangkok mirrors the heat of passion between Alice and Noah emphasises the depth of their feeling. I found the Thai setting very authentic.

The most appealing aspect of Don’t Know Me for me was the exploration of theme. Lizzie’s disappearance illustrates how someone can shape and influence us long after the event and the concept of shame, secrecy and guilt adds depth to the narrative. Don’t Know Me is an intriguing consideration of how we never really know others fully.

I thought Don’t Know Me was an unusual book. It doesn’t fall readily into a particular genre for me as there is romance, intrigue, crime, mystery and a psychological aspect so that it can be read on many levels. I think it’s all the better for being difficult to pigeonhole!

About Sara Foster

Sara Foster is the bestselling author of five psychological suspense novels. Born and raised in the UK, she worked for a time in the HarperCollins fiction department in London, before turning her hand to freelance editing, and writing in her spare time. Sara now lives in Western Australia with her husband and two young daughters, and is a doctoral candidate at Curtin University.

You can follow Sara on Twitter @sarajfoster or visit her website for further information.

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