I KNOW SHE WAS THERE

Every night, Caroline Case pushes her newborn daughter Emmy through an affluent upstate New York neighborhood, where she can’t fight the urge to spy on the far more glamorous lives of the wealthy and privileged. Nothing in her life is as perfect as the families she sees through their blindless windows—she’s dealing with an emotionally absent husband, grief over her recently deceased mother, her colicky new baby, and depression (“The postpartum meds hadn’t worked, and I wasn’t able to sleep without Xanax”). The only thing that gets Caroline through the long days of sleeplessness and child rearing is her nightly walk throughDeer Crossing. Her latest subject of surveillance is Jane Brockton, who is embroiled in an affair with one of her neighbors. But when Jane confronts Caroline, the interloper pulls back from watching her so closely to focus on another couple in the neighborhood. Melanie is having an affair, too, but her story takes a deadly turn when Caroline witnesses her murder. Or did she? Caroline might not be the most reliable narrator, as her mental health is on the decline. (She drinks wine at all hours of the day in her empty home and no longer speaks to anyone aside from her alcoholic neighbor Mary.) She’s also on the outs with her only friend, Muzzy Owen, after learning of her affair with Caroline’s husband. Still, Caroline won’t be so easily deterred from this mystery—even when the stakes grow deadly. The novel is split into two halves. The first is a slow burn; the second has more twists and turns to keep readers engaged as they must keep track of each new revelation. Caroline is a typical unreliable narrator who sows seeds of distrust—readers will oscillate between condemning her actions and rooting for her despite it all. The mystery at the heart of the narrative is resolved in a surprising and satisfying way.