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No One You Know

ISBN: 978-0385340144

About This Book

“Heartbreaking and compelling…A thoroughly riveting literary thriller.” Booklist, starred review

“An excellent, emotionally intelligent literary mystery.” London Daily Mail

 

All her life Ellie Enderlin had been known as Lila’s sister—until the day Lila, a top math student at Stanford, was murdered, and the shape of their family changed forever. Twenty years later, Ellie is a professional coffee buyer who has never put down roots. When, in a chance meeting, she comes into possession of the notebook that Lila carried everywhere, Ellie returns home to finally discover the truth about her sister’s death—a search that will lead her to Lila’s secret lover, to the motives and fate of a man who profited from their family’s grief, and ultimately to the deepest secrets even sisters keep from each other.

A Booklist “Great Books for Book Groups” Selection:

This title proved to be a sure bet and the discussion was long and lively…this novel could be used by book discussion groups who do not think of themselves as a crime fiction discussion group.  But they will.

“Richmond returns to San Francisco for another enjoyable blend of mystery and domestic fiction…Vivid descriptions and loving explanations of the city and intelligent forays into the sciences of coffee and mathematics enhance Richmond’s quietly captivating novel.” Publishers Weekly

“Michelle Richmond follows her compulsively readable fiction debut, The Year of Fog, with an equally addictive encore. Richmond takes a singular approach in No One You Know. The story is propelled by the mystery surrounding Lila’s death, the who- done-it and why. But the central narrative is more focused on emotional truths than on solving a crime.” Denver Post

“Thoughtful, involving, intricately constructed, and well written…Michelle Richmond never strikes a false note in No One You Know. It’s an intelligent, emotionally convincing tale about a family tragedy and the process of storytelling.” Boston Globe

“As complex and beautiful as a mathematical proof, this gripping, thought-provoking novel will keep you thinking long after the last page has been turned.” Darcy Jacobs, Family Circle

“An absorbing read made urgent by needing to know ‘whodunit’. But it is much more than that, being a tale of family, loss, love and misused trust. A clever, unusual read.” Sarah Broadhurst for The Bookseller, Britain, June 2009 debut of the month

See my tour of the city behind the book in  San Francisco: My Kind of Town for the Telegraph.

 

“Michelle Richmond strikes the perfect balance of rural past and urban present in her fiction. As a native of Alabama (and now a San Francisco diehard), she takes a unique approach to her characters, at once delicate and deliberate, that’s full of city sensibilities and venturous diction. No One You Know, Richmond’s third novel, is a family saga set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s café culture and intelligentsia.” Laureen Mahler for Flavorpill

“NYT bestselling author Michelle Richmond is a bit of a chimera: her novels certainly have mainstream, commercial appeal but there’s often a dark core to them, along with influences that include Italo Calvino and Paul Auster. This gives them a lot more depth than the breezy covers might suggest. Her latest, No One You Know, is as much Borgesian mystery as it is the story of a complex relationship between a woman and her sibling.” Jeff VanderMeer (City of Saints and Madmen) for Amazon Editors’ Blog

“Richmond’s The Year of Fog was a bestseller, and her follow-up, a tale of love, loss and betrayal, is even more compulsively readable…A mesmerizer that delves into how little we sometimes know about the ones we love.” Caroline Leavitt for Dame Magazine

“This novel may seem at first to be genre fiction, but it is in fact literary fiction, the best sort. Richmond explores the devastating effects of grief and survivor guilt. She demonstrates how little, really, we know about even the people closest to us. ” Don Noble for Alabama Public Radio

This novel hits all the right buttons—incredible olfactory descriptions of coffee, a trustworthy narrator, great villain, suspenseful plot, fear of math… guard it carefully. If you leave it lying around, someone will pick it up, start reading, and never put it down until the end.” Anita Garner for Alabama Writers’ Forum

“Richmond’ novels have a commercial mainstream appeal with literary depth…The authenticity and psychological accessibility of Richmond’s characters propels the plot, keeping the reader hooked to the last page.” Reba McMellon for The Mississippi Press

“An exciting psychological thriller.” Tina Magazine, Germany (Read an interview about this book in German here.)

A featured alternate selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and the Mystery Guild. Also available in audio and as an e-book