"If You Knew Her"

“If You Knew Her”

Written by Emily Elgar

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

A startling entry in the psychological thriller subgenre, “If You Knew Her” by Emily Elgar grips ahold of its readers, with an enchanting and harrowing tale. The story follows three perspectives: the past perspective of Cassie, a woman who has been brutally injured in a hit and run, Alice, her nurse, and Frank, a man who is also in a coma, on the same ward as Cassie.

With a twisted eye for detail, Elgar creates highly likeable protagonists, with many interesting qualities and personality, as well as shifty and a manipulative, evil villain. The other remaining suspects are indelibly fascinating, leaving a strong impact in each red herring.

In each perspective, we learn drastically important, but sometimes intriguingly subtle, details about the other characters. In some ways, we have that interesting contras that leads to false leads.

I was quite surprised by the serious themes of this story including troubled marriages, spousal abuse, treatment of mental illness, miscarriages, and difficulty with pregnancy. Those more important themes were handled with pure grace and care, in a wonderfully delicate manner. The emphasis on including these themes greatly improved the novel, creating far more developed and thorough characters. Every step that Elgar added to this book was purposeful and honest, with genuine intentions. The reveal of the villain was perfectly paced, in a manner that was quick and deliberate, but also teasingly suspenseful.

There were not many areas of this book that I did not enjoy. Sometimes, the dialogue felt very rushed and a tad unnatural. The police procedure and hospital procedure of a hit and run felt very glossed over and could have been improved by more research. I personally think that this book would have been much more enjoyable without the “in a coma, yet present” perspective of Frank. I personally am not a fan of stories and books told through the perspective of a person in a coma, but who is so aware, they are able to solve the mystery. Elgar’s portrayal of him was pitch-perfect, but I would have far preferred his character and story placed into a different book.

In conclusion, I felt this was a great read. I whole-heartedly believe that Elgar is a brilliant writer, and I intend to read future works by her. I highly recommend this book to those interested in psychological thrillers that delve into the domestic, family theme. I rated this book at four out of five stars; the book’s focus on Frank felt unnecessary and a tad boring to me in certain places. I fully hope that my readers would give this a try, because I have not yet heard a single person mention this. Let’s spread the word.

I received a complimentary finished copy of this novel, in exchange for my reading and writing a review. Thank you again to William Morrow and Harper Collins.