It Takes One by Kate Kessler (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Criminal psychologist Audrey Harte is returning home after seven years. She'll have to face the whispers and the rumors that have haunted her family since she left. Because when Audrey was thirteen, she and her best friend Maggie killed Maggie's abusive father.

Her first night back in town ends in a fight with a drunken Maggie, with her old crush Jake to witness it all. Audrey can't believe it can get worse.

Then Maggie turns up dead.

Now, Audrey has to find out who the murderer is - before everyone decides that she is to blame. And before the murderer can set their sights on her."

My Thoughts:

 Wow, wow, wow!  Don't you love when you read a book by a new to you author and end up being just blown away by it?  Books like this are why I read, it is as simple as that.  I wanted to read this book instantly based off of the above summary alone.  I was sold as soon as I read the words criminal psychologist and realized that was the main character's profession.  Yes please!  Plus, it was the beginning to a new series and you all know by now how much I love starting a new series.  And it doesn't hurt if I am being honest that it has such a gorgeous cover.  Anyways, what made this book such a winner for me was how dark and twisted this book ended up being.  I'm basically a sucker for a mystery like this where no one and nothing is as it seems.  These are my absolute favorite types of thrillers to read which makes it very easy to see why I loved this one so much!  

One of the things that made this book stand out for me was the characters.  When Audrey was younger, she helped kill her best friend's father who was abusive.  This event has shaped Audrey's life and the author used Audrey's past and tied it into the present.  This added such a great layer of tension and suspense because it made me question everything that was happening.  Was it related to what happened between Maggie and Audrey as kids?  I'm trying not to spoil anything here but as you read further on into the book you come to realize that possibly the entire truth from that awful night has not come out.  This adds just one more layer of intensity so that I found myself reading frantically by the end.  From the way the author told this story, it felt like all of the characters in this book might have secrets or darker motivations behind the things that they did.  I didn't trust any of the characters fully which gave the book a bit of an unreliable feel to it.  This is something that I love so much in thrillers- it is my reader catnip.  I cannot resist a book where I am questioning everything and everyone!  The mystery portion of this book was both dark and intense which is just the way I like it.  I loved that the author was able to leave me guessing until the very end.  Oh that ending was a doozy!  I found myself utterly useless by the end of this book as I wasn't going to do anything else until I finished.  It was worth the lack of sleep completely and I won't tell you more than that!

All in all, this book has a very good chance of making my top reads list of 2016.  I loved how suspenseful it was and found myself unable to set my kindle down because of it.  If this is the author's first book, then I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!  She has jumped on to my must read list and I am seriously pining for the second book already.  I can't seem to say enough good things about this book so read it already!  Fans of twisty dark thrillers definitely need to give this book a go.  I will just sit here wishing that I had book two in my hands and recommend this one to you all in the meantime.  Highly recommended!

Bottom Line:  One of the best thrillers I have read so far this year!  Wow!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher courtesy of NetGalley.