📝 What is One of Us Knows about?:
In Alyssa Cole’s new book release, One of Us Knows, Kenetria Nash, is living with dissociative identity disorder. She seizes a chance at redemption as the caretaker of a historic home, but her newfound stability is shattered when she becomes a murder suspect during a storm. With the help of her alters, Ken navigates a perilous journey to uncover the island’s secrets and clear her name before time runs out.
📚 Genre: Thriller
🎧 Format: E-Book
💞 Feels: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of Us Knows, was at the top of my 2024 most anticipated books list. It was so beyond what I thought it would be. I didn’t read the synopsis, because I trust Alyssa Cole that much. I think I’m going to have to rethink the idea that I’m not a “thriller” girlie. Because I’ve enjoyed both of her thrillers now, and it’s got me giving cursory looks to other thrillers.
The epigraph really set the tone for me. An entry from The Awakening?! It got my English lit heart pitter patting. What mystery, self discovery and new beginning would we be setting off on? It gave me no clue, and the prologue had me perplexed. I’ll enjoy re-reading it all over again, now that I’ve experienced it. But in the beginning I didn’t know what or why the “Groupthink: Collaborative Journal” existed (Ken’s alters keep a digital journal to keep each other in the know) – that’s what I get for not reading the description beforehand.
But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such beginning!
Kate Chopin, The Awakening
I realized very quickly into chapter 1 what I’d failed to know before starting. This is a story about a person with DID (dissociative identity disorder). And from where we start, the reader and Ken, the main character, will be learning together what is happening. The reader does eventually get ahead of her, since we are privy to what the other headmates think and discuss with each other. But even when they’re sharing their thoughts, you never know if you can really trust them. Because the book title just kept drumming through my head – one of them knows something they’re not sharing.
And while Ken is dealing with the mystery of what her headmates aren’t telling her about her present circumstances. There is another mystery to solve about her past, how did she get this way? Why did the alters manifest? What do these clues she’s finding mean? Why has she been inactive for 6 years?
Once the POVs started changing I was in…so chapter 2 lol. It was just so fascinating to see all of these personalities (Solomon, Keke and Empress are my faves) that made Ken into a whole, but not really. I wish we’d been able to get more of the other alters, but Ken being a host, it made sense she would be the most visible in the chapter POVs. I have a feeling the other host, Della, would’ve grated on my nerves, I’m glad she took a backseat.
This is my first time reading a book where the character has DID, I’ve seen movies and tv shows, Fight Club, Moon Knight and The Three Faces of Eve. But it’s been a while – I think I like seeing it represented in book form better. Maybe because it’s up to my interpretation of how the switches appear, instead of seeing an actor’s idea. The alters interacting with each other felt new, they became individuals to me, more so than a different facet of one person, if that makes sense. So it sort of felt like a fantasy novel, with alters being able to interact and form relationships. I loved it.
With a murder mystery, childhood trauma, DID, “post”-pandemic caution, and a creepy castle setting this story was quite the feat. I didn’t know where it would go next or how it would wrap up. I had theories, I did pick out some crumbs in the beginnings of the book to remind myself of later, when I was sleuthing. And those tidbits didn’t fail me. I had a great time. Come for the mental health representation and stay for the female badassery. Kenetria Nash is my new favorite heroine.
✅ Spinoff novella nomination:
I want to learn more about Celeste and how she started working on the island.
What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.