You Don't Want to Know | TheGlen library | TinyCat |

2024-04-28 7:33 am

You Don't Want to Know

by Lisa Jackson

CD audiobook, 2013

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Collection

Publication

Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced (2013), Edition: Abridged

Description

After spending the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, unable to remember the details of her son's disappearance, Ava returns home and, secretly visiting a hypnotist, discovers that her son may still be alive.

User reviews

LibraryThing member julyso

Ava Garritson's two-year old son, Noah, disappeared from his crib two years ago during a party. Ava lives with her husband and assorted family members in her mansion on an isolated island. She had a mental breakdown after the disappearance of Noah and spent some time in a hospital. She is trying to

put it all behind her, but she keeps seeing and hearing Noah. She is having problems with her husband and some family members and they aren't very sympathetic. Is she crazy or is her son really alive? hmmmmm....

I have also read other Lisa Jackson books and liked them...this one...not so much. It was long and it seemed to drag on and on. I didn't like most of the characters and I found many situations in the story simply absurd. Her family treats her terribly while they live in her mansion!!! The author repeated some phrases over and over...like "someone is trying to gaslight me..." UGH! I wish I would have passed on this one.

LibraryThing member she_climber

This story dragged on and on without much suspense, thrill or romance. I couldn't wait to get off the island and never hear the word "gaslighting" again, which was completely overused. The climax, if you could call it that, in this story didn't come until the last 100 pages. Jackson never really

made any of the characters likable or believable. Felt like she didn't really put much effort into developing them at all. Might have helped if she had fewer characters, some served absolutely no purpose whatsoever. I'd read another Lisa Jackson novel which I enjoyed and vowed to read more but I don't know after this.

LibraryThing member Beecharmer

Lisa Jackson is usually one of my favorite authors. You Don't Want to Know was a big disappointment. The story did not flow smoothly and wasn't unique. It seemed like she was struggling and wanted to include every creepy element to make it interesting. Mental hospital, secretly slipping drugs,

handsome hero, evil husband, etc. I did finish the book, but it wasn't one I was looking forward to returning to. Not one of Lisa Jackson's best efforts.

LibraryThing member E.J

I don't even know why I picked this one up from the library. I didn't want to be a dick and give it only one star but to me this was trite and predictable. I was sick in bed and I couldn't really concentrate on much more so I finished this. It ended just like I thought it would. Sigh.

LibraryThing member lulu150

I really enjoyed this book. There were many twists and turns for Ava, Wyatt and everyone else, it will keep you on your toes. I did find that the beginning seemed to drag a little for me but the pace did pick up quickly and then I found myself having a hard time putting the book down. Also, this

book seemed a little different from most of the Lisa Jackson books that I have read. I think it was because it felt like the focus was more on the victim/criminal rather than the detectives. So, if you like a good suspense book I would recommend this one! Enjoy!

LibraryThing member scifimom58

A good read overall, though not as thrilling and riveting as some of her other works I've enjoyed. I actually had "the culprit" basically figured out about half way through the book, although there were a few twists in the end that I didn't catch. I would still recommend the book for Lisa Jackson

is still one of my consistently enjoyable authors.

LibraryThing member Sensory

Normally I have trouble reading books about children being in any sort of danger or trouble. It just bothers me. That being said, I actually enjoyed this book for the story and the non-stop suspense. I liked Ava and her stubborn convictions about her son's disappearance. A good, clever plot and

shivery suspense makes this a great read.

LibraryThing member lsknightsr1

I enjoyed this book, but found it slightly less interesting than many of Ms. Jackson's other novels. I had a hard time getting interested in the main character this time. For some reason, that I have yet to figure out, Ava just didn't spark my interest. The twists and turns were new and sometimes

surprising. I think maybe I had trouble getting into this story because it was so different from most of her other novels. I would still recommend the book, as it was good. But, I didn't feel it was up to par with Deep Freeze or Whispers, or some of her other earlier books.

LibraryThing member mnm123

This is a great read. There are twists and surprises. I found myself on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. The main character appears insane in the beginning and then through out the rest of the book I found myself thinking she is sane no wait she is insane. Who can she

trust, other characters appear on her side but are they. You have to read it all the way through to find out.

LibraryThing member SuseGordon

A great thriller that keeps you guessing up until the final couple of chapters!
Ava Garrison is losing her mind. Her son was stolen from her two years ago, or did he die? She alone believes he is still alive and in that belief has seemingly lost her sanity. Her husband has had her committed to an

asylum, but now she is home, hallucinating and dreaming up conspiracy theories involving her husband and members of the household... or is she?

