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What Alice Knew
Alice has a perfect life – a great job, happy kids, a wonderful husband. Until he goes missing one night; she receives a suspicious phone call; things don’t quite add up.
Alice needs to know what’s going on. But when she uncovers the truth she faces a brutal choice. And how can she be sure it is the truth?
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
Alice needs to know what’s going on. But when she uncovers the truth she faces a brutal choice. And how can she be sure it is the truth?
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
375 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2016
86 people are currently reading
1752 people want to read
About the author
T.A. Cotterell
1 book24 followers T.A.Cotterell read History of Art at Cambridge University. He worked in the City before resigning to become a freelance writer. He is now a writer and editor at the research house Redburn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 222 reviews
May 23, 2017
My reviews can also be seen at: https://deesradreadsandreviews.wordpr...
How far would you go to keep a secret?
The description for "What Alice Knew" is fairly short, and I think that made it all more intriguing for me. So I'm going to try to keep my review fairly short as well. I think that the less you know going in to this novel then the more you'll enjoy it. But that's just my opinion.
Alice Sheahan is perfectly happy with her life. Happy marriage, happy kids and a job that she really enjoys. But then Alice's husband, Ed goes missing one night and when he returns something is different. Ed is normally a very reliable man. His family means everything to him.
Then a few days later there is a suspicious phone call....
It's not that long before you find out what Alice knows. It's not the whole story....not by a long shot.
Now Alice has a secret. She knows something. But what does she know?
Well I'm certainly not going to tell you!
Alice is a complex character, she paints for a living. Everything going on is beginning to interfere with her concentration. Painting isn't just her job, she loves it.....it consumes her. If she can't paint she can't live. But now the secret is consuming her. Then someone from her past shows up causes even more strain on Alice.
What will Alice do about the secret?
This was a well-written, thought-provoking, and unpredictable thriller that had me flipping pages quickly. The ending had me a little baffled but overall I was still satisfied with how everything came together.
Thank you, Black Swan publishing for providing an advanced copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.
How far would you go to keep a secret?
The description for "What Alice Knew" is fairly short, and I think that made it all more intriguing for me. So I'm going to try to keep my review fairly short as well. I think that the less you know going in to this novel then the more you'll enjoy it. But that's just my opinion.
Alice Sheahan is perfectly happy with her life. Happy marriage, happy kids and a job that she really enjoys. But then Alice's husband, Ed goes missing one night and when he returns something is different. Ed is normally a very reliable man. His family means everything to him.
Then a few days later there is a suspicious phone call....
It's not that long before you find out what Alice knows. It's not the whole story....not by a long shot.
Now Alice has a secret. She knows something. But what does she know?
Well I'm certainly not going to tell you!
Alice is a complex character, she paints for a living. Everything going on is beginning to interfere with her concentration. Painting isn't just her job, she loves it.....it consumes her. If she can't paint she can't live. But now the secret is consuming her. Then someone from her past shows up causes even more strain on Alice.
What will Alice do about the secret?
This was a well-written, thought-provoking, and unpredictable thriller that had me flipping pages quickly. The ending had me a little baffled but overall I was still satisfied with how everything came together.
Thank you, Black Swan publishing for providing an advanced copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.
November 30, 2016
Alice has a perfect life – a great job, happy kids, a wonderful husband. Until he goes missing one night; she receives a suspicious phone call; things don’t quite add up.
Alice needs to know what’s going on. But when she uncovers the truth she faces a brutal choice. And how can she be sure it is the truth?
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
This book is quite hard to review without revealing any spoilers. You find out quite early in the story 'What Alice Knew' and then the story progresses with how Alice and her husband, Ed have to deal with their knowledge.
Alice is a very complexed character. She paints portraits for a living and looks into people very deeply, which makes her very confused and perplexed with dealing with this new dilemma in her life. Ed is completely different. He is an Obstetrician. Very laid back and calm but also very egotistical. He feeds off people's praises and he is highly respected in the medical profession. This causes some great tension between them as things develop.
I found this quite an addictive read. The writing is exemplary and he always keeps you on your toes. This is purely psychological, and less of a thriller, although, It's very tense, gripping and a good page-turner. It gets under your skin and creeps away at your mind in anticipation.
A great debut by, T.A. Cotterell and looking forward to reading more by him.
A good 4* - Recommended!
Alice needs to know what’s going on. But when she uncovers the truth she faces a brutal choice. And how can she be sure it is the truth?
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
This book is quite hard to review without revealing any spoilers. You find out quite early in the story 'What Alice Knew' and then the story progresses with how Alice and her husband, Ed have to deal with their knowledge.
Alice is a very complexed character. She paints portraits for a living and looks into people very deeply, which makes her very confused and perplexed with dealing with this new dilemma in her life. Ed is completely different. He is an Obstetrician. Very laid back and calm but also very egotistical. He feeds off people's praises and he is highly respected in the medical profession. This causes some great tension between them as things develop.
I found this quite an addictive read. The writing is exemplary and he always keeps you on your toes. This is purely psychological, and less of a thriller, although, It's very tense, gripping and a good page-turner. It gets under your skin and creeps away at your mind in anticipation.
A great debut by, T.A. Cotterell and looking forward to reading more by him.
A good 4* - Recommended!
April 18, 2019
A quite enjoyable page turning thriller that has a simple premise that soon draws you into wanting to know the conclusion.
It was easy to read and I soon found myself hooked!
The story concerns Alice who has the perfect life with husband Ed, that is until one evening when Ed appears to have gone missing.
This sets a spiral of events that leads to Alice discovering a secret that she must protect at all costs.
I’ve had this book on my pile for a while, it just seemed to have slipped further down the order.
I think that’s the best way to sum this book up as it’s the type of crime thriller that I enjoy and had a lot of fun reading it, though come the end of the year I know I would have forgotten about it.
That’s why Goodreads is so great, these reviews are nice little reminders...
I kept wondering how far Alice would go to keep the secret, it’s certainly an addictive read!
Ideally the less you know beforehand the better the reading experience, I do think it’s a solidly good untaxing story.
It was easy to read and I soon found myself hooked!
The story concerns Alice who has the perfect life with husband Ed, that is until one evening when Ed appears to have gone missing.
This sets a spiral of events that leads to Alice discovering a secret that she must protect at all costs.
I’ve had this book on my pile for a while, it just seemed to have slipped further down the order.
I think that’s the best way to sum this book up as it’s the type of crime thriller that I enjoy and had a lot of fun reading it, though come the end of the year I know I would have forgotten about it.
That’s why Goodreads is so great, these reviews are nice little reminders...
I kept wondering how far Alice would go to keep the secret, it’s certainly an addictive read!
Ideally the less you know beforehand the better the reading experience, I do think it’s a solidly good untaxing story.
November 23, 2016
Right after finishing the last sentence of What Alice Knew, I knew reviewing this engaging debut won’t be an easy task to do.
This psychlogical thriller is full of discussion worthy situations.
There’s so many things that happened and I am not sure where’s the thin line that separates what can be mentioned in review, and what is considered as spoiler.
The story follows Alice, an artist married to Ed, who is an Obstetrician. Alice’s life was perfect until one night when her husband didn’t come home on time.
What happened that one night turns their both lives complitely around and Alice has to make a decision whether she’ll stay behind her husband and pretend everything is fine, or if she’ll tell the true and endanger lives of their children, torn her family apart.
What Alice Knew is a psychological thriller by all means, but it is also very different from every other pshyhological thriller I have read before.
It makes the reader question character’s actions and intentions, as well as it makes him requestion the same with every new chapter, but what makes this novel special is how it blurs the difference between what is moral and what is right.
Cotterell approached impressively to every situation that happened in this story, making the reader see it from different perspectives, going into depth when it comes to what kind of consequence one way of behaving would have over the other.
At the same time, the story follows only one perspective: Alice’s, who’s thoughts we can observe from first person POV.
The writing style is admirable. From the very first chapter, it pulls the reader in and does not let go.
Although this is almost 400 pages long novel, it reads really fast.
It probably can not be read in one sitting (unless you’re a really, REALLY fast reader), but I truly believe it can be read faster then other books with similar page count.
Filled with tension, What Alice Knew is the story that talks about one’s inner strugle in making the right choice and trying to find peace when living with decission that was made.
It perfectly portraits how true can hurt and how lies can burn, and how in difficult situations there are no obvious right and wrong ways. Sometimes, in life, all the roads we can take are gray, and it is on us to decide what shade of gray we can bare.
The end of this intense read is complete, but it is open to interpretation. One reader can see it in a totally different way then the other.
Because What Alice Knew examines situations and decisions from many different angles, it is a perfect book to be read in a book club or as a buddy read.
I believe people who read it together will have so many interesting topics to discuss.
Publisher made sure to provide some Reading Group Questions in a book proof copy I got, and I really hope those will be printed in finished book as well.
Read this and more reviews on my blog: http://bookdustmagic.wordpress.com
This psychlogical thriller is full of discussion worthy situations.
There’s so many things that happened and I am not sure where’s the thin line that separates what can be mentioned in review, and what is considered as spoiler.
The story follows Alice, an artist married to Ed, who is an Obstetrician. Alice’s life was perfect until one night when her husband didn’t come home on time.
What happened that one night turns their both lives complitely around and Alice has to make a decision whether she’ll stay behind her husband and pretend everything is fine, or if she’ll tell the true and endanger lives of their children, torn her family apart.
What Alice Knew is a psychological thriller by all means, but it is also very different from every other pshyhological thriller I have read before.
It makes the reader question character’s actions and intentions, as well as it makes him requestion the same with every new chapter, but what makes this novel special is how it blurs the difference between what is moral and what is right.
Cotterell approached impressively to every situation that happened in this story, making the reader see it from different perspectives, going into depth when it comes to what kind of consequence one way of behaving would have over the other.
At the same time, the story follows only one perspective: Alice’s, who’s thoughts we can observe from first person POV.
The writing style is admirable. From the very first chapter, it pulls the reader in and does not let go.
Although this is almost 400 pages long novel, it reads really fast.
It probably can not be read in one sitting (unless you’re a really, REALLY fast reader), but I truly believe it can be read faster then other books with similar page count.
Filled with tension, What Alice Knew is the story that talks about one’s inner strugle in making the right choice and trying to find peace when living with decission that was made.
It perfectly portraits how true can hurt and how lies can burn, and how in difficult situations there are no obvious right and wrong ways. Sometimes, in life, all the roads we can take are gray, and it is on us to decide what shade of gray we can bare.
The end of this intense read is complete, but it is open to interpretation. One reader can see it in a totally different way then the other.
Because What Alice Knew examines situations and decisions from many different angles, it is a perfect book to be read in a book club or as a buddy read.
I believe people who read it together will have so many interesting topics to discuss.
Publisher made sure to provide some Reading Group Questions in a book proof copy I got, and I really hope those will be printed in finished book as well.
Read this and more reviews on my blog: http://bookdustmagic.wordpress.com
Read
November 8, 2016This novel (an ARC of which was kindly provided by the publisher) is a fine example of the current trend in crime writing that I'm starting to think of as "My Man's a Wrong 'Un". In this case, we learn pretty quickly whodunnit, and why: the main burden of the story is about dealing with the aftermath. In this, it is not unlike Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY, where the suspense, beautifully sustained, concentrates on what happens to the perpetrators *after* the murder, rather than assuming (as most procedurals boringly do) that the story ends with the identification of the culprit.
This is not THE SECRET HISTORY. But it is pretty good, and, at times, very good - the writing is finely crafted without being oppressively so, which gives it a quietly literary quality. The plot is a simple enough "will-she, won't-she?" with a couple of little twists to keep us interested. The heroine's background in portrait art, with its underlying theme of seeing the truth behind the subject is a nice touch, giving the author the opportunity to play with various effects of colour and light.
Having said that, though, I felt that the author wasn't quite able to follow the strand of his own storyline, instead creating, not so much a story as a series of vignettes, all very nicely-written, but often not really connected. The result being that I felt it lacked heart - and in the end, after so many interludes and disconnected set-pieces- the painting of Marnie's portrait, the visit to Highlands, the visit from Matt, the flashbacks into Alice's past, her constant inner questioning - I still felt disappointingly little for Alice, and even less so for Ed, who, in spite of being portrayed as more or less the perfect man (apart from that little lapse) comes across as rather too good to be true. As for the victim, we never see her at all, except through a series of secondary accounts, which means that the motive remains paper-thin, and gets thinner throughout the book until it becomes both impossible to believe, and, more importantly, to care what happened to her, and why - a sentiment apparently echoed by the police themselves, who seem both disappointingly lacking in intuition and implausibly quick to give up a promising line of enquiry.
