I’m sure this book will have its fans, but I can’t really say I will be one.
In this book we see the interactions of a group of friends from their teenage years up to adulthood when - years after seeing each other - they meet for a reunion. Our main focus is Adeline, something of an outsider, whose narration is coloured by her memories and prejudices.
The basic plot revolves around the group recalling one of their party talking about becoming famous by becoming a serial killer. They remember the details oddball Will gave about what he’d do, so when Will fails to turn up to the reunion they start to talk. Strange coincidences found...or are they signs of something more sinister?
Throughout the book we cut to details from their teenage years, which sheds some light on their dynamics and what might be happening.
Ultimately the characters felt like stock ones-the charismatic leader, the oddball, the outsider, the wannabe actress, the token Asian and the various adult characters that surround them. I never felt we learned enough about some of the characters to find their actions credible, and there really seems to be little point to the actual events of the book other than to either suggest one of the party really is psychologically terrifying, and the others are so bound by childhood memories that they can’t see what’s in front of them.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. No doubt loads of people will rave about this and it’ll become a cracking film, and it’ll have people wondering if I read the same book!

This is a very exciting debut novel – without doubt, S.R. Masters is an author to watch for in the future. It has a very contemporary feel and is set partly in 1998 and partly in 2015.

It is Christmas, 2015, and Adeline is returning to the small village of Blythe, where she moved as a resentful teen. Adeline does a movie podcast with friends Jon and Xan. However, her love of films came from those teenage years, when she became friends with Jen, Steve, Rupesh and Will. Having always had a difficult relationship with her mother, Adeline is keen to escape the house and have a reunion with those friends, who were once so important to her. There was Jen, now a teacher, who always wanted to be an actress. Rupesh, now a divorced doctor. Steve, who she was once romantically linked with. Then there was Will; always something of an outsider, a little odd.

When Will doesn’t turn up for the Christmas Eve reunion, the others discuss their summer camping trip, sixteen years before. The question they had posed, was what would they all be doing as adults. Will had announced that he wanted to be a serial killer. He would vanish, one year, and kill three people… Before long, the others are questioning where Will has, in fact, vanished to? Is he planning to fulfil his bizarre announcement, made so long ago? The group really do not have anything better to do, and various things they want to escape from, so they are suddenly all involved in trying to uncover Will’s whereabouts.

What follows is a fascinating account of that summer, in 1998, when the five friends roamed the countryside, trying to kill time and experiencing the highs and lows of teenage relationships, the group dynamics and a feud with Adeline’s neighbour, Mr Strachan. There is also the story, told along-side this, of the search for Will and whether he is, as they begin to suspect, a murderer…

This is a clever, original and interesting crime novel, with great characters and a really good story. Unusually for a novel with a dual time frame, I enjoyed both the current, and past, storylines. I highly recommend this and will look out for future books from Mr Masters. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

This was an interesting premise. One I enjoyed reading about, and hadn't really seen exactly like this before.

The bond between the group of friends was lovely to see, and although one of them had a startling, creepy revelation, we carried on with the dynamics and eventually all was revealed.

I was guessing right the way through and looked out for all those bits and pieces that I was hoping could let me in on what was going to happen. I didn't guess who/if/why the killer was, if there was one?!

Lot's of references to past times. The 90's references were great. I enjoyed those - the 90's rocked!

It felt a bit Stephen King-y, with the small community in the summertime - perhaps a bit IT and a bit Stand by Me.

I enjoyed it - however the flashbacks got a little repetitive. In that respect it was a bit like The Girl Before - where we saw different people's perspectives on the same event... Not a fan of this particular style.

The pace of the book was good. I would recommend to others, but I wouldn't read it again. :)

Five bored teenagers, the summer holidays stretching out in front of them, devise a game to play to keep them occupied which years later will affect them all in the most shocking way. As the story progresses, the characters unfold with a gripping storyline placed 16 years later when they decide to reunite. Unbeknown to them the game is afoot once more, and as they unravel the evidence it leads them to only one conclusion. Or does it?
I enjoyed this book, I really didn’t want to put it down, gripping stuff.
Netgally copy.

Entertain, and very psychological with some nice unusual plot lines that felt real and I didn’t know where they would end up. Definitely one to really sink your teeth into.

I really enjoyed this, Back and forward through the years you just know Will is going to change everybody's life, Whether for good or bad you will have to read for yourselves, great read.

This debut thriller did not disappoint. The premise alone was exciting; what if someone you knew was a serial killer? Would you see clues in your shared history warning it could happen? Would you be able to stop them? And if a friend says they plan to become one do you take them seriously or treat is as the joke you assume, and hope, it is?

The characters in this book were easy for me to relate to, having also been a teenager in the 90s when the flashback scenes are set. They’re just normal kids living normal lives and trying to make the most of the fun they can have before life forces them to go their separate ways. I liked how the book was narrated in present day by Adeline but how the flashbacks were narrated by all the gang at different times offering you a glimpse of their perspectives and building a fuller picture of each person and those final summers.

The book talks a lot about nostalgia and memories of “the best time in our lives”. But it also reminds us that events, and people, can be tinted through rose coloured or jet black lenses which prevent us from seeing clearly. A darkness can reside well hidden in a friend or a kindness misunderstood leading us to misjudge someone we thought we knew.

A great read for any fans of mystery or thriller stories.