LibraryThing member Conkie

I liked this book... a lot. It is edgy and unforgiving in content. The story has many twists and turns, MOST of which I didn't foresee. Given all I've said, I couldn't rate this book any higher than 3-1/2 stars. Why? The number of times the heroine thought/said/shouted/moaned "NOAH! (129 times in

412 pgs per Amazon) was... gut wrenching and...
Okay, that's not a great reason, and I'm not sure my other reasons are "substantial" enough either. Maybe the story took too many turns, too quickly, leading me away from feeling it's believable, to feeling it's a bit over the top. I would recommend reading this title, but just know that you may not find it to be an easy read, for many reasons.

LibraryThing member Bumpersmom

Noah went missing at age 2 and his mother Ava has been through a harrowing 2 years of mental health issues and hospitalization. Thought to be paranoid and suicidal and unwilling to accept the loss of her son, her family has come to expect her strange behaviors. Suddenly she becomes stranger, as

more events occur around her, including the murders of people she has ties to, and her increasing recovery of her lost memories. The author has woven a tale with so many twists and turns that you can't skip a paragraph without losing track of the story, so pay attention. Not your average "who doneit" this book has something for everyone. Murder, mayhem, amnesia, missings, conspiracy, and lots of action. I enjoyed the read, and recommend it.

LibraryThing member tjshoe

I have read Lisa Jackson’s books for a number of years now and have enjoyed every one that I have read. I had the opportunity to listen to her speak at Thrillerfest in July of this year and it was all I could do to not buy her new book You Don’t Want to Know. Advance copies of the book due to

be published on August 7, 2012 were available in the conference’s book store. But I knew I was supposed to receive an Early Reader copy from those same publishers.

It was a good thing I didn’t buy it because when I got to the airport to fly home my suitcase was 5 pounds overweight and I had to remove books from my bag and carry them. My copy of the book You Don’t Want to Know arrived shortly I returned home. I must say that it was worth the wait.

Ava Garrison is crazy or so everyone says. Losing a child can do that to a person. So can living with all your crazy relatives, but Ava is convinced her son Noah is alive. There doesn’t seem to be much she can do about her crazy relatives, but she is determined to do everything she can to find Noah including seeing a hypnotist. People around her begin to die, her therapist, her hypnotist. Her husband is trying to commit her again. The only person in the household she can trust is a stranger, Austin Dern, who was hired by Ava’s husband.

The book reminds me of the days when I read the romantic suspense novels of Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. The fast paced story takes the reader on a path of many twists and turns and even though I guessed who the bad guys were there were still several surprises that I hadn’t figured out. If you have never read anything by Lisa Jackson before, definitely start here with You Don’t Want to Know. But don’t stop there because all of her books are good. My favorite ones are in her Rick Bentz/Reuben Montoya novels.

LibraryThing member KebaBallard

Slow. Disappointing for Lisa Jackson. Finally speed read through chapters to get to end. Weak ending.
Will not recommend.

LibraryThing member cal8769

Ava is trying to get her life back together after a nervous breakdown following the disappearance of her son, Noah. Tormented by hallucinations and the voice of Noah, Ava struggles to remember the facts surrounding the trouble in her marriage while trying to find her son.

I usually love Jackson but

this wasn't her best book. The characters were uninteresting and very annoying. There didn't seem to be any character growth. The mystery was good and had many twists and turns but after dealing with Ava's abnormal family and the cry of "Noah" page after page after page I didn't care what happened. Also if I read the words, ' fractured mind' and 'gaslighting' again I think I will scream.

LibraryThing member Naura.Milano

When her two year old son Noah vanishes, Ava Garrison's life falls apart. The book opens after she's released from a private institution, and we see Ava at her worst, jumping off the pier behind her house into Puget Sound because she hallucinates she sees Noah. Rescued by the enigmatic new

handyman, she determines to stop taking her meds and face the reality of her son's disappearance. But what is the reality? Does she see the boy at the end of the dock? Does she hear him crying for her in the middle of the night? Surrounded by a family with multiple agendas, Ava must seek the truth on her own. While she searches, local law looks for an escaped killer from long ago. It all comes together, at times laboriously. At times tedious from overexplaining (I'd say close to 20% of the book could've been deleted), the tale still gives a close-up view of a woman coming apart from grief, and of the stresses a family can create.

