What She Knew: A Novel

Rachel Jenner and her son Ben are enjoying a frequent tradition: spending time in the park with their dog, Skittle, when things take a turn. Ben asks to run ahead to the rope swing, and Rachel agrees. That's the last she sees of her son. It's as if Ben has vanished into thin air, and Rachel feels her world cleave into two. The police are called, and the investigation is handed over to DI James Clemo. This is Jim's first major investigation as lead, and he's determined to do it right. Meanwhile Rachel is reeling from her decision to allow Ben to run ahead--one that's quickly questioned by her ex-husband and soon, the media. As days pass by without a break in the case, the media quickly turns its harsh glare directly onto Rachel. Rachel, meanwhile, starts questioning herself--and those around her.I absolutely adored Gilly Macmillan's mystery The Perfect Girl, so when I saw she had a new book coming out, I knew I had to read it. I didn't realize it was part of a series (apparently featuring Jim Clemo), so I decided to read this one first. It's Macmillan's first book, but, of course, you can barely tell, because she's an amazing writer. She's going to be one of my favorite mystery writers going forward.The format of the novel is unique -- we get Jim and Rachel's point of view, broken down by Day 1, 2, 3, etc. of Ben's disappearance. But we also get transcript pieces of Clemo's meetings with a psychologist, whom he is meeting with a good year after Ben's disappearance. The gist is that Ben's case has so clearly affected Clemo and his job performance that meeting with this woman--in hopes of getting a good report--is the only way he may be able to remain on the job.It's an effective format and certainly ratchets up the suspense and tension as we wonder exactly what happened to Ben: who took him? Will he return home safely to his mother and father? Is anyone in this novel telling the truth? It's a slow-burning book, with no major sudden twists and turns, but deftly written, with each character superbly fleshed out. Our cast is small, but well-done: Ben's mother and father, his teachers and schoolmates, his troubled aunt, and those investigating his case.The standouts, of course, though are Rachel and Jim--our storytellers. Rachel is reeling from her divorce, telling us her story directly, and delving into her own flaws. It allows Macmillan to illustrate the power (not always positive) of modern day society's relentless media focus and what those anonymous people in social forums can do to real, actual people. Rachel isn't always a sympathetic character, though my heart often went out to her, but she's real--a flawed, authentic mother.And, speaking of flaws, Jim is a fascinating character. We get bits and pieces of how he's formed by his past. He's not a one-dimensional, stereotypical policeman, but a very intricate character. He's driven, but honestly, he's really quite a mess. As a result, he's intriguing but also frustrating in many ways. I'll be quite interested to see where he is in Macmillan's second novel in the series.So, while this novel is filled with complicated characters, it is also a mystery at its core. Our intricate cast slows things down a bit, but luckily the plot keeps you guessing and wanting to turn the pages. I had various suspicions, throughout, but the ending completely surprised me (something that's hard to do). The novel takes a lot of unexpected turns. At the halfway point, I was completely befuddled, but invested.Overall, this one is pretty captivating. I actually found myself keeping my daughters closer to me while reading and feeling nervous when they ran off. The night after I finished it, I had creepy dreams about a child being kidnapped--I rarely, if ever, dream about the books I'm reading! Sweet Ben really touched me and, as I mentioned, while I didn't always like Rachel, I very much empathized with her. Macmillan is a wonderful writer, and I'm very excited to be starting ODD CHILD OUT in the next couple of days.

