Author: Kendra Elliot
Series: Noelle Marshall #2
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Format: Audio ALC and Kindle ARC
Narrator: Stephanie Németh-Parker
Length: 8 hrs 48 mins
Date of Publication: January 6, 2025
My Rating: 5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
For a detective and an FBI agent, two seemingly disparate murder investigations collide with a twist in an explosive novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.
In the crisp mountain air of central Oregon, a teenage girl’s search for discarded cans leads to a horrifying a body, brutally murdered and abandoned in the woods. The case falls to Deschutes County Detective Noelle Marshall, who finds herself navigating a community steeped in secrets, suspicion, and distrust of outsiders—especially law enforcement.
Miles away, FBI Special Agent Max Rhodes investigates a different kind of darkness—chatter about a violent uprising from a shadowy militia group preparing for war. The two cases seem worlds apart. But as Noelle digs into the murdered man’s past and Max closes in on the source of the terror plot, their paths begin to converge in a terrifying way. This was no random killing. It was a message. A merciless killer and a hidden army are operating in the same shadows, and finding the link between them is the only thing standing between a single murder and a full-blown massacre.
MY THOUGHTS:
When I first listened to No One Knew, Kendra Elliot was an unknown author to me. As I first went to write this review it wasn’t easy, so I visited the Fantastic Fiction website to explore her book collection. I discovered that I was reading the second book in a series. Thanks to Kindle Unlimited, I could access the first book, Her First Mistake, and even listen to her entire catalog. As the series progressed, I was impressed by Kendra Elliot’s ability to connect the various 34sseries and its characters seamlessly.
The story follows Noelle Marshall, a detective who has recently returned to her hometown in central Oregon. While there, she confronts her past and the secrets that her community harbors. These secrets come to the forefront when a body is discovered, causing concern among the townspeople. Their distrust and hidden truths pose a challenge to Noelle as she delves deeper into the investigation.
Meanwhile, FBI Special Agent Max Rhodes is called in to investigate a militia group. As the story unfolds, the cases that both he and Noelle are investigating reveal a surprising connection. This connection brings them together, as they had done in the past.
If you’re a fan of crime and FBI thrillers, this series and any of Kendra Michaels’s other works are a must-read. Both books in the Noelle Marshall series were wonderfully narrated by Stephanie Németh-Parker. Her ability to bring the characters to life made the story captivating and impossible to put down.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and to NetGalley for this free ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
As a kid, I read and read and read. Laura Ingalls, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden were my close companions, and I was never without a book in hand. Today mysteries and suspense are my primary reading genres. I enjoy Lee Child, Karen Rose, Robert Crais, Lisa Gardner, Michael Connelly, and Tami Hoag. But I also love to escape with a historical romance or an engrossing fantasy set in another world. Authors are always huge readers.
In 2006 I’d recently finished one of Diana Gabaldon’s novels for the umpteenth time, and I loved how satisfied and content I felt at the end. A true sign of great storytelling. Could I provide that experience for a reader? I sat down and spent six months writing a contemporary romance. Strangely I kept tripping over dead bodies in each chapter. I got the hint and my stories evolved into suspense. I never felt the need to “tell the stories cluttering my head” or “share my work with the world” like some authors. My goal was to simply see if I could entertain a reader.
HIDDEN was the third manuscript I finished, but my first book purchased by a publisher. It came out in the summer of 2012 and since then has sold over a million copies. I won the Daphne du Maurier award three times and have hit the Wall Street Journal’s best seller list more than a dozen times. I’ve been an International Thriller Writers’s finalist and a finalist for Romantic Times Magazine’s best Romantic Suspense. As I update this in 2025, I’ve sold 14 million books, and I’m working on my twenty-fifth novel. I’ve also written eleven novellas and sold the TV rights for my Mercy Kilpatrick series, but the option was not renewed after two years, so the series is not in production.
I wouldn’t trade this career for anything, and I count my blessings every day, thankful that readers have embraced my books.
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