LibraryThing member LibraryCin

Ava was recently released from a psychiatric hospital, where she went in hopes of recovering from the disappearance of her 2-year old son, Noah, two years ago. Now home, she doesn't necessarily trust her family, including her husband and various cousins, who all share the large house on an island.

Her husband has hired someone who Ava believes is meant to spy on her. Almost everyone believes Ava to be crazy, as she sees and hears Noah. Although there are significant gaps in her memory, Ava doesn't believe she is crazy and does believe that her son is still out there somewhere. She insists on looking for him.

I really liked this. It wasn't nonstop action, but it drew me in quickly and held my interest. I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. I also really liked that it had a gothic/creepy atmosphere. This is the first book by Lisa Jackson that I've read, and I would like to read more.

LibraryThing member jjnaaucoin

The beginning was slow, middle couldn't put it down....end skimmed more than any other part. The end is so drug out. All in all I give it 3 stars.

LibraryThing member jepeters333

In Ava's dreams, her son, Noah, looks just the way she remembers him; a sweet two-year-old in rolled-up jeans and a red sweatshirt. When Ava wakes, the agonizing truth hits her all over again. Noah went missing two years ago, and his body has never been found. Almost everyone, including Ava's

semi-estranged husband, Wyatt, assumes the boy drowned after falling off the dock near their Church Island home.

LibraryThing member sushicat

Two years ago Ava's son Noah disappeared. Since then she's been in and out of institutions. Now back on the family estate on a small island off the coast of Washington, she tries to get a grip on her life, but is plagued with hallucinations and memory gaps. And she is convinced her son is not dead.

But everybody else is convinced he is lost to them. The people who should be supporting her - her husband, her family - are undermining her at every turn and seem intent on convincing her she's crazy and needs to go back to the institution.
What a truly scary book. Ava's paranoia is infective and every person in the books seems to have a secret agenda. If there's none, surely we just don't know it yet. Gripping.

LibraryThing member Olivermagnus

Ava Garrison is wealthy, beautiful and married to a handsome attorney. They live with her crazy extended family on Church Island in Washington. When her two year old son, Noah wandered out of the house one day everyone but Ava believes he accidentally drowned. Ava refuses to accept this. She keeps

searching for Noah and she hears and sees him everywhere. It appears to everyone that Ava is going insane. Before long dead bodies start to accumulate and and Ava finds herself the target of a police investigation. With the help of a newly hired (and handsome) man on the estate, she tries to prove she’s not crazy and find her son.

This was not my favorite Lisa Jackson book though it had the Gothic feel I enjoy in her books. This one was a bit melodramatic and wandered a bit but I did enjoy it.

LibraryThing member Kathy89

This was a very good mystery but the book needed an editor. It was just too long and was repetitive in parts.

Ava is back living at home two years after her 2 yr old son waundered off, disappeared, drowned or was kidnapped at a Christmas party at her home. Strange things are happening at her house

that no one else sees or hears and she decides to stop taking her medication thinking that someone is trying to ramp up her paranoia and wants her to have hallucinations. Two people connected to Ava are murdered and there's a serial killer escapee on the loose before the conclusion and Ava's memory returns and she learns what happened.

LibraryThing member chymekeeper

This book was very interesting. You think it is one thing,but you will turn the page and it is another thing. Alot of twists and turns. A real pager turner. A must to read.

LibraryThing member ATechwreck

Ava Church awakens from a drug induced sleep to see her lost child standing on the end of a pier. She runs to him only to find that him gone - a figment of her drugs and her broken mind. Ava decides she must fight to regain her sanity and hopefully find her son. No easy task as Ava is the majority

owner of an island mansion populated by hostile, and more than a little quirky, family and friends. As Ava's mind clears a series of murders shake the small town and put Ava under suspicion.

Author Lisa Jackson does well with this gothic story, keeping the suspense going until the final pages. The ending was a bit too much and yet probably too little to prove Ava's innocence or guilt.

LibraryThing member Carol420

Two years ago a young child went missing. The body was never found and the mother has spent this time in and out of mental institutions after a suicide attempt. Her family appears supportive but Ava comes to believe that they are all hiding something. She feels her son, hears her son and sometimes

even sees her son. Is she loosing her mind or the child still alive? The answer may cost her more than she ever thought she'd have to pay. The relationship of the many characters was sometimes hard to sort out but it was a very good book overall.

Original language

English

Original publication date

2012-08-01

ISBN

1441877134 / 9781441877130

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