What She Knew

Rachel Jenner was living every parent’s worst nightmare. Her eight year old son, Ben, was missing and she was the last person to see him. Recently divorced, she was spending time with her son walking in the woods with their dog, something that they had done in the past. Ben wanted to run ahead, and she let him, and when she arrives at their meeting place moments later, he’s gone.

Making matters worse, when the police have a press conference and ask her to read from a prepared speech, she does not come off to the audience as the grieving mother looking for her son, rather she comes off looking guilty and that she is hiding something. This makes most people outside of the investigation believe that Rachel has something to do with his disappearance and we see news articles with their thoughts and comments.

We see the police in their hunt for who took Ben and why. We see them look at what everyone would assume first- sexual predators in the area, and also those who have contact with Ben on a daily basis. We see them get new leads and tracking these leads down, and how they become frustrated when they learn that someone among them is leaking information to the press.

In her search for her son, Rachel learns more about her past, and she learns what she missed with her son because of the divorce. We read from the perspective of three people, Rachel, the lead detective, and a psychologist interviewing the lead detective afterward. Will they find her son alive? What secrets does Rachel learn?

I enjoyed reading this book and could not put it down. I like books that have different perspectives of the same story. I also enjoyed how the author included “news” articles about the situation and the comments section- something that we see today.