Line-by-line, the style is beautiful. But in the end, I couldn't help thinking that the writer should perhaps have spent less time thinking up ways in which to describe clouds, and more time trying to write a wholly integrated narrative, in which the characters play more than just convenient parts to serve the plot. I'm left with the feeling of having drunk an indifferent wine from a beautiful glass - promising much initially, but delivering rather less.
This is not THE SECRET HISTORY. But it is pretty good, and, at times, very good - the writing is finely crafted without being oppressively so, which gives it a quietly literary quality. The plot is a simple enough "will-she, won't-she?" with a couple of little twists to keep us interested. The heroine's background in portrait art, with its underlying theme of seeing the truth behind the subject is a nice touch, giving the author the opportunity to play with various effects of colour and light.
Having said that, though, I felt that the author wasn't quite able to follow the strand of his own storyline, instead creating, not so much a story as a series of vignettes, all very nicely-written, but often not really connected. The result being that I felt it lacked heart - and in the end, after so many interludes and disconnected set-pieces- the painting of Marnie's portrait, the visit to Highlands, the visit from Matt, the flashbacks into Alice's past, her constant inner questioning - I still felt disappointingly little for Alice, and even less so for Ed, who, in spite of being portrayed as more or less the perfect man (apart from that little lapse) comes across as rather too good to be true. As for the victim, we never see her at all, except through a series of secondary accounts, which means that the motive remains paper-thin, and gets thinner throughout the book until it becomes both impossible to believe, and, more importantly, to care what happened to her, and why - a sentiment apparently echoed by the police themselves, who seem both disappointingly lacking in intuition and implausibly quick to give up a promising line of enquiry.
Line-by-line, the style is beautiful. But in the end, I couldn't help thinking that the writer should perhaps have spent less time thinking up ways in which to describe clouds, and more time trying to write a wholly integrated narrative, in which the characters play more than just convenient parts to serve the plot. I'm left with the feeling of having drunk an indifferent wine from a beautiful glass - promising much initially, but delivering rather less.
May 15, 2017
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
----Leo Tolstoy
T.A. Cotterell, the British author, pens a mind blowing and extremely gripping psychological debut thriller, What Alice Knew that revolves around a portrait artist whose husband goes missing one night out of the blue, but when he comes back, their perfectly happy family life threatens to come apart and the portrait artist is left with no other choice but to protect her family at any cost.
PS: This is not like any other traditional pot-boiling thriller, instead it follows what happens after a crime is committed and how you need to cover that crime at any cost.
Synopsis:
How far would you go to keep a secret?
Alice has a perfect life – a great job, happy kids, a wonderful husband. Until he goes missing one night; she receives a suspicious phone call; things don’t quite add up.
Alice needs to know what’s going on. But when she uncovers the truth she faces a brutal choice. And how can she be sure it is the truth?
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
Alice, the portrait artist, one night while returning back from work, receives a call from her daughter that Ed, her husband and the father of her children, is not back home yet. Surprised Alice chooses to wait for her husband to return back home and when Ed returns back, things are not same like before, as he brings a storm with him. Alice's marriage, her trust and her faith, everything is put to test when Ed reveals a shocking truth about his whereabouts of that night, followed by more appalling secrets. Yet after hearing and analyzing everything, Alice chooses to protect her family, her husband above everything else, but how long can she protect a man who is not at all innocent in his acts?
Unlike the "been there done there" psychological thriller plots, this takes a very different, as in unique, turn with the story line. The author chooses a bold move to make his book stand out in the crowd, by letting his readers to follow the rush of covering up of a crime and protecting oneself from it, instead of the traditional rush of the whodunit. Although, I doubt, how many readers will accept this book with an open mind, as the story line will constantly challenge its readers to think hard about the characters' acts and deeds pretty much all the time.
Rarely I have ever came across such a thought provoking plot, where the main character is confronted to protect her family and to suppress her guilt of keeping quiet about her husband's revelation. The pressure and the tension builds up right from the very beginning itself, when the author chooses to spill the major twist about Ed and Ed's whereabouts from that night, yet the readers will be compelled to stay glued to the story line. The bizarre turn of events followed by the homecoming of Ed will constantly push both Alice as well as the readers to stay on Ed's side despite of the negative comments and press intrusion and a degrading public image of their family.
The author's writing style is brilliant, as the readers ill find it easy to comprehend with the story line. The dialogues are catchy and penned in an engaging manner to peak the interest of the readers. The pacing is really fast with an articulate prose that will not once let the readers to turn away their heads from this absorbing book.
The characters are extremely well developed with both realism and a bit of fantasy added to their demeanor. The main character, Alice, from whose point of view the whole story is narrated, is characterized with so many shades of layers which the author peels away bit-by-bit with the rising tension of the story line. The Alice, in the beginning, will come across as someone very ambitious about her career and caring towards her family, but gradually, this Alice turns bit annoying with all her doubts, and eventually, she turns quite wise in the end. Yes, Alice matures up and becomes someone thoughtful and calculative. Her back story gives a lot of depth to her character development and by the end of the book, the readers will feel like they know Alice by the back of their hand.
Art plays a major role in this story line. As per Alice, her portraits tell her the truth about the people she is capturing on her canvas, yet gradually with her husband's secrets, she feels overwhelmed and confused on whether art actually lets her paint the brutal truth behind any character, when she, herself, is trying to hide the truth.
It says, "Truth sets you free" but in this book, truth traps Alice into a dark and conniving world.
Verdict: A must read psycho thriller penned from a different angle that will only satisfy the reading buds of the fans of this genre.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
----Leo Tolstoy
T.A. Cotterell, the British author, pens a mind blowing and extremely gripping psychological debut thriller, What Alice Knew that revolves around a portrait artist whose husband goes missing one night out of the blue, but when he comes back, their perfectly happy family life threatens to come apart and the portrait artist is left with no other choice but to protect her family at any cost.
PS: This is not like any other traditional pot-boiling thriller, instead it follows what happens after a crime is committed and how you need to cover that crime at any cost.
Synopsis:
How far would you go to keep a secret?
Alice has a perfect life – a great job, happy kids, a wonderful husband. Until he goes missing one night; she receives a suspicious phone call; things don’t quite add up.
Alice needs to know what’s going on. But when she uncovers the truth she faces a brutal choice. And how can she be sure it is the truth?
Sometimes it’s better not to know.
Alice, the portrait artist, one night while returning back from work, receives a call from her daughter that Ed, her husband and the father of her children, is not back home yet. Surprised Alice chooses to wait for her husband to return back home and when Ed returns back, things are not same like before, as he brings a storm with him. Alice's marriage, her trust and her faith, everything is put to test when Ed reveals a shocking truth about his whereabouts of that night, followed by more appalling secrets. Yet after hearing and analyzing everything, Alice chooses to protect her family, her husband above everything else, but how long can she protect a man who is not at all innocent in his acts?
Unlike the "been there done there" psychological thriller plots, this takes a very different, as in unique, turn with the story line. The author chooses a bold move to make his book stand out in the crowd, by letting his readers to follow the rush of covering up of a crime and protecting oneself from it, instead of the traditional rush of the whodunit. Although, I doubt, how many readers will accept this book with an open mind, as the story line will constantly challenge its readers to think hard about the characters' acts and deeds pretty much all the time.
Rarely I have ever came across such a thought provoking plot, where the main character is confronted to protect her family and to suppress her guilt of keeping quiet about her husband's revelation. The pressure and the tension builds up right from the very beginning itself, when the author chooses to spill the major twist about Ed and Ed's whereabouts from that night, yet the readers will be compelled to stay glued to the story line. The bizarre turn of events followed by the homecoming of Ed will constantly push both Alice as well as the readers to stay on Ed's side despite of the negative comments and press intrusion and a degrading public image of their family.
The author's writing style is brilliant, as the readers ill find it easy to comprehend with the story line. The dialogues are catchy and penned in an engaging manner to peak the interest of the readers. The pacing is really fast with an articulate prose that will not once let the readers to turn away their heads from this absorbing book.
The characters are extremely well developed with both realism and a bit of fantasy added to their demeanor. The main character, Alice, from whose point of view the whole story is narrated, is characterized with so many shades of layers which the author peels away bit-by-bit with the rising tension of the story line. The Alice, in the beginning, will come across as someone very ambitious about her career and caring towards her family, but gradually, this Alice turns bit annoying with all her doubts, and eventually, she turns quite wise in the end. Yes, Alice matures up and becomes someone thoughtful and calculative. Her back story gives a lot of depth to her character development and by the end of the book, the readers will feel like they know Alice by the back of their hand.
Art plays a major role in this story line. As per Alice, her portraits tell her the truth about the people she is capturing on her canvas, yet gradually with her husband's secrets, she feels overwhelmed and confused on whether art actually lets her paint the brutal truth behind any character, when she, herself, is trying to hide the truth.
It says, "Truth sets you free" but in this book, truth traps Alice into a dark and conniving world.
Verdict: A must read psycho thriller penned from a different angle that will only satisfy the reading buds of the fans of this genre.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
June 15, 2020
This was definitely a unique psycho-thriller. It isn't really about the mystery but it's about the guilty struggles of a woman keeping a huge dark secret to protect and preserve her family.
It would have been a very gripping read if it weren't for the unnecessary details. It was a bit of a struggle reading exhaustive, artistic descriptions of Alice's life with her kind of snobbish, artistic language that my average brain couldn't sometimes relate with. It is interesting though and quite educative when it's her art and her paintings she's talking about.
But I get it. Really. It's not really about the usual whodunit so it makes sense that the author capitalizes on the psychological workings of the characters especially of Alice. It's just that the ending kind of left a bland taste in my mouth. But the fact that I finished it despite my struggles indicates that it is definitely worth a read.
It would have been a very gripping read if it weren't for the unnecessary details. It was a bit of a struggle reading exhaustive, artistic descriptions of Alice's life with her kind of snobbish, artistic language that my average brain couldn't sometimes relate with. It is interesting though and quite educative when it's her art and her paintings she's talking about.
But I get it. Really. It's not really about the usual whodunit so it makes sense that the author capitalizes on the psychological workings of the characters especially of Alice. It's just that the ending kind of left a bland taste in my mouth. But the fact that I finished it despite my struggles indicates that it is definitely worth a read.
November 2, 2016
I had seen What Alice Knew pop up on social media a couple of times so naturally I had to find out what it was about and once I read a synopsis I knew I’d have to read it!
What Alice Knew is a thriller, by all accounts. But what kind of thriller? Crime? Mystery? Psychological? It’s hard to choose just one. There are so many subtle nuances within the pages of this book that the reader essentially interprets it their own way by the end.
Following the lives of Alice Sheahan, her husband Ed and their kids, Nell and Arthur, the reader is taken on a journey alongside the characters. For all intents and purposes, the Sheahans have the perfect life. Great jobs, beautiful home, the usual. But one night, Ed goes missing and their lives go into free fall.
What follows is a dark narrative that will leave you questioning everything you have read. There are so many themes at play in this book that it will make you think on more than just one level. It is brimming with tension, made all the better with some rather unreliable narration. What Alice Knew is compulsive reading. You know that something is happening, and you cannot tear your eyes from pages.
I found myself confused when I finally finished the book. Not bad confused, just a little unsure as to what I had just read. But in a good way. The author has made What Alice Knew quite ambiguous, and because reading is so subjective, you can draw your own conclusions at times. I liked this. It was different to the cut and dried books of late where everything is all neatly wrapped up.
What Alice Knew was a gripping read, with a supremely eloquent writing style. The author clearly knows his way around art because his writing paints some haunting and evocative pictures. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. Different, dark and completely absorbing, I would definitely recommend What Alice Knew.
What Alice Knew is a thriller, by all accounts. But what kind of thriller? Crime? Mystery? Psychological? It’s hard to choose just one. There are so many subtle nuances within the pages of this book that the reader essentially interprets it their own way by the end.
Following the lives of Alice Sheahan, her husband Ed and their kids, Nell and Arthur, the reader is taken on a journey alongside the characters. For all intents and purposes, the Sheahans have the perfect life. Great jobs, beautiful home, the usual. But one night, Ed goes missing and their lives go into free fall.
