Eve Sylvester is young and broke and needs a job fast. After years of foster homes, backpacking and a sailing trip across the Pacific Ocean, she has lost contact with friends and family. She is alone, desperate—and pregnant.
Then she meets Julia and Christopher Hygate, a charming and glamorous couple, who seem to have the perfect life: loads of money and a breathtakingly beautiful mansion on a remote Tasmanian island. They make her a lucrative offer. Eve can move into their empty summerhouse and take up a very easy job.
Eve thinks she’s fallen on her feet—she has found a home, and her child will grow up in the aptly named Paradise Bay. But some things about the job don’t add up. Why must Eve stay out of sight? Why have the Hygates employed an ex-con to run their yacht-charter business? And what about the mysterious boats sailing in and out of the Hygates’ private marina? Has Eve made a deal with the devil? It’s too late to ask questions. Eve is already in far too deep.
Review
In No One Will Know, Rose Carlyle presents a suspenseful thriller centred around Eve, an isolated young woman who finds herself entangled in twisty, layered conundrum. The story holds much potential, but is ultimately lacking as I struggled to suspend my disbelief and connect with the characters.
My issues started with Eve. Eve was orphaned young, spent time in the foster system, and then raised by her grandmother until her death; she has been fending for herself since age 16. After the untimely death of her partner, Xander, she is untethered to family or friends. She is framed as scrappy and resilient, yet somehow she still frustratingly naïve. Whilst I can understand placing her in a desperate situation was necessary for the plot to progress, her choices are baffling (such as not replacing her lost smartphone despite being pregnant, and on an island without medical facilities). She also trusts others far too easily. There were opportunities to dive into the impacts of her experiences on her personality and beliefs which I felt were underexplored.
The secondary characters, meanwhile, lacked depth and felt like caricatures at times. Again, I felt like there were missed opportunities – especially as themes such as the impact of excessive wealth, grief, forced adoption, and loneliness were never fully unpacked.
The bones of a good story were present, but the execution fell short. Improbable scenarios quickly veer into the unbelievable. In the second half, plot twists pile up in rapid succession, pushing Eve from one bizarre situation to another, leaving little time for genuine suspense or emotional impact. Further, Carlyle’s writing favours short, somewhat staccato sentences, which impacts on both story flow and reader immersion. Characters speak in a way that sometimes feels unnatural, including mobster-type figures, whose outdated slang—ranging from “missy” to “chinwag” and “skedaddle”—creates a strange, anachronistic tone.
Yet, despite my criticisms, No One Will Know was ultimately entertaining. For those who enjoy a wild, unpredictable ride, and enjoy gasping at plot twists, this might be for you! However, for readers like me – who favour depth of character over plot twists and cliffhangers – this book may leave you wanting more.
Thank you to Text Publishing for the review copy.
Review by Elise