I thought this book started out well, I quite liked the main female character,and the rest of the group seemed ok .At first I liked the technique of taking us back to the past and then fast forwarding to the future,but as the story unfolded I became less interested in the past and increasingly impatient to stay in the story now and see it develop.I also started to not like some of the main characters and that made me less interested in what happened to them.I felt like .this was a strange book for me strangely compelling yet too slow paced for me with all the trips back to the past.I would give it 3 and a half stars if I could but will round this up to 4 stars as I don't think it is fair to round it down.I would say it wasn't a perfect fit for me but hope others enjoy it and it is worth a read.Thanks to the Publishers and netgalley for an ARC.

The Killer You Know is an excellent, twisty suspense novel.

It deals with five friends across two main time periods, and flicks frequently between the five different points of view in the past and a single point of view in the present. This is a really good way of handling multiple characters, without everything getting too complex, as all of the present day events are seen from a single perspective. It also keeps the reader guessing about what the other four characters are really up to in the present day plotline.

As teenagers, we see the five hang out as teens over two summer holidays, falling into relationships and making up silly games to keep themselves entertained. There's plenty of conflict between them too, particularly when you throw in the possibly creepy neighbour one of them befriends. Their final summer ends with one of them deciding that when he grows up he'll be a serial killer, complete with all of the details of the murders he'll commit.

In the present day, four of the five meet up for a reunion, and begin to find clues that their missing friend may have actually followed up on his serial killing plans. They're never fully convinced whether they are being a bit silly, imagining things or whether they've stumbled onto a genuine threat.

This novel plays with different time periods really well. We get hints and foreshadowing of events in the past, which are slowly explored through the eyes of the five characters, each with a distinct voice and mannerisms. The present day mystery is enthralling enough, and kept me guessing for much of the book, and I really enjoyed the way the two narrative threads intertwined and built to a conclusion. There are a few threads that are never resolved, but that doesn't detract from the main thrust of the story. The main character is very likeable, even though she makes some quite frustrating choices at times. Some of the others are rather irrititating at times though, and it was hard to really care much for a couple of them, which diminished the growing feeling of jeopardy a bit towards the end.

I really loved the premise and blurb of this book but unfortunately, it did not deliver for me.

I did not like any of the characters and I felt the story dragged on a lot. It was still an OK read but I do not think I would read it again.

The premise of this book was really interesting: a group of five people, close friends as teenagers, organise a reunion in their home town. Now in their thirties, they recall an idea raised by one of them during their last night together in the nineties, that the way to become famous is to be a serial killer. But has the idea already been put into motion by one of them?

The story is told partly in the present day and partly in flashbacks to the long teenage summers in 1990s Blythe. The sense of being a teenager, the nostalgia for the days of youth and the group dynamics are well written. It's a clever idea.

However, I really struggled to care about the group. They all seemed quite unpleasant or crazy in their own ways and the motives weren't really very believable. I'm not even really sure, having got to the end, that I know what happened as there were some 11th hour curveballs thrown in, and not in a good way. I also found the long flashbacks quite dull at times, especially the ins and outs of their games. It never really felt sinister or tense, yet had so much potential. It's a shame.

Overall, this is well written and engaging if you are prepared to suspend disbelief at some of the behaviour and decisions of the characters. It's interesting and will keep you reading, but it left me a bit cold.

#TheKillerYouKnow #NetGalley This was a strange book for me. I loved all the twists and turns and how the relationship between the five friends shifted and twisted! But, there was something that didn't quite gel for me in how realistic the plot was and I did find that I got bored with some of the flashbacks where there seemed to be a lot of repetition and I found myself skim reading them so that I could get back to the present day action. The ending left me somewhat hanging and not 100% certain of who actually did what...….. Maybe a follow up book to come?

Ooh creepy. Who did it? Who murdered who? Were the suicides of the two women really murders? Just because someone says they're going to kill people and then they follow through with some of the actions; does it mean that they have followed through with the murders too? Is it a set up - and if so by whom?

All these questions came to mind while I was reading this book; and, I have to admit, that not all of them were answered to my total satisfaction. I can say that I'm 99% - well 90% perhaps - certain that they got the right person, but...

I enjoyed this book, the people are real - as 16 year olds they were all as gauche as we all were - as grown ups, so grown up and dumb as we all are. Can we not see people for 16 years and still find points of contact? Well worth a read.

Some spoilers folks ...This is a very popular book looking at the rateings and I am one that can suspend belief to a degree
However this was way too silly ,they jumped on the idea right away ooooh that the character will may have killed ,why?cause of odd suicide at festival ,and the characters briefly suggest a coincidence ,then bam they all buying into this idea
The nivanna badges left at the killings well who didn’t have a badge sticker like that hardly key evidence .
Then it’s like the author knows this and begins to have characters find these images on their shower walls or about the place ,again I was not convinced
How they located the character Will also was a long winded way and then ooh suddenly easy opt out ,he had a diffirent name ,that the doctor wasn’t happy looking into when they suggested looking for him under his original name but was fine breaking confidentiality when was the other name .?
You have to at least be able to believe in some of it
I’m sorry to say this was just depesrate attempt at a good concept ,great idea very badly plotted ,rushed ,grabbing at several straws and sad that it did that .

I rushed the ending as was bored
It’s well written and good sense of nostalgia and friend dynamics just not enough facts evidence trails for them to really believe he wd do anything and that just kept stopping me from buying in to the fact ,that they all did, so readily .
He wasn’t even that bad as a kid ,no hugely worrying signs ,maybe a bit awquard but nothing to really suggest he had it in him and was a threat ,
Thanks though netgalley and the publishers ,good writing good nostalgia just not much substance