Book Review: I Know Everything by Matthew Farrell

This was a brilliant twisty tale that captivated me from start to finish. I figured out part of the big reveal early on, but that’s likely due to a coincidence of timing that I can’t identify because it’ll give things away, but that in no way affected my enjoyment of the entire story. This was, simply put, a great read. High energy, gruesome bits and all, from start to finish. The characters were very well-crafted and thoroughly engrossing, as was the plot.

I read this entire book without realizing it was a second in series, or at least a second by the author, and only realized it when it ended with a name in what felt like a portentous reveal. The odds of a book ending on the revelation of a name that I had never heard in the course of the book I finished, clearly clued me in that there must have been some other story with that name as a major figure. That sent me to Google, which sent me to the first book by Farrell (What Have You Done), which I read just as enthusiastically and with just as much enjoyment as this one…

Farrell has a magnificent ability to paint at early broken people in the myriad colors they use to mask their brokenness. The plots are intricate, the secrets are sick on the ground, and the trauma and tragedy spend decades. Through a twisty-turny series of red herrings, true reveals, and half-truths that obscure as much as they reveal, the plot plays out in a way that keeps you furiously turning pages, uncertain of who to trust or where to turn until the final shoe drops. You do not have to read the first book to read the second, although the name at the end of the second will not make sense if you don’t. But you should read them both anyway – Farrell writes a fantastic thriller and I cannot wait to see what dark corners he drags us into next…

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.