Overall a very literary and affecting book about a young boy who disappears while he is on a walk in the woods with his mother.About three-quarters of the way in I did find myself skimming pages wondering when we were going to finally get to the “who-done-it” and when we finally do find out who the perpetrator is, we’ve literally run out of any other viable suspects. (Why the endless passages about the investigating officer’s psychotherapy sessions - especially since we are never told WHY he’s in therapy in the first place other than now he has “anxiety”? Why are these here when we already have half the story narrated BY him and we know first-hand how the case is affecting him?)The agony of a parent of a missing child is well written and I did appreciate that everything isn’t all wrapped up in a neat “happy family” bow at the end. Every single person in this story - from the investigative officers to the family are all very clearly damaged by Ben’s abduction (most of all Ben himself) and it was a relief to see this portrayed realistically and not smoothed over with platitudes and bland assurances that it’s all OK when Ben is finally rescued. There is no “Perry Mason” style ending here where all is revealed -which I found very real and very effective.There were however two big plot problems for me:1) Maybe it’s just me - but as a criminal justice professional I’m never a big fan of the “I had to take the law into my own hands” angle and I’ll just say if this was the real world the actions of our main character Rachel would have pretty much guaranteed the suspect would have got away with the crime (illegal search, unauthorized entry, breaking and entering ... and that’s just the beginning). This kind of thing makes for great TV and a thrill -but in the real world cases just don’t work like that and I do get very tired of this kind of behavior being rewarded. Rachel decides she knows best (which has literally gone very badly every other time) and refuses to wait a few hours to speak to the officers handling the case which - again -in the real world - would have entirely jeopardized the case with her rash decision to investigate on her own. Of course she alone solves the mystery (as is always the case with this irritating theme) but it might have made an even better story if her actions damaged the case against the kidnapper. (Especially since, at this point, while Rachel is illegally snooping around - we know Ben has been found)2) I could have done without the “infertility =crazy” plot twist. This would almost be acceptable if we had any real sense of the kidnapper or their motives - but a major point is that they steadfastly refuse to discuss any of the reasons why they took young Ben - so their infertility is literally offered as a fait accompli - they found out that they couldn’t have children so naturally, they went nuts.My problem is that the story would have made perfect sense without this - we have a depressed, somewhat neglectful mother obsessed with hating her ex and his new wife -who grills Ben every time he comes back from visitations to the point that he says negative things to please her about how bad it is. In fact Rachel is so distracted by her own misery at her husband leaving her that at one point she sends Ben to school with what turns out to be a broken arm - despite the fact that he is obviously in great pain. Certainly that in and of itself would have been enough for a caring person to tip over the edge and become obsessed with a child they saw as living with an unfit and even dangerous parent and who needed “rescuing” - So why add the insulting and tired trope that women who can’t have children are “bad” and “crazy”?Despite this , “What She Knew” is better than most in this genre and contains some genuinely touching and heartfelt moments as the search for a missing child becomes a news and internet obsession.

Enjoy the movement among characters but is sometimes frustrating to remember who is who. Do recommend for a pretty quick read of an interesting tale with twists and turns.

So - this book is gooooood!On a Sunday afternoon in Bristol, Rachel takes her 8 year old son Ben for a walk to one of their regular places in the woods with their dog Skittle. Ben wants to run on ahead to the rope swing which Rachel is unsure of. She knows she has to trust him as he is growing up, but is also hesitant as it is slightly out of sight. Reluctantly she lets him go on ahead, but when she reaches the swing - Ben and Skittle are not there. Ben is missing.The book focuses on a 9 day period and the chapters vary between Rachel and Detective Inspector Jim Clemo's perspective and this worked really well. Due to the two different perspectives, we get to learn more about other characters such as Rachel's sister Nicky and Clemo's colleague and family liaison officer, Emma Zhang.I loved the modern additions to the book, we see the role of social media and how this affects the case and how Rachel is viewed by the public. We also see the affect this has on her and even though she made some interesting decisions throughout, I couldn't help but sympathise with her.Usually with a thriller, I find the ending can feel somewhat rushed. We find out 'whodunnit' and then the story is tied up within a couple of chapters. However, this book was perfectly ended. Any questions I had were answered and I finished the book feeling very satisfied.If you love a police thriller/suspense/mystery type book, I highly recommend giving this a read. I could not put it down!

Having read The Nanny, I was keen to read this book. It was quite good but spoiled by a long drawn out ending containing a lot of waffle and padding with no real satisfactory conclusion. Yes, we learn who took Ben but it was such an anticlimax and seemed unimportant to the author who concentrated on the angst of two other people to such a degree that I wondered if I’d missed something relevant. However it would appear I didn’t, it was all about Rachel and Jim and little about the crux of the matter - the abduction.

Almost from the outset I was skipping paragraphs as it’s bulked out by pointless description that adds nothing to the storyline. I felt no empathy for the main character DI Clemo who I found to be consumed by his need to be omnipotent. He came across as a pathetic soul trying too hard to compete with the misguided image of his Father - which was touched upon briefly but not explored. I wouldn’t recommend this book, I’ve read far better and am surprised that the publishers chose to continue working with the author.

What She Knew is a completely addicting, riveting psychological thriller about a mother, Rachel, who lets her eight-year old son run ahead of her in a park, but then he goes missing, only a pile of his clothes left behind. The clock is ticking to find Ben alive.I was completely gripped by this suspenseful novel, not only because the characters were well drawn, the setting vivid and the plot full of twists and turns, but because as a mother I can completely identify and see myself in this situation. The what-if that every mother experiences in this story was like a punch to the gut. An absolutely brilliant read.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this well placed book and would recommend it to others. My only criticism is the constant use of the terms stable and unstable to somehow add gravitas by means is judging a woman's behaviour. I found this out of date, misogynistic, and bizarre. My experience of Rachel's distress was a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. This awful terminology perpetuates our society's need to value emotional flat lining. It also perpetuates the need to judge and value women on our ability to hide emotion, and to keep a stiff upper lip to be deemed "stable." This rather tainted my enjoyment of an otherwise intelligently written book.