BLOG TOUR: More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez

Published: July 7th, 2022
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Literary Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audiobook

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this sensational debut. Thank you to Ella at Michael Joseph for the invitation to take part and the gifted ARC.

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SYNOPSIS:

A RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
SCREEN RIGHTS SOLD TO THE PRODUCTION COMPANY OF BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA

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Lore Rivera was married to two men at once, until on a baking hot day in 1986, one of them found out and shot the other. A secret double life, a tragic murder.

That’s the story the world knows.

It’s not the story that fascinates Cassie Bowman.

Carrying the weight of her own family tragedy, true-crime writer Cassie wants to know more about the mysterious woman at the heart of it all: Lore.

And to her surprise, Lore is willing to talk – about how a dance became an affair; how a marriage became a murder.

As the two women grow closer, Cassie finds she can’t help but confess her own darkest secrets.

But when it becomes clear that there might be more to the night of the murder than anyone realised, can either woman face up to the thing they’ve been hiding from . . . the truth?

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MY REVIEW:

“When it’s done right, true crime tells us who we are, who we should fear, who we are always in danger of becoming. Under a careful investigative eye, someone opaque briefly becomes transparent. Even if what’s revealed is ugly, it’s true. And nothing is more beautiful than truth. “

Love. Lies. A secret double life that leads to a tragic murder. A true crime reporter who wants to tell the story behind the ending we already know. But could there be more to that fateful night than anyone realised? Can she uncover the truth?

“Crime is rarely over for the people involved. The impact lingers.”

This book is a true crime and thriller-lover’s dream. Like protagonist Cassie, I’ve had a fascination with true crime since I was young so any book, fact or fiction, that includes this topic is an instant addition to my TBR. There’s something about knowing how it will all end and that you are powerless to stop it that is just unbearably horrifying and haunting. Katie Gutierrez paints pictures with words that is at times poetic, at times stark and always flawless and suspenseful. Perfectly plotted and paced, this skillfully crafted hall of mirrors teases the reader with hints at the truth lying beneath the surface.
Alongside the true crime element, this is also a deft exploration of identity, motherhood, love, fidelity and secrets, the many layers to this story made for exciting reading. It is an emotionally charged, morally complex and cautionary tale with a looming sense of danger and deceit that hovers over every page as the characters hurtle towards tragedy in the past narrative and suspicions fly in the present. As the narrative that demands your full attention and I lost myself in the story, devouring it hungrily and racing through the final chapters to find out how it all ends. And when I did it made my jaw drop…drama unfolds, the tension builds to a delicious climax. It created a transfixing

“Motherhood is supposed to be quiet and pretty. Motherhood is not pretty. Motherhood has teeth.”

The story is told in dual timelines by two narrators: Cassie and Lore. Each woman has a distinct and different voice that is evocatively written, making you feel like you are in the story with them. Richly drawn, compelling, nuanced and flawed, I found them both easy to root for and connect with and enjoyed the complex relationship between them. I felt the strongest bond with Cassie thanks to our shared fascination with true crime and when she talked about why she loves the genre I felt like it was my own voice on the page. Lore is a much more complicated character. She is likeable yet her actions are unquestionably wrong, the decisions she makes having far-reaching consequences for those around her that she claims to love. I also liked that she is an unreliable narrator, the author making us question her story with suggestions that there are yet more secrets to be revealed.

“For every story told out loud, there is the private story, the one we only tell ourselves. And behind that—somewhere, often out of reach—is the truth.”

Stylish, intelligent, addictive and unpredictable, More Than You Will Ever Know is a sensational debut. Read it now.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Katie Gutierrez is the author of the national bestselling debut novel More Than You’ll Ever Know ( Morrow/Michael Joseph), which is also a Good Morning America Book Club pick for June 2022. She is a National Magazine Award finalist whose writing has appeared in TIME, Harper’s Bazaar, the Washington Post, Longreads, and more. She has an MFA from Texas State University and lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband and their two kids.

Website

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones | Amazon | Bookshop.org

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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles 😊 Emma xx