What follows is a dark narrative that will leave you questioning everything you have read. There are so many themes at play in this book that it will make you think on more than just one level. It is brimming with tension, made all the better with some rather unreliable narration. What Alice Knew is compulsive reading. You know that something is happening, and you cannot tear your eyes from pages.
I found myself confused when I finally finished the book. Not bad confused, just a little unsure as to what I had just read. But in a good way. The author has made What Alice Knew quite ambiguous, and because reading is so subjective, you can draw your own conclusions at times. I liked this. It was different to the cut and dried books of late where everything is all neatly wrapped up.
What Alice Knew was a gripping read, with a supremely eloquent writing style. The author clearly knows his way around art because his writing paints some haunting and evocative pictures. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. Different, dark and completely absorbing, I would definitely recommend What Alice Knew.
April 22, 2017
Good start, ridiculous end.
June 30, 2017
The sketchy premise for What Alice Knew bills it as “a domestic thriller with a heart-stopping twist”, which by and large usually translates to a husband or wife taking advantage of a partner’s trust, either by straying or effectively controlling the marriage. Refreshingly, What Alice Knew, takes a rather different approach and although the issue of trust and the balance of power in a relationship does come into question, the initial and fatal incident happens before the relationship is even begun to be explored in any significant depth. What Alice Knew focuses on the aftermath, how the central players respond to a trigger moment and just what lengths they will go to in order to protect their happy family and comfortable lifestyle. The suspense as readers observe the subtle ebb and flow of how the power in the relationship moves back and forth starts from this point onwards and proves engaging enough.
Late returning home one evening, Alice, has a call from her fourteen-year-old daughter, Nell, saying that her father isn’t home yet and given his reliability and shining example as a good father this disconcerts them both. Next morning he still isn’t home, but he does belatedly call with an explanation, which secure is their marriage Alice accepts without a second through as being the truth. Then as the days go by she senses that things seem a little off between them and that Ed is noticeably more anxious. Before long flowers addressed to Ed arrive on the doorstep, a series of suspicious phone calls raises concerns, and son, Arthur, reports that he saw his father crying. As Alice seeks to reassure herself about their marriage she then finds incriminating evidence that Ed has been less than entirely truthful with her about his absent night. The news that the society “it” girl and exceptionally talented artist whose home Ed spent the night at has since been found dead in suspicious circumstances leaves Alice reconsidering her marriage. But Ed has made a decision and now the onus is on Alice to make her mind up by deciding whether to confront the truth or put concern for the future of their children before all that… and oh, how she justifies her decision..! Suddenly Alice finds that she hasn’t had this much power in her marriage since prior to saying ‘yes’ to Ed’s proposal and the ball is firmly in her court.
The narrator for this entire novel is society portrait artist, Alice Sheahan, wife of fifteen-years to obstetrician Ed and living an upwardly mobile lifestyle in Bristol. When we first meet Alice she is ruminating on art and giving a distinct impression of being a little haughty and self-satisfied with her lot. For Alice, her art is a “quest for the truth”, “sparing no one” as she aims to paint the person behind the exterior! Beware as the prose is groaning with overblown and grandiloquent descriptions as she warms to the theme and needless to say, some is laid on a little thick and left me cringing. As the novel progresses this does become less noticeable, but the air of sneering pretentiousness from the voice of Alice persists. Frankly I found her weighing up of the moral dilemma she is faced with amusing in that typical way that the privileged elite inherently believe that their contribution and worth to society is greater than the average individuals. Once she has made her decision and effectively backed herself into a corner there is no going back, but how can she equate that with her passion for art, the quest for truth and hence her livelihood? Can the creative impulse continue unabated with an ‘elephant in the room’? What Alice Knew puts that to the test…
As another man is arrested in connection with the incident it becomes apparent that it isn’t just the Sheahan family whose futures hinges on the matter. The tipping point that discomfits Alice is the return of a former friend from twenty-years-ago whose future she took it upon herself to decide and acted as judge, jury and executioner in a theft at the boarding school where the girl was a scholarship student. Thrown into turmoil and amid the ensuing drought in her creativity, a return to the Highlands and the old family estate forces Alice to face some home truths and solidifies her intentions regarding her future, her marriage and her children.. only for one final twist in the tale to spring up .
I found it hard to like either Alice or Ed due to the supercilious attitudes they display to the other individuals involved in this story. They both seem to practice parenting around their jobs with their children seeming more of an inconvenience to their life goals that fundamental to their happiness. As the media spotlight falls on the Sheehan family, Alice even gallingly compares her situation with that of Princess Diane:
Wordplay surrounding art imagery is evident throughout and the erudite reflections from Alice about ‘leaving a daub on the canvas’ and so forth do become a little tiresome. I must admit that in the second half of this book I really felt than the story tapered off and was marred by Alice wittering on about her art and how that will be affected by the decision that is made. To a certain degree I found this detracted from the more significant questions raised by the author and despite being intrigued enough to keep turning the pages I was never really excited by this novel and remain lukewarm! Overall I found What Alice Knew a solid read that probed some very interesting issues.
Late returning home one evening, Alice, has a call from her fourteen-year-old daughter, Nell, saying that her father isn’t home yet and given his reliability and shining example as a good father this disconcerts them both. Next morning he still isn’t home, but he does belatedly call with an explanation, which secure is their marriage Alice accepts without a second through as being the truth. Then as the days go by she senses that things seem a little off between them and that Ed is noticeably more anxious. Before long flowers addressed to Ed arrive on the doorstep, a series of suspicious phone calls raises concerns, and son, Arthur, reports that he saw his father crying. As Alice seeks to reassure herself about their marriage she then finds incriminating evidence that Ed has been less than entirely truthful with her about his absent night. The news that the society “it” girl and exceptionally talented artist whose home Ed spent the night at has since been found dead in suspicious circumstances leaves Alice reconsidering her marriage. But Ed has made a decision and now the onus is on Alice to make her mind up by deciding whether to confront the truth or put concern for the future of their children before all that… and oh, how she justifies her decision..! Suddenly Alice finds that she hasn’t had this much power in her marriage since prior to saying ‘yes’ to Ed’s proposal and the ball is firmly in her court.
The narrator for this entire novel is society portrait artist, Alice Sheahan, wife of fifteen-years to obstetrician Ed and living an upwardly mobile lifestyle in Bristol. When we first meet Alice she is ruminating on art and giving a distinct impression of being a little haughty and self-satisfied with her lot. For Alice, her art is a “quest for the truth”, “sparing no one” as she aims to paint the person behind the exterior! Beware as the prose is groaning with overblown and grandiloquent descriptions as she warms to the theme and needless to say, some is laid on a little thick and left me cringing. As the novel progresses this does become less noticeable, but the air of sneering pretentiousness from the voice of Alice persists. Frankly I found her weighing up of the moral dilemma she is faced with amusing in that typical way that the privileged elite inherently believe that their contribution and worth to society is greater than the average individuals. Once she has made her decision and effectively backed herself into a corner there is no going back, but how can she equate that with her passion for art, the quest for truth and hence her livelihood? Can the creative impulse continue unabated with an ‘elephant in the room’? What Alice Knew puts that to the test…
As another man is arrested in connection with the incident it becomes apparent that it isn’t just the Sheahan family whose futures hinges on the matter. The tipping point that discomfits Alice is the return of a former friend from twenty-years-ago whose future she took it upon herself to decide and acted as judge, jury and executioner in a theft at the boarding school where the girl was a scholarship student. Thrown into turmoil and amid the ensuing drought in her creativity, a return to the Highlands and the old family estate forces Alice to face some home truths and solidifies her intentions regarding her future, her marriage and her children.. only for one final twist in the tale to spring up .
I found it hard to like either Alice or Ed due to the supercilious attitudes they display to the other individuals involved in this story. They both seem to practice parenting around their jobs with their children seeming more of an inconvenience to their life goals that fundamental to their happiness. As the media spotlight falls on the Sheehan family, Alice even gallingly compares her situation with that of Princess Diane:
“I always thought Diana’s death must have been a welcome release. She had nowhere to go. I’m beginning to understand what she went through.”
Wordplay surrounding art imagery is evident throughout and the erudite reflections from Alice about ‘leaving a daub on the canvas’ and so forth do become a little tiresome. I must admit that in the second half of this book I really felt than the story tapered off and was marred by Alice wittering on about her art and how that will be affected by the decision that is made. To a certain degree I found this detracted from the more significant questions raised by the author and despite being intrigued enough to keep turning the pages I was never really excited by this novel and remain lukewarm! Overall I found What Alice Knew a solid read that probed some very interesting issues.
November 29, 2016
All of my reviews can be found on www.novelgossip.com
Many of you have probably seen tons of posts about this book all over social media, I know I did before reading it and my interest was piqued the first time as I wondered what, exactly, does Alice know? You have to read it yourself to find out, but suffice it to say, it’s troubling and really makes you think.
Every once and awhile I strongly encourage you to go into a book as blind as possible and that’s what I’m suggesting here. I promise the extract won’t spoil things, it’ll just whet your appetite and leave you wanting more. But, when you finish you’ll most likely need to talk to someone else who has read it, so feel free to come chat with me! (Thanks to Kate from Bibliophile Book Club for letting me badger her!)
I was utterly consumed by this book straightaway, I think a bomb could’ve went off and I wouldn’t have been bothered. Alice is an average woman living a pretty average life until one night her husband is unaccounted for. This is completely out of character for Ed, and as Alice starts to dig deeper into where he actually was, she uncovers things that have the power to change her life forever. The choices Ed made have a huge impact on their lives and this story is about the aftermath of one fateful night.
There are so many underlying themes here, I kept thinking that this would spark so many fantastic discussions for a book club. The power and impact of lying, the lengths one will go to protect their loved ones, honesty and truth, I could go on and on. This isn’t a classic thriller in the sense that you’re wondering who committed a crime but rather you’re wondering how things will play out. Can a massive secret be kept or will lies fester and eat you up inside? There is not the typical mounting tension, but instead there are a number of very tense scenes where you’re sure things are coming to a head only to be proved wrong.
Cotterell has a very unique and fresh type of psychological thriller in What Alice Knew and his prose is infused with gorgeous descriptions of art as Alice is a portrait landscaper. I’m blown away that this is a debut novel as it doesn’t read that way. Besides a totally absorbing plot, you have vibrant and rich descriptions and fascinatingly complex characters. There are plenty of unexpected turns and outcomes throughout, then the ending. It was one of those shocking endings that I needed time to process. In a way it’s ambiguous but it really couldn’t be more fitting.
Many of you have probably seen tons of posts about this book all over social media, I know I did before reading it and my interest was piqued the first time as I wondered what, exactly, does Alice know? You have to read it yourself to find out, but suffice it to say, it’s troubling and really makes you think.
Every once and awhile I strongly encourage you to go into a book as blind as possible and that’s what I’m suggesting here. I promise the extract won’t spoil things, it’ll just whet your appetite and leave you wanting more. But, when you finish you’ll most likely need to talk to someone else who has read it, so feel free to come chat with me! (Thanks to Kate from Bibliophile Book Club for letting me badger her!)
I was utterly consumed by this book straightaway, I think a bomb could’ve went off and I wouldn’t have been bothered. Alice is an average woman living a pretty average life until one night her husband is unaccounted for. This is completely out of character for Ed, and as Alice starts to dig deeper into where he actually was, she uncovers things that have the power to change her life forever. The choices Ed made have a huge impact on their lives and this story is about the aftermath of one fateful night.
There are so many underlying themes here, I kept thinking that this would spark so many fantastic discussions for a book club. The power and impact of lying, the lengths one will go to protect their loved ones, honesty and truth, I could go on and on. This isn’t a classic thriller in the sense that you’re wondering who committed a crime but rather you’re wondering how things will play out. Can a massive secret be kept or will lies fester and eat you up inside? There is not the typical mounting tension, but instead there are a number of very tense scenes where you’re sure things are coming to a head only to be proved wrong.
Cotterell has a very unique and fresh type of psychological thriller in What Alice Knew and his prose is infused with gorgeous descriptions of art as Alice is a portrait landscaper. I’m blown away that this is a debut novel as it doesn’t read that way. Besides a totally absorbing plot, you have vibrant and rich descriptions and fascinatingly complex characters. There are plenty of unexpected turns and outcomes throughout, then the ending. It was one of those shocking endings that I needed time to process. In a way it’s ambiguous but it really couldn’t be more fitting.
November 27, 2016
I think all I can say is 'Wow'.
This has given me the biggest book hangover in a while. I was literally stunned when I finished reading the last page and in some sort of trance for the following hours. Don't you just love it when a book like that falls into your life?! Bibliomaniac heaven.
In some ways it's not like a conventional best-selling, page-turning psychological thriller yet it is page turning and it so deserves to be a best seller!
I'd say "What Alice Knew" is more character driven than plot driven, with Cotterell not only successfully immersing us in the complexity of the protagonist's dilemma, but also getting us to consider wider issues about human nature, knowledge and truth. It has a gripping plot line but it is really a discussion of human behaviour. This book is exceptional in its ability to engage, thrill, intrigue and entertain as well as provoke philosophical questions and reflection. It's an accomplished, accessible, well paced novel that rivals all its contemporary popular "Grip Lit" titles with relatable characters and a compelling writing style. It's absorbing, arresting and addictive.
If you haven't read it then I highly recommend that you put everything else aside, find a spot (it doesn't have to even be quite because you'll lose yourself in this story) and get reading!
It's going to be a tricky book to review as I am torn between being absolutely desperate to talk about it and wary of giving anything away. The succinct blurb on the back cover is perfect in only telling the reader what they need to know and really I don't want to say more than that - other than, trust me, this is not just a clever marketing campaign - this book really will live up to the hype and you need to find out just what Alice knew.......!
So in case you haven't read the blurb, this is the story of Alice. Alice who has a perfect life, a dream job, a wonderful, loving husband and great kids. She is happy. She is secure. She is with her life partner and there is nothing that she doesn't know about him or about their relationship. She's confident, rational, logical and content. Nothing is going to ruffle her feathers.
And yet....suddenly a few things just don't add up. And as Alice reflects, what do you do when a slow dawning realisation begins to creep up on you and you are forced to look at your life with fresh eyes?
"Do you come straight out with it, a blurted question loaded with tears and ultimatums?"
Because once you start something, is there ever any way to go back? Once you know something, can you ever 'unknown' it again? Is it ever better to not know something?
At the beginning I liked Alice. She seems quiet but thoughtful. Calm. She is not weak, not a victim, she hasn't done anything wrong; she's committed to her marriage and family, she's reflective, insightful and good at her job. She is a portrait painter and I loved the insight this allowed her to have about people and truth. It is such an effective plot device and so intriguing. Through this Cotterell immediately adds multiple layers to his writing.
The book opens with Alice painting Julie, the young second wife of the rich Ray.
"I had painted a faux-girly voice and a belief in the redistributive power of of shopping......I had also painted subterfuge. ......I had painted the fragile interplay of power and trust, money and fear, love and mobility. I had painted the portrait of a second marriage."
I love the sentences like "Uneasy lies the head that wears that crown," that are gently slipped into the prose and seemingly about something obvious, yet imply so much more and come to mean so much more as the story continues.
The references to painters, art and mythology give this thriller a fresh angle from its friends on the bookshop shelves and add a delicious depth to the characters and their situation. However it is never overly intellectualising, pretentious or distracting. It's subtly thought provoking, used to enhance characters and provide metaphors in a story that is fast paced made up largely from dialogue and internal monologue.
I think what makes this book resonate, what makes it unsettling, is that this is a normal couple - a normal family. Neither husband nor wife is apparently unhappy, vindictive, frustrated. There is no reason for anything to rumble the status quo. But it does. And from that point everything unravels. It resonates because it is relatable, believable and probably captures our deepest fears of what could happen to any of us. Cotterell constantly says to the reader, "What would you do?" "Could you?" and that classic, "What if....."
"Life doesn't just 'go on' as the cliche has it. The clocks are reset, relationships recalibrated."
I really liked the recurring concept of an "infinite lie" and how "lies compound like a debt until you can no longer pay the interest." Cotterell really conveys the domino effect of the situation Alice and Ed find themselves in. He cleverly builds plenty of tension and suspense as the reader holds their breath in anticipation while watching it all play out.
Despite how this review might make the book appear, it is not a heavy read. I flew through it in record time, totally engrossed. Although Alice is prone to reflection and artistic musings, she is also capable of shrewd, sharp and humorous description, particularly when talking about her school mum acquaintance Bea:
"Bea is part of the school-run-have-coffee-play-tennis-back-to-yours-for-a-gossip-and-a-salad-and-a-glass-of-wine-oh-go-on-then-I'm-not-driving-OMG-it's-time-to-pick-up-the-kids-brigade."
And there is lots of very down to earth, blunt observations on contemporary society too:
"I had never realised how the Internet throbs 24/7 on subjects that make the national news. Trolls, conspiracy theorists, single issue maniacs, swivel-eyed obsessives, anyone with dodgy spelling and an iron cast opinion have a new home."
This creates a good balance against the deeper reflections about art and portraits - although the concept of faces, what we see, what we are and what is the truth, are intrinsic to the novel. I really enjoyed Alice's comments about portraits and how at times they also conveyed a kind of naivety in what she was missing, what she was not seeing, not able to grasp.
"Always start with the eyes. They tell you how strong someone is, what reserves they have, how far they would go. They reveal the structure. The rest is cladding."
"A portrait is a painted answer; I only had a canvas of questions."
"What is a portrait if not the opening up of a character, the physical manifestation of the story of a life."
There are plenty of universal themes in this novel. There are the obvious ones about truth, honesty, loyalty, marriage, friendship and parenting. Then there is almost a second layer of more underlying, implied themes like the difference between right and wrong and how that can change depending on circumstances and responsibilities, what does it mean to do the right thing, how much is class still an issue in our society, what does it really mean or take to say sorry. There is a lot about perception and expectation too. As I have said already, Cotterell does a magnificent job of exploring all of these concepts through a very captivating story line which will appeal to a very wide audience and appeal to people on a number of layers. Whether you are looking for a chilling read that is ultimately enthralling and full of twists or whether you are looking for something more fascinating, entrancing and unputdownable, this is the book for you!
I found the ending very emotional. The last three pages actually had quite a profound affect on me, a bit like an epiphany even. I'd half guessed a few things along the way but really needed to join the dots and then I finished reading with a whole host of new questions! I really want people to read this book so I can talk about it some more!
My final point would be to congratulate Cotterell on writing from a female point of view with such conviction and authenticity. And for the lasting impression this book has made on me as I continue to think about the lines you often have to consider crossing or not crossing in life, and what it really means to protect those we love.
"Life isn't only what you see in front of you. It takes place in the margins, in the lines between the squares."
If you enjoyed "The Widow" by Fiona Barton, "In Her Wake" by Amanda Jennings, "Lying in Wait" by Liz Nugent or "My Husband's Son" by Deborah O'Connor, then you will definitely enjoy this.
Without a doubt 5* from me. Absolutely loved it.
This has given me the biggest book hangover in a while. I was literally stunned when I finished reading the last page and in some sort of trance for the following hours. Don't you just love it when a book like that falls into your life?! Bibliomaniac heaven.
In some ways it's not like a conventional best-selling, page-turning psychological thriller yet it is page turning and it so deserves to be a best seller!
I'd say "What Alice Knew" is more character driven than plot driven, with Cotterell not only successfully immersing us in the complexity of the protagonist's dilemma, but also getting us to consider wider issues about human nature, knowledge and truth. It has a gripping plot line but it is really a discussion of human behaviour. This book is exceptional in its ability to engage, thrill, intrigue and entertain as well as provoke philosophical questions and reflection. It's an accomplished, accessible, well paced novel that rivals all its contemporary popular "Grip Lit" titles with relatable characters and a compelling writing style. It's absorbing, arresting and addictive.
If you haven't read it then I highly recommend that you put everything else aside, find a spot (it doesn't have to even be quite because you'll lose yourself in this story) and get reading!
It's going to be a tricky book to review as I am torn between being absolutely desperate to talk about it and wary of giving anything away. The succinct blurb on the back cover is perfect in only telling the reader what they need to know and really I don't want to say more than that - other than, trust me, this is not just a clever marketing campaign - this book really will live up to the hype and you need to find out just what Alice knew.......!
So in case you haven't read the blurb, this is the story of Alice. Alice who has a perfect life, a dream job, a wonderful, loving husband and great kids. She is happy. She is secure. She is with her life partner and there is nothing that she doesn't know about him or about their relationship. She's confident, rational, logical and content. Nothing is going to ruffle her feathers.
And yet....suddenly a few things just don't add up. And as Alice reflects, what do you do when a slow dawning realisation begins to creep up on you and you are forced to look at your life with fresh eyes?
"Do you come straight out with it, a blurted question loaded with tears and ultimatums?"
Because once you start something, is there ever any way to go back? Once you know something, can you ever 'unknown' it again? Is it ever better to not know something?
At the beginning I liked Alice. She seems quiet but thoughtful. Calm. She is not weak, not a victim, she hasn't done anything wrong; she's committed to her marriage and family, she's reflective, insightful and good at her job. She is a portrait painter and I loved the insight this allowed her to have about people and truth. It is such an effective plot device and so intriguing. Through this Cotterell immediately adds multiple layers to his writing.
The book opens with Alice painting Julie, the young second wife of the rich Ray.
"I had painted a faux-girly voice and a belief in the redistributive power of of shopping......I had also painted subterfuge. ......I had painted the fragile interplay of power and trust, money and fear, love and mobility. I had painted the portrait of a second marriage."
I love the sentences like "Uneasy lies the head that wears that crown," that are gently slipped into the prose and seemingly about something obvious, yet imply so much more and come to mean so much more as the story continues.
The references to painters, art and mythology give this thriller a fresh angle from its friends on the bookshop shelves and add a delicious depth to the characters and their situation. However it is never overly intellectualising, pretentious or distracting. It's subtly thought provoking, used to enhance characters and provide metaphors in a story that is fast paced made up largely from dialogue and internal monologue.
I think what makes this book resonate, what makes it unsettling, is that this is a normal couple - a normal family. Neither husband nor wife is apparently unhappy, vindictive, frustrated. There is no reason for anything to rumble the status quo. But it does. And from that point everything unravels. It resonates because it is relatable, believable and probably captures our deepest fears of what could happen to any of us. Cotterell constantly says to the reader, "What would you do?" "Could you?" and that classic, "What if....."
"Life doesn't just 'go on' as the cliche has it. The clocks are reset, relationships recalibrated."
I really liked the recurring concept of an "infinite lie" and how "lies compound like a debt until you can no longer pay the interest." Cotterell really conveys the domino effect of the situation Alice and Ed find themselves in. He cleverly builds plenty of tension and suspense as the reader holds their breath in anticipation while watching it all play out.
Despite how this review might make the book appear, it is not a heavy read. I flew through it in record time, totally engrossed. Although Alice is prone to reflection and artistic musings, she is also capable of shrewd, sharp and humorous description, particularly when talking about her school mum acquaintance Bea:
"Bea is part of the school-run-have-coffee-play-tennis-back-to-yours-for-a-gossip-and-a-salad-and-a-glass-of-wine-oh-go-on-then-I'm-not-driving-OMG-it's-time-to-pick-up-the-kids-brigade."
And there is lots of very down to earth, blunt observations on contemporary society too:
"I had never realised how the Internet throbs 24/7 on subjects that make the national news. Trolls, conspiracy theorists, single issue maniacs, swivel-eyed obsessives, anyone with dodgy spelling and an iron cast opinion have a new home."
This creates a good balance against the deeper reflections about art and portraits - although the concept of faces, what we see, what we are and what is the truth, are intrinsic to the novel. I really enjoyed Alice's comments about portraits and how at times they also conveyed a kind of naivety in what she was missing, what she was not seeing, not able to grasp.
"Always start with the eyes. They tell you how strong someone is, what reserves they have, how far they would go. They reveal the structure. The rest is cladding."
"A portrait is a painted answer; I only had a canvas of questions."
"What is a portrait if not the opening up of a character, the physical manifestation of the story of a life."
There are plenty of universal themes in this novel. There are the obvious ones about truth, honesty, loyalty, marriage, friendship and parenting. Then there is almost a second layer of more underlying, implied themes like the difference between right and wrong and how that can change depending on circumstances and responsibilities, what does it mean to do the right thing, how much is class still an issue in our society, what does it really mean or take to say sorry. There is a lot about perception and expectation too. As I have said already, Cotterell does a magnificent job of exploring all of these concepts through a very captivating story line which will appeal to a very wide audience and appeal to people on a number of layers. Whether you are looking for a chilling read that is ultimately enthralling and full of twists or whether you are looking for something more fascinating, entrancing and unputdownable, this is the book for you!
I found the ending very emotional. The last three pages actually had quite a profound affect on me, a bit like an epiphany even. I'd half guessed a few things along the way but really needed to join the dots and then I finished reading with a whole host of new questions! I really want people to read this book so I can talk about it some more!
My final point would be to congratulate Cotterell on writing from a female point of view with such conviction and authenticity. And for the lasting impression this book has made on me as I continue to think about the lines you often have to consider crossing or not crossing in life, and what it really means to protect those we love.
"Life isn't only what you see in front of you. It takes place in the margins, in the lines between the squares."
If you enjoyed "The Widow" by Fiona Barton, "In Her Wake" by Amanda Jennings, "Lying in Wait" by Liz Nugent or "My Husband's Son" by Deborah O'Connor, then you will definitely enjoy this.
Without a doubt 5* from me. Absolutely loved it.
November 28, 2016
I think I’m going to struggle reviewing this book as I don’t want to give too much away! I went into it with an open mind, not having read any reviews, and I’m glad as I think I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about the plot which is always a refreshing change for me!
And where do I start?! Probably by saying I loved how this author was able to make me feel such a deep dislike for this couple! I will talk a little about them separately but as a couple I found them to be the worst kind of pretentious, self-obsessed middle class parents I have possibly ever read about! I wondered how they would have developed leading married lives with different partners but had a feeling that Ed in particular would have been exactly the same! I might be a bit controversial here and say that although Ed was a pompous, arrogant and egotistical husband I put a lot of his behaviour down to how others reacted to him. His patients with their expensive gifts and adoration were playing to his ego but I felt that Alice with her blind devotion and steadfast loyalty was actually just as culpable. When Ed went missing and wasn’t answering his phone, she was repeatedly saying that situations were “unlikely” and “inconceivable” as she knew her husband so well that it was ridiculous to assume any wrong doing by him. In fact, I felt that she behaved far more like his mother than his wife with her unwavering conviction that she absolutely knew Ed 100% so that she wouldn’t even entertain the notion that he may be in the wrong! I felt so frustrated by her!
I also felt that while Alice maintained an undeviating devotion to her husband, her relationship with her own children seemed forced and awkward as if they were on the periphery of their family. She didn’t seem to engage with them as I would have expected especially once the plot starts to unravel. It does become apparent once we meet Alice’s own mother why this may be but weirdly, for me, it didn’t make her more amiable but quite the opposite.
I think this storyline wouldn’t have worked half as well were it not for the absolutely beautiful, almost poetic, writing of T.A. Cotterell. I found myself almost hypnotised at times by his seductive prose as it flowed across the pages. His artistic knowledge also shone through along with his obvious passion for the arts and it gave his book an authenticity that lifted it for me. This book instigated such strong feelings of repugnance and frustration but it still had me rapidly turning the pages desperate to uncover the truth. And the least said about that ending the better!
It’s hard to believe that this is the author’s debut novel as he has such a confident, self assured style. He has set the bar high for himself in the future but I can’t wait to discover where he goes from here.
And where do I start?! Probably by saying I loved how this author was able to make me feel such a deep dislike for this couple! I will talk a little about them separately but as a couple I found them to be the worst kind of pretentious, self-obsessed middle class parents I have possibly ever read about! I wondered how they would have developed leading married lives with different partners but had a feeling that Ed in particular would have been exactly the same! I might be a bit controversial here and say that although Ed was a pompous, arrogant and egotistical husband I put a lot of his behaviour down to how others reacted to him. His patients with their expensive gifts and adoration were playing to his ego but I felt that Alice with her blind devotion and steadfast loyalty was actually just as culpable. When Ed went missing and wasn’t answering his phone, she was repeatedly saying that situations were “unlikely” and “inconceivable” as she knew her husband so well that it was ridiculous to assume any wrong doing by him. In fact, I felt that she behaved far more like his mother than his wife with her unwavering conviction that she absolutely knew Ed 100% so that she wouldn’t even entertain the notion that he may be in the wrong! I felt so frustrated by her!
I also felt that while Alice maintained an undeviating devotion to her husband, her relationship with her own children seemed forced and awkward as if they were on the periphery of their family. She didn’t seem to engage with them as I would have expected especially once the plot starts to unravel. It does become apparent once we meet Alice’s own mother why this may be but weirdly, for me, it didn’t make her more amiable but quite the opposite.
I think this storyline wouldn’t have worked half as well were it not for the absolutely beautiful, almost poetic, writing of T.A. Cotterell. I found myself almost hypnotised at times by his seductive prose as it flowed across the pages. His artistic knowledge also shone through along with his obvious passion for the arts and it gave his book an authenticity that lifted it for me. This book instigated such strong feelings of repugnance and frustration but it still had me rapidly turning the pages desperate to uncover the truth. And the least said about that ending the better!
It’s hard to believe that this is the author’s debut novel as he has such a confident, self assured style. He has set the bar high for himself in the future but I can’t wait to discover where he goes from here.
November 29, 2016
All of my reviews can be found on www.novelgossip.com
Many of you have probably seen tons of posts about this book all over social media, I know I did before reading it and my interest was piqued the first time as I wondered what, exactly, does Alice know? You have to read it yourself to find out, but suffice it to say, it’s troubling and really makes you think.
Every once and awhile I strongly encourage you to go into a book as blind as possible and that’s what I’m suggesting here. I promise the extract won’t spoil things, it’ll just whet your appetite and leave you wanting more. But, when you finish you’ll most likely need to talk to someone else who has read it, so feel free to come chat with me! (Thanks to Kate from Bibliophile Book Club for letting me badger her!)
I was utterly consumed by this book straightaway, I think a bomb could’ve went off and I wouldn’t have been bothered. Alice is an average woman living a pretty average life until one night her husband is unaccounted for. This is completely out of character for Ed, and as Alice starts to dig deeper into where he actually was, she uncovers things that have the power to change her life forever. The choices Ed made have a huge impact on their lives and this story is about the aftermath of one fateful night.
There are so many underlying themes here, I kept thinking that this would spark so many fantastic discussions for a book club. The power and impact of lying, the lengths one will go to protect their loved ones, honesty and truth, I could go on and on. This isn’t a classic thriller in the sense that you’re wondering who committed a crime but rather you’re wondering how things will play out. Can a massive secret be kept or will lies fester and eat you up inside? There is not the typical mounting tension, but instead there are a number of very tense scenes where you’re sure things are coming to a head only to be proved wrong.
Cotterell has a very unique and fresh type of psychological thriller in What Alice Knew and his prose is infused with gorgeous descriptions of art as Alice is a portrait landscaper. I’m blown away that this is a debut novel as it doesn’t read that way. Besides a totally absorbing plot, you have vibrant and rich descriptions and fascinatingly complex characters. There are plenty of unexpected turns and outcomes throughout, then the ending. It was one of those shocking endings that I needed time to process. In a way it’s ambiguous but it really couldn’t be more fitting.
Many of you have probably seen tons of posts about this book all over social media, I know I did before reading it and my interest was piqued the first time as I wondered what, exactly, does Alice know? You have to read it yourself to find out, but suffice it to say, it’s troubling and really makes you think.
Every once and awhile I strongly encourage you to go into a book as blind as possible and that’s what I’m suggesting here. I promise the extract won’t spoil things, it’ll just whet your appetite and leave you wanting more. But, when you finish you’ll most likely need to talk to someone else who has read it, so feel free to come chat with me! (Thanks to Kate from Bibliophile Book Club for letting me badger her!)
I was utterly consumed by this book straightaway, I think a bomb could’ve went off and I wouldn’t have been bothered. Alice is an average woman living a pretty average life until one night her husband is unaccounted for. This is completely out of character for Ed, and as Alice starts to dig deeper into where he actually was, she uncovers things that have the power to change her life forever. The choices Ed made have a huge impact on their lives and this story is about the aftermath of one fateful night.
There are so many underlying themes here, I kept thinking that this would spark so many fantastic discussions for a book club. The power and impact of lying, the lengths one will go to protect their loved ones, honesty and truth, I could go on and on. This isn’t a classic thriller in the sense that you’re wondering who committed a crime but rather you’re wondering how things will play out. Can a massive secret be kept or will lies fester and eat you up inside? There is not the typical mounting tension, but instead there are a number of very tense scenes where you’re sure things are coming to a head only to be proved wrong.
Cotterell has a very unique and fresh type of psychological thriller in What Alice Knew and his prose is infused with gorgeous descriptions of art as Alice is a portrait landscaper. I’m blown away that this is a debut novel as it doesn’t read that way. Besides a totally absorbing plot, you have vibrant and rich descriptions and fascinatingly complex characters. There are plenty of unexpected turns and outcomes throughout, then the ending. It was one of those shocking endings that I needed time to process. In a way it’s ambiguous but it really couldn’t be more fitting.
December 5, 2016
This was a really intriguing, layered psychological thriller, the kind I love to read.
It will hold you fast till its startling conclusion—and then you’ll want to talk about it to anyone who will listen. An impressive debut.
It will hold you fast till its startling conclusion—and then you’ll want to talk about it to anyone who will listen. An impressive debut.
January 9, 2017
This book came to my attention through a Bookbub email and once I read some of the excellent reviews, I purchased it.
The main character in the story is Alice. Alice has a perfect life, a job she enjoys, happy kids and a loving husband, Ed. One night, Alice receives a suspicious phone call and, after Ed doesn’t come home, she starts to investigate what might have happened to him.
Alice paints portraits for a living and looks into people very deeply, which makes her very confusing to follow as a character. Ed is completely different, he is an Obstetrician and very laid back and calm. Both characters are highly respected within their professions.
The book is told in the first person view by Alice and it’s quite hard to review without revealing any spoilers but essentially, you find out quite early in the story 'What Alice Knew' and then the story progresses with how Alice and Ed have to deal with their knowledge.
I found the first third of the book very good. The pace was fast and learning about the characters involved was interesting, but nearly half-way through the book, I felt that things started to change. I found that Alice became a very hard person to like and I also struggled to believe the situations that she found herself in.
*** SPOILERS BELOW ***
Alice’s old friend was weird and I still don’t know how she managed to have a bit of evidence about Ed that the police apparently never had or thought of. The policeman out of the 70’s was a strange addition to the story and what he was wearing and how he acted was described in such detail that I thought it would be highly relevant to the storyline - turns out it wasn’t relevant at all. Alice’s children were never really mentioned during the story but became a key reason for Alice’s final decision, which seemed a bit strange to me and the side storyline with Alice’s mother felt constructed and perfectly timed to this crisis that Alice was having and I found the timing in particular really difficult to believe.
I could go on with more things that disappointed me but I won’t. I don’t know how this book has been rated so highly as it seemed average to me at best. I liked the idea behind the story and the fact that Alice was willing to lie for her husband but by the time I got to the end of the book, I had grown despondent and any other event that happened just seemed to be way too contrived.
A good idea but really poorly executed.
The main character in the story is Alice. Alice has a perfect life, a job she enjoys, happy kids and a loving husband, Ed. One night, Alice receives a suspicious phone call and, after Ed doesn’t come home, she starts to investigate what might have happened to him.
Alice paints portraits for a living and looks into people very deeply, which makes her very confusing to follow as a character. Ed is completely different, he is an Obstetrician and very laid back and calm. Both characters are highly respected within their professions.
The book is told in the first person view by Alice and it’s quite hard to review without revealing any spoilers but essentially, you find out quite early in the story 'What Alice Knew' and then the story progresses with how Alice and Ed have to deal with their knowledge.
I found the first third of the book very good. The pace was fast and learning about the characters involved was interesting, but nearly half-way through the book, I felt that things started to change. I found that Alice became a very hard person to like and I also struggled to believe the situations that she found herself in.
*** SPOILERS BELOW ***
Alice’s old friend was weird and I still don’t know how she managed to have a bit of evidence about Ed that the police apparently never had or thought of. The policeman out of the 70’s was a strange addition to the story and what he was wearing and how he acted was described in such detail that I thought it would be highly relevant to the storyline - turns out it wasn’t relevant at all. Alice’s children were never really mentioned during the story but became a key reason for Alice’s final decision, which seemed a bit strange to me and the side storyline with Alice’s mother felt constructed and perfectly timed to this crisis that Alice was having and I found the timing in particular really difficult to believe.
I could go on with more things that disappointed me but I won’t. I don’t know how this book has been rated so highly as it seemed average to me at best. I liked the idea behind the story and the fact that Alice was willing to lie for her husband but by the time I got to the end of the book, I had grown despondent and any other event that happened just seemed to be way too contrived.
A good idea but really poorly executed.
January 27, 2018
If you want to make an artist a main character in fiction, don’t pick a writer. Choose a composer or a painter - that way the author doesn’t have to provide samples of the character’s work. (Sometimes, as in Anthony Quinn’s Freya, the author does and they’re perfect!) Unfortunately, Mr. Cotterell wastes this advantage by making Alice not only a portrait painter, but the narrator. Which means she has to talk about her work - and is she a bore! Having spent most of my professional life at the first university to award degrees for creative projects, I learned the difference first-hand between artists and poseurs. Artists make art. Poseurs talk about art. (Fuelled by ETOH, too many of the former morph into the latter at mid-life.) Alice talks about art a lot! Speaking of her portrait of a rich man’s trophy wife: ‘The great Joseph Mallard William Turner painted light; I had painted a faux-girly voice and a belief in the redistributive power of shopping.’ (I haven’t a clue what ‘redistributive’ means in that sentence.) Visiting a country-house, you might see a deer or a cow on the grounds. Not Alice. ‘Away to the left a speckled fawn appeared at the edge of the trees, paused, sniffed, and disappeared back into the protective darkness. I half expected to see a Cuyp cow nosing around the water-meadow or Constable’s lad flat on his stomach, drinking from a stream.’ Having been given all of Turner’s Christian names, I’m disappointed Alice didn’t specify Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp and John NMI Constable. But my favourite of Alice’s aphorisms was: ‘All art is a quest for truth, every picture a set of problems that has to be solved with integrity.’ Try that one in your personal statement in your application to art school - you’ll not even get into SCAD. Try this one instead: ‘All art is a quest for deception, every picture a set of problems to be solved with trickery.’ And Alice very badly needs trickery because her husband is suspected of committing murder. A murder which is being investigated by an English policeman who is apparently also dressed for a costume party: ‘in a prune chunky-collared shirt, three buttons undone, and a copper-coloured leather jacket with a stretchy waist. His chest was frothy with hair. The fat brass buckle of his leather belt shone in the sun. Standing there in too-tight jeans and cowboy boots with vertical calligraphy . . . he should have packed a piece in a shoulder-holster.’ Alice is literally dumbfounded but as already is apparent, this woman has no sense of humour. She ought instead to whistle a few bars from ‘Someday Soon’ and then say pertly, ‘Hi, you’re in early from California! How was the drive?’ Alice mentions his footwear again (Tony Lama’s apparently opened a shop in the Piccadilly Arcade) but she never tells us what the ‘calligraphy’ on his boots actually represents: Chinese ideograms or the opening words of the Aeneid in italic hand or what? And no real cowboy wore a shoulder holster; you carry your Colt 44 in a holster on a gun belt slung low on your hips, like John Wayne. Alice is equally at a loss with the legal system and develops an obsession with going to the police to confess what she knows of her husband’s involvement with the victim, even though she claims to believe his protestations of innocence. If she read crime fiction instead of poseurs like Salinger, she’d know that the police and the prosecutors care nothing for moral guilt or innocence, their only interest is in securing a conviction, whether the accused actually did it or not. That’s how our legal system works. I did, however, find What Alice Knew not entirely a waste of time. Reading Alice’s pontifications about art made me want to see some real portraits, and a trip to Google images led me to find Lucian [Michael] Freud’s ‘Girl in Bed’ and then I didn’t utter a word about ‘truth’ or ‘integrity’ - just ‘Wow’!
July 3, 2017
I bought my paperback copy of What Alice Knew from sainsbuy's
Don't go into this book thinking that it will grip you from the first page until the last because it won't. All this book is, nothing more than a light suspence. Sorry I have to be truthful. I have read better books filled with gripping suspence. Alice's husband Ed hasn't come home and he is not answering his phone. Flowers turn up simply signed ML . A friend told Alice that she had seen her husband Ed on Stokes Croft. That was the second time that Ed had been seen in Stokes Croft in less than a week. A society girl Araminta Layall had been found dead in her flat. Ed was seen talking to Araminta Layall. The police are treating her murder as suspicious. Alice demands that her husband must talk to the police because he spent the night with Araminta before she was murdered. Evidence suggests that there are questions to be answered. How do you ask a faithful husband after being married for fifteen years whether he has slept with another woman, even more so when that woman has subsequently died? Simply asking the question exposes the loss of trust. If you are willing to read a light suspence then you enjoy reading What Alice Knew.
Don't go into this book thinking that it will grip you from the first page until the last because it won't. All this book is, nothing more than a light suspence. Sorry I have to be truthful. I have read better books filled with gripping suspence. Alice's husband Ed hasn't come home and he is not answering his phone. Flowers turn up simply signed ML . A friend told Alice that she had seen her husband Ed on Stokes Croft. That was the second time that Ed had been seen in Stokes Croft in less than a week. A society girl Araminta Layall had been found dead in her flat. Ed was seen talking to Araminta Layall. The police are treating her murder as suspicious. Alice demands that her husband must talk to the police because he spent the night with Araminta before she was murdered. Evidence suggests that there are questions to be answered. How do you ask a faithful husband after being married for fifteen years whether he has slept with another woman, even more so when that woman has subsequently died? Simply asking the question exposes the loss of trust. If you are willing to read a light suspence then you enjoy reading What Alice Knew.
December 1, 2016
WTF.....Just finished. Fastest book I've read in awhile. I was glued to it. A proper page turner.....full review will follow. I need to process that ending!!!!!
5* for having me so engaged!!!
Ok..here's my full review :
‘Sometimes it’s better not to know’
What Alice Knew is unbelievably a debut novel by T.A Cotterell.
Published by Black Swan, a Transworld/Penguin Random House imprint, What Alice Knew is available in ebook format from Dec 1st 2016 and will be available in paperback next Spring (20th April 2017).
Read on for my full thoughts and YES I DO recommend….
Alice Sheahan is a successful portrait artist. Her husband Ed is a successful obstetrician. They have two children, Nell and Arthur. They live a very busy lifestyle, with both away from home when work requires it.
Everything changes when Alice receives a call while returning home very late one night. It is her daughter Nell. Ed has not returned home as previously agreed. Alice, concerned for her husband’s safety, panics and fears for the worst. The following day Ed surfaces. He is safe. Alice is happy…..for now!!
What unravels is a story that would put you on the edge of your seat.
I have watched House of Cards on Netflix and as I was reading this book, the behaviour of Alice and Ed initially reminded me of Francis and Claire Underwood. Their reactions, the way they speak to each other is quite Machiavellian ‘The End Justifies The Means’
Alice is exposed to the facts about where Ed was and what subsequently transpired. She takes it all on board rather methodically and makes a decision that, to the reader, seems insane.
The descriptions of art in this book are very strong. The imagery utilised by T. A. Cotterell are a reminder of his own background in art. His own personal knowledge lends to the realism of the story. I could smell the paint, I could visualise the ‘paint-spattered table’. Alice is an artist. She sees things in colour. Ed, on the other hand is very fact driven and sees everything in black & white.
Two very different personalities, yet they unite when trouble brews.
‘Ed stood in my studio…He was in his suit, erect and professional, silhouetted against the open window. He was wearing an ochre-lined sharply tailored narrow-lapelled herringbone suit and a cerulean shirt, open at the neck. He moved smoothly, the regular tennis player, retriever of lost causes….Ed’s capacity to compartmentalize was awe-inspiring’
Alice’s description of Ed is almost like she is describing a predator and not her own husband. As the book progresses he leaves Alice doubting her role as a good wife, as a good mother. He twists and turns his words to his own liking confident in his superior ability to influence Alice’s decision-making ability.
‘A portrait is a quest for truth. It spares no one.’
A great opening line.
Alice, as an artist, believes this to be true. As the novel progresses the ugly truth pushes itself to the fore through various means, eager to be revealed.
When I finished What Alice Knew I felt bereft.
What had happened? Did the situation really play out in that fashion?
What Alice Knew will appeal to fans of different genres. It is most definitely psychological but not a fast paced thriller. It is a book centred around a crime but yet the crime itself seems almost secondary.
As I was reading What Alice Knew I was reminded of Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait. The characters are very strongly and vividly described. As a reader you will be exposed to the manipulation of a person in the most heinous manner.
What did Alice know??
Well now that’s down to you the reader to find out… please let me know what you think!
5* for having me so engaged!!!
Ok..here's my full review :
‘Sometimes it’s better not to know’
What Alice Knew is unbelievably a debut novel by T.A Cotterell.
Published by Black Swan, a Transworld/Penguin Random House imprint, What Alice Knew is available in ebook format from Dec 1st 2016 and will be available in paperback next Spring (20th April 2017).
Read on for my full thoughts and YES I DO recommend….
Alice Sheahan is a successful portrait artist. Her husband Ed is a successful obstetrician. They have two children, Nell and Arthur. They live a very busy lifestyle, with both away from home when work requires it.
Everything changes when Alice receives a call while returning home very late one night. It is her daughter Nell. Ed has not returned home as previously agreed. Alice, concerned for her husband’s safety, panics and fears for the worst. The following day Ed surfaces. He is safe. Alice is happy…..for now!!
What unravels is a story that would put you on the edge of your seat.
I have watched House of Cards on Netflix and as I was reading this book, the behaviour of Alice and Ed initially reminded me of Francis and Claire Underwood. Their reactions, the way they speak to each other is quite Machiavellian ‘The End Justifies The Means’
Alice is exposed to the facts about where Ed was and what subsequently transpired. She takes it all on board rather methodically and makes a decision that, to the reader, seems insane.
The descriptions of art in this book are very strong. The imagery utilised by T. A. Cotterell are a reminder of his own background in art. His own personal knowledge lends to the realism of the story. I could smell the paint, I could visualise the ‘paint-spattered table’. Alice is an artist. She sees things in colour. Ed, on the other hand is very fact driven and sees everything in black & white.
Two very different personalities, yet they unite when trouble brews.
‘Ed stood in my studio…He was in his suit, erect and professional, silhouetted against the open window. He was wearing an ochre-lined sharply tailored narrow-lapelled herringbone suit and a cerulean shirt, open at the neck. He moved smoothly, the regular tennis player, retriever of lost causes….Ed’s capacity to compartmentalize was awe-inspiring’
Alice’s description of Ed is almost like she is describing a predator and not her own husband. As the book progresses he leaves Alice doubting her role as a good wife, as a good mother. He twists and turns his words to his own liking confident in his superior ability to influence Alice’s decision-making ability.
‘A portrait is a quest for truth. It spares no one.’
A great opening line.
Alice, as an artist, believes this to be true. As the novel progresses the ugly truth pushes itself to the fore through various means, eager to be revealed.
When I finished What Alice Knew I felt bereft.
What had happened? Did the situation really play out in that fashion?
What Alice Knew will appeal to fans of different genres. It is most definitely psychological but not a fast paced thriller. It is a book centred around a crime but yet the crime itself seems almost secondary.
As I was reading What Alice Knew I was reminded of Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait. The characters are very strongly and vividly described. As a reader you will be exposed to the manipulation of a person in the most heinous manner.
What did Alice know??
Well now that’s down to you the reader to find out… please let me know what you think!
December 5, 2016
I have seen What Alice Knew all over social media, so being the curious person that I am I just had to read it for myself. I have read some of the reviews for this book and they are glowing to say the least but I’m going to be brutally honest and admit shock! horror! Although I enjoyed this novel it didn’t set my heart on fire. Don’t get me wrong it’s a very accomplished debut from new author on the block T.A. Cotterell, and he certainly knows how to produce a suspense fuelled read, but I did have a couple of issues with this book, mostly down to my own personal preferences when reading a book of this genre. I’m sure there are lots of reviewers who are shaking their heads, wondering if I’ve lost the plot (excuse the pun) at this point in my review.
I was surprised that this novel read totally different to the images I conjured up from the book description, so the author has done a remarkable job in leading the reader down a very “original” path. Rather than deal with “the who done it”, the author concentrated on the after-mass of events, a bold move in my opinion but he has deftly used this formula to good effect.What Alice Knew is certainly a character led novel unfortunately I wasn’t able to relate to either Alice or her husband Ed, Alice is an artist and much of what she feels is shown through her paintings, Ed appears to be completely self observed and shows very little emotion when you take in to consideration his actions and the consequences of his behaviour. As events spiral out of control for the “perfect” couple I found the main characters to be unreliable narrators which for me always enhances my enjoyment of a novel, as you are never quite sure where the truth lies and I found myself questioning the characters actions and intentions every step of the way.
It’s obvious from the authors writing that he loves art and he describes some of the finer points of art eloquently and with a great deal of passion, I must admit I did feel there were too many references to art, beautifully described but I found this distracted from my enjoyment of this book. Many reviewers are talking about the ending of this book, I’m must admit I pretty much guessed the ending, so I really wasn’t left thinking “what the hell just happened?” I felt the ending was ambiguous to say the least, personally I prefer an ending where by all my questions are answered by the last page, rather than being left to draw my own conclusions.
The descriptive style of writing is both lyrical and eloquent, but unfortunately some of this was also lost on me. I’ve come to the conclusion I’m a reader who likes to escape into a book but doesn’t necessarily look for a deeper meaning (my bad) but I’m sure What Alice Knew is going to be loved by many it’s certainly intriguing, twisted and very well executed and it definitely doesn’t read like a debut novel.
I was surprised that this novel read totally different to the images I conjured up from the book description, so the author has done a remarkable job in leading the reader down a very “original” path. Rather than deal with “the who done it”, the author concentrated on the after-mass of events, a bold move in my opinion but he has deftly used this formula to good effect.What Alice Knew is certainly a character led novel unfortunately I wasn’t able to relate to either Alice or her husband Ed, Alice is an artist and much of what she feels is shown through her paintings, Ed appears to be completely self observed and shows very little emotion when you take in to consideration his actions and the consequences of his behaviour. As events spiral out of control for the “perfect” couple I found the main characters to be unreliable narrators which for me always enhances my enjoyment of a novel, as you are never quite sure where the truth lies and I found myself questioning the characters actions and intentions every step of the way.
It’s obvious from the authors writing that he loves art and he describes some of the finer points of art eloquently and with a great deal of passion, I must admit I did feel there were too many references to art, beautifully described but I found this distracted from my enjoyment of this book. Many reviewers are talking about the ending of this book, I’m must admit I pretty much guessed the ending, so I really wasn’t left thinking “what the hell just happened?” I felt the ending was ambiguous to say the least, personally I prefer an ending where by all my questions are answered by the last page, rather than being left to draw my own conclusions.
The descriptive style of writing is both lyrical and eloquent, but unfortunately some of this was also lost on me. I’ve come to the conclusion I’m a reader who likes to escape into a book but doesn’t necessarily look for a deeper meaning (my bad) but I’m sure What Alice Knew is going to be loved by many it’s certainly intriguing, twisted and very well executed and it definitely doesn’t read like a debut novel.
March 19, 2017
I had to give up. The rambling art scenes were too much, the lack of parenting was unreal and the sense of entitlement from both Alice and her husband annoyed me. Him declaring that he has chosen his family over prison and then asking his wife to choose? Seriously? I would have grabbed the nearest blunt instrument and kicked his stupid ass out the door. Plus, one very annoying line that galled me. There's only one thing worse than a man who drinks alone; it's a woman who drinks alone.
The author can write, but just not in sentences that I enjoy. Pity, as the premise was good.
The author can write, but just not in sentences that I enjoy. Pity, as the premise was good.
November 8, 2016
I was one of those who had seen this title appear on various social media pages and, as i'm nosey, I needed to know more as it sounded like a rather intriguing tale - and it has proved to be just that!!
How far would you go to protect your family?! This is the tale of Alice and Ed. They have the perfect life - she's an artist and he's an Obstetrician - and they have 2 children, Nell and Arthur, and all is going swimmingly...... until Ed goes missing one night and seems to have trouble remembering where he was or who he was with. And then the police get involved and the truth starts to come to light...
As we follow the story we are soon left wondering who to trust as the truth of that missing night unravels and i enjoyed having my mind changed about the honesty of certain characters. For Alice, knowledge is supposed to be power but it also seems to be a burden she is struggling to carry and I was left sympathising with her as the events and fallout seemed to cause her more stress and worry than her husband.
Also fascinating side of things to see how a family under investigation deal with the press intrusion and the online comments as we all know that nowadays everybody has an opinion about a story, even if they don't know all the facts.
Thought the pace and setting of the story were first class and the ending left me shocked and was one I didn't see coming! The author did an excellent job of setting up a few possibilities of how things would turn out so you are never sure!
Found this to be such an interesting read as you find yourself wondering what you'd do in a similar situation and that sometimes the more you know, the harder it is to deal with!
An excellent debut psychological thriller and I can't wait to read more from this author!
How far would you go to protect your family?! This is the tale of Alice and Ed. They have the perfect life - she's an artist and he's an Obstetrician - and they have 2 children, Nell and Arthur, and all is going swimmingly...... until Ed goes missing one night and seems to have trouble remembering where he was or who he was with. And then the police get involved and the truth starts to come to light...
As we follow the story we are soon left wondering who to trust as the truth of that missing night unravels and i enjoyed having my mind changed about the honesty of certain characters. For Alice, knowledge is supposed to be power but it also seems to be a burden she is struggling to carry and I was left sympathising with her as the events and fallout seemed to cause her more stress and worry than her husband.
Also fascinating side of things to see how a family under investigation deal with the press intrusion and the online comments as we all know that nowadays everybody has an opinion about a story, even if they don't know all the facts.
Thought the pace and setting of the story were first class and the ending left me shocked and was one I didn't see coming! The author did an excellent job of setting up a few possibilities of how things would turn out so you are never sure!
Found this to be such an interesting read as you find yourself wondering what you'd do in a similar situation and that sometimes the more you know, the harder it is to deal with!
An excellent debut psychological thriller and I can't wait to read more from this author!
June 22, 2017
If I could just write "absolute twaddle" I would. But I need to say more. How this had so many high scores I do not know. So unbelievably far fetched and if I had to read Darling once more I would have given up. I gave it 2 stars purely cos I stuck with it and it was readable but was so disappointed in it. The art stuff was unnecessary too and ending was just ridiculous.
July 22, 2017
This book really wasn't what I expected. It is a bit of a mystery and a good look at secrets and morals. Alice as the main character maintained my interest in the story, the author has created a character with a detailed personality: annoying at times, likeable at times. It does jump around a bit and the detail at times is a bit distracting, but as a debut novel it was enjoyable. It is definitely a good book for a book club the range of issues covered are ripe for debate.
December 17, 2016
Not very believable
Why would a doctor who doesn't drink go to a party instead of going home to his children who are alone in the house?
The plot hinges on Ed doing something out of character but the problem is it is so WAY out of character.
And the way Alice and Ed kept calling each other darling and 'my darling' was irritating
Why would a doctor who doesn't drink go to a party instead of going home to his children who are alone in the house?
The plot hinges on Ed doing something out of character but the problem is it is so WAY out of character.
And the way Alice and Ed kept calling each other darling and 'my darling' was irritating
November 30, 2016
I love when you go to read a book and it turns out to be a completely different story to the one you expected – not only is What Alice Knew a different story to what I thought, but it gripped me in a way I wasn’t expecting and really got me thinking about how far I would go to keep a secret?
This book got off to a great start, the mystery began to build and my interest was piqued, by page 86 (to be exact) I was hooked and I knew this was going to be a fantastic read.
From the synopsis, you may form your own ideas about what this book is about and I won’t talk too deeply about the plot as I think, if you have similar idea’s to me about what this book entails, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Cotterell created a fantastic character in Alice, faced with a tough decision, she did her best to stay true to herself and for that reason she was an extremely likeable character. Alice is a portrait artist, and I really like how the author used artistic references throughout this book. I must admit, some of the references to famous artwork/artists was lost on me, (Banksy creates graffiti art all over the city, that’s about the extent of my knowledge), but I think someone who has a more extensive knowledge of art, may really appreciate these references and it may give the story more meaning to them. Let me be clear, it didn’t take away from the story, I’m just wondering if there was some little element, or clever statement, I missed due to my lack of knowledge.
What I could and did really appreciate were the references to how a portrait displays a person’s truth.
“A portrait is a quest for truth.”
As the revelation came for Alice, her ability to paint these portraits for her clients, her livelihood, became conflicted. Almost to portray another person’s truth, you must know your own and more importantly, accept it. It’s this theme within the book that I really enjoyed. A book earns major point for me when it gets me thinking deeply and that’s just what this book did.
“Sanity is the capacity to edit.”
“How long can you defend the indefensible?”
This book had me asking so many questions and in all honesty, questioning my own character – would I act as Alice did if I knew what she knew, how loyal is too loyal? It’s easy to say ‘I would do this’ or ‘she should have done that’ but when faced with the reality of a situation, you can only hope that you’d do the right thing.
The character of Alice was extremely well-developed, as was the character of Ed, her husband. The contrast of the differing personalities between husband and wife excellently displayed how different people deal with the truth.
An excellent read, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Cotterell writes next. I invite you all to buy this book and find out what Alice knows.
*My thanks to Becky Hunter at Transworld Books for providing me with a copy of this book*
This book got off to a great start, the mystery began to build and my interest was piqued, by page 86 (to be exact) I was hooked and I knew this was going to be a fantastic read.
From the synopsis, you may form your own ideas about what this book is about and I won’t talk too deeply about the plot as I think, if you have similar idea’s to me about what this book entails, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Cotterell created a fantastic character in Alice, faced with a tough decision, she did her best to stay true to herself and for that reason she was an extremely likeable character. Alice is a portrait artist, and I really like how the author used artistic references throughout this book. I must admit, some of the references to famous artwork/artists was lost on me, (Banksy creates graffiti art all over the city, that’s about the extent of my knowledge), but I think someone who has a more extensive knowledge of art, may really appreciate these references and it may give the story more meaning to them. Let me be clear, it didn’t take away from the story, I’m just wondering if there was some little element, or clever statement, I missed due to my lack of knowledge.
What I could and did really appreciate were the references to how a portrait displays a person’s truth.
“A portrait is a quest for truth.”
As the revelation came for Alice, her ability to paint these portraits for her clients, her livelihood, became conflicted. Almost to portray another person’s truth, you must know your own and more importantly, accept it. It’s this theme within the book that I really enjoyed. A book earns major point for me when it gets me thinking deeply and that’s just what this book did.
“Sanity is the capacity to edit.”
“How long can you defend the indefensible?”
This book had me asking so many questions and in all honesty, questioning my own character – would I act as Alice did if I knew what she knew, how loyal is too loyal? It’s easy to say ‘I would do this’ or ‘she should have done that’ but when faced with the reality of a situation, you can only hope that you’d do the right thing.
The character of Alice was extremely well-developed, as was the character of Ed, her husband. The contrast of the differing personalities between husband and wife excellently displayed how different people deal with the truth.
An excellent read, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Cotterell writes next. I invite you all to buy this book and find out what Alice knows.
*My thanks to Becky Hunter at Transworld Books for providing me with a copy of this book*
November 26, 2016
Alice thinks she has a great life. She loves working as a portrait artist, has two wonderful children and a loving, successful husband. All this changes when her husband doesn't come home one night and in the morning claims not to remember anything that happened the night before. Flowers start arriving, there are strange phone calls and her normally technophobic husband has suddenly changed the password on his phone. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Alice tries to find out for herself what is going on. What she discovers, however, she's not sure she believes and what should she do now she has discovered the truth?
This book is unique firstly as it is told from Alice's point of view, as one if the supposed guilty people. This offered a rare look at how it must feel to be accused of a crime and the effect it can have on a person. Secondly the event and who done it is actually solved fairly early on in the novel. What follows is Alice's reaction to what happened and the gradual unraveling of her life as she deals with it.
The atmosphere in this book is very tense with the reader never really knowing when and what is going to happen next. Even in the quieter, more descriptive passages you are wondering why this is happening and what it's relevance is to the whole story. There are a lot of twists in the book too. Just when you think you have figured out what is happening and how the story might progress something happens to turn things in a completely new direction. This keeps you intrigued and make you want to continue reading to find out what happens next.
There are many fascinating, thought provoking themes mentioned in this book which I kept thinking about and caused a few heated discussions with my husband. As such it would make a good book club read as there would be lots to discuss!
The characters are very well drawn and I developed quite a strong opinion of them quite quickly. I found I either really liked them or thought them deeply unpleasant- there was no middle ground.
I thought the ending was really great. A very interesting way to end the book and a fantastic final twist. It was quite poignant and I have continued to think about it long after finishing the book.
The only reason this isn't 5 stars for me is that I felt it was quite descriptive in some places which detracted from the main story. As such if was difficult in places for me to dip in and out of which is necessary for me as I only get to read at night when the kids are in bed.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a thriller that makes you think. As I said above it would make a great bookclub read for that reason.
Huge thanks to Transworld publishers, in particular Becky Hunter for giving me this advanced proof. I really enjoyed it!
This book is unique firstly as it is told from Alice's point of view, as one if the supposed guilty people. This offered a rare look at how it must feel to be accused of a crime and the effect it can have on a person. Secondly the event and who done it is actually solved fairly early on in the novel. What follows is Alice's reaction to what happened and the gradual unraveling of her life as she deals with it.
The atmosphere in this book is very tense with the reader never really knowing when and what is going to happen next. Even in the quieter, more descriptive passages you are wondering why this is happening and what it's relevance is to the whole story. There are a lot of twists in the book too. Just when you think you have figured out what is happening and how the story might progress something happens to turn things in a completely new direction. This keeps you intrigued and make you want to continue reading to find out what happens next.
There are many fascinating, thought provoking themes mentioned in this book which I kept thinking about and caused a few heated discussions with my husband. As such it would make a good book club read as there would be lots to discuss!
The characters are very well drawn and I developed quite a strong opinion of them quite quickly. I found I either really liked them or thought them deeply unpleasant- there was no middle ground.
I thought the ending was really great. A very interesting way to end the book and a fantastic final twist. It was quite poignant and I have continued to think about it long after finishing the book.
The only reason this isn't 5 stars for me is that I felt it was quite descriptive in some places which detracted from the main story. As such if was difficult in places for me to dip in and out of which is necessary for me as I only get to read at night when the kids are in bed.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a thriller that makes you think. As I said above it would make a great bookclub read for that reason.
Huge thanks to Transworld publishers, in particular Becky Hunter for giving me this advanced proof. I really enjoyed it!
October 30, 2017
My nana shared an amazon account with me, meaning that every so often, my phone would notify me about books I never cared about, but she did. She was a huge fan of (what I see as) terrible crime novels. Trashy, with a loathing of anyone not middle class and fitting neatly into the 'pure victim' lines. She also loved other crime books, but that's not what amazon pushed to my phone a few days after her death. Spoilers below, but they are in my usual dyspraxic style. The writing style is great, and is very easy to go through.
Goodbye nana. I hope you enjoy the fact I read this bad book for you.
Goodbye nana. I hope you enjoy the fact I read this bad book for you.
August 7, 2017
I have never given a book a single star before, here or anywhere else, and it is strange that I am doing so on a book that is engaging, well written, and which explores many interesting ideas.
The sad fact is that the ending is so utterly ludicrous that it ruins the entire book and actually makes one angry that what should have been a five star experience seems little more than a waste of time.
Spoilers Below
The following assumes that the reader has read the book:
Once you actually start to analyse the plot of this book you realise that it is absolutely riddled with absurdities from start to end. It's almost certainly the case that these would have been dismissed as 'writer's licence', if it hadn't been for a appalling ending.
Starting at the ending, the first question is: What was Alice trying to achieve?
1) To get herself thrown in jail for a murder she didn't commit (and which hadn't, in fact, taken place) to protect someone who had got away with nothing worse than being involved in an accident.
2) To go through the motions, knowing that there was no way that she could ever get the police to charge her. (Her lack of knowledge of the layout of Minta's flat would would ensure no case was ever brought.)
3) To prod the police into investigating further , discounting her ridiculous confession, but causing the to dig deeper into Ed's (who no longer has an alibi) involvement.
Only the third of these makes even the tiniest bit of sense (and I feel is being promoted by the allegory of the kingfisher at the end, immediately after the officer says: 'prove it').
The outcome of these three alternatives are (using murder to stand for both murder and manslaughter):
1) Someone goes to prison and condemns her children to go through life as the children of a murderer, herself to spend unpleasant years in prison and never to paint again. And, given Alice's extreme attachment to the truth, all this based on a lie.
2) Just: why?
3) Assuming she believed that it was an accident:
a) Her husband goes to jail for a crime he did not commit. The girl's parents have to live with the knowledge that she was murdered. She loses her husband, Her children lose their father.
b) He is acquitted and they have gone through all the stress for nothing, and her children have to go through life as having a father charged with murder. The girl's parents have to suffer a court case and will never be quite sure if their daughter was murdered.
What was Ed thinking when he decided to run rather than report
This is a rational, intelligent, man, used to having to make life changing decisions in circumstances of great stress.
We have to believe that his thought process ran along the lines of either:
1) This is a terrible accident where someone has tripped and fallen on to something. The scene (as described) indicates that this was, at the very worst, manslaughter. I must report it and explain, calmly and carefully, what happened.
2) This is a terrible accident where someone has tripped and fallen on to something. I'll obviously be charged with murder. I'll just hope that there were no witnesses to my coming or going, no CCTV, that I have left no fresh DNA, that I have left no other evidence, that the police will not find out about the flowers, that the police will not find out about the phone calls, that my wife will unquestioningly (and successfully) provide me with an alibi. Yes, that's going to work. I'll run for it and let them think it was an accident.
Three technical details here being:
1) He tried to resuscitate her which would leave massive evidence that someone else was, at least peripherally, involved.
2) The police could get her PayGo phone records by the simple expedient of asking for her number from any of her friends.
3) The police would check Ed's phone records and find the evidence of the vast number made to him from Minta.
You may argue the even someone like Ed could, in the stress of the moment, make the wrong decision. This is probably true. But within minutes, certainly an hour, he would have realised his mistake.
Further problems
Marnie's expulsion
How did that work?
In the story:
Head: What are all you girls doing here?
Girls: Someone told us Marnies been stealing money.
Head: Marnie, you're expelled, leave in the morning.
Reality:
Head: What are all you girls doing here?
Girls: Someone told us Marnies been stealing money.
Head: Who?
Girls: Alice?
Head: Where is Alice?
Girls: In the Dorm.
Head: Go and get her. Marnie, what happened.
Marnie: I saw ta ten pound note on the floor, realised it must have come from Annabel's locker so was putting it back.
Head: Have their been any reports of money going missing this term/year?
Girls: No miss.
Alice arrives
Head: Alice, what exactly did you see?
Alice: Marnie with a note in her hand a the locker door open.
Head: did you see her remove the note from Annabel's locker?
Alice: No, miss.
Head: Well, given that there has been no history of theft, don't you think you were rather jumping to conclusions?
Alice: Yes miss.
Head: Well, run along, girls, and 'Annabel'.
Annabel: Yes miss.
Head: I suggest you keep your locker locked when you are not accessing it. The clue it its function is in its name.
Annabel: Yes miss.
Ed and the others going back to Minta's flat.
What was each persons motive?
Ed: Too tired and drunk to formulate a coherent plan.
Minta: To take a' walking dead tired', happily married drunk back to her place to try and seduce him and prise him from his family.
Johnny Trumble: To take a' walking dead tired', happily married drunk back to Mint'a place, so she could try and seduce him and prise him from his family, whilst he had a nap in another room.
Or were they planning a threesome?
Police procedures
These were all over the place and quite unrealistic. There was also no mention whatsoever of the CPS who would make the decision on whether or not to prosecute - at arms length from any possible gung-ho and over enthusiastic policeman.
The sad fact is that the ending is so utterly ludicrous that it ruins the entire book and actually makes one angry that what should have been a five star experience seems little more than a waste of time.
Spoilers Below
The following assumes that the reader has read the book:
Once you actually start to analyse the plot of this book you realise that it is absolutely riddled with absurdities from start to end. It's almost certainly the case that these would have been dismissed as 'writer's licence', if it hadn't been for a appalling ending.
Starting at the ending, the first question is: What was Alice trying to achieve?
1) To get herself thrown in jail for a murder she didn't commit (and which hadn't, in fact, taken place) to protect someone who had got away with nothing worse than being involved in an accident.
2) To go through the motions, knowing that there was no way that she could ever get the police to charge her. (Her lack of knowledge of the layout of Minta's flat would would ensure no case was ever brought.)
3) To prod the police into investigating further , discounting her ridiculous confession, but causing the to dig deeper into Ed's (who no longer has an alibi) involvement.
Only the third of these makes even the tiniest bit of sense (and I feel is being promoted by the allegory of the kingfisher at the end, immediately after the officer says: 'prove it').
The outcome of these three alternatives are (using murder to stand for both murder and manslaughter):
1) Someone goes to prison and condemns her children to go through life as the children of a murderer, herself to spend unpleasant years in prison and never to paint again. And, given Alice's extreme attachment to the truth, all this based on a lie.
2) Just: why?
3) Assuming she believed that it was an accident:
a) Her husband goes to jail for a crime he did not commit. The girl's parents have to live with the knowledge that she was murdered. She loses her husband, Her children lose their father.
b) He is acquitted and they have gone through all the stress for nothing, and her children have to go through life as having a father charged with murder. The girl's parents have to suffer a court case and will never be quite sure if their daughter was murdered.
What was Ed thinking when he decided to run rather than report
This is a rational, intelligent, man, used to having to make life changing decisions in circumstances of great stress.
We have to believe that his thought process ran along the lines of either:
1) This is a terrible accident where someone has tripped and fallen on to something. The scene (as described) indicates that this was, at the very worst, manslaughter. I must report it and explain, calmly and carefully, what happened.
2) This is a terrible accident where someone has tripped and fallen on to something. I'll obviously be charged with murder. I'll just hope that there were no witnesses to my coming or going, no CCTV, that I have left no fresh DNA, that I have left no other evidence, that the police will not find out about the flowers, that the police will not find out about the phone calls, that my wife will unquestioningly (and successfully) provide me with an alibi. Yes, that's going to work. I'll run for it and let them think it was an accident.
Three technical details here being:
1) He tried to resuscitate her which would leave massive evidence that someone else was, at least peripherally, involved.
2) The police could get her PayGo phone records by the simple expedient of asking for her number from any of her friends.
3) The police would check Ed's phone records and find the evidence of the vast number made to him from Minta.
You may argue the even someone like Ed could, in the stress of the moment, make the wrong decision. This is probably true. But within minutes, certainly an hour, he would have realised his mistake.
Further problems
Marnie's expulsion
How did that work?
In the story:
Head: What are all you girls doing here?
Girls: Someone told us Marnies been stealing money.
Head: Marnie, you're expelled, leave in the morning.
Reality:
Head: What are all you girls doing here?
Girls: Someone told us Marnies been stealing money.
Head: Who?
Girls: Alice?
Head: Where is Alice?
Girls: In the Dorm.
Head: Go and get her. Marnie, what happened.
Marnie: I saw ta ten pound note on the floor, realised it must have come from Annabel's locker so was putting it back.
Head: Have their been any reports of money going missing this term/year?
Girls: No miss.
Alice arrives
Head: Alice, what exactly did you see?
Alice: Marnie with a note in her hand a the locker door open.
Head: did you see her remove the note from Annabel's locker?
Alice: No, miss.
Head: Well, given that there has been no history of theft, don't you think you were rather jumping to conclusions?
Alice: Yes miss.
Head: Well, run along, girls, and 'Annabel'.
Annabel: Yes miss.
Head: I suggest you keep your locker locked when you are not accessing it. The clue it its function is in its name.
Annabel: Yes miss.
Ed and the others going back to Minta's flat.
What was each persons motive?
Ed: Too tired and drunk to formulate a coherent plan.
Minta: To take a' walking dead tired', happily married drunk back to her place to try and seduce him and prise him from his family.
Johnny Trumble: To take a' walking dead tired', happily married drunk back to Mint'a place, so she could try and seduce him and prise him from his family, whilst he had a nap in another room.
Or were they planning a threesome?
Police procedures
These were all over the place and quite unrealistic. There was also no mention whatsoever of the CPS who would make the decision on whether or not to prosecute - at arms length from any possible gung-ho and over enthusiastic policeman.
December 7, 2025
Das Leben eines erfolgreichen Paares nimmt eine jähe Wende und ist nur durch eine Lüge aufrecht zu erhalten. Aber schafft man es, sein Leben auf einer Lüge aufzubauen und die Moral außer Acht zu lassen?
Das Buch hätte spannender sein können. Es zieht sich seicht dahin, um am Ende doch noch zu überraschen.
Das Buch hätte spannender sein können. Es zieht sich seicht dahin, um am Ende doch noch zu überraschen.
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