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    You'll Never Know, Dear: A Novel of Suspense
    You'll Never Know, Dear: A Novel of Suspense
    You'll Never Know, Dear: A Novel of Suspense
    Audiobook8 hours

    You'll Never Know, Dear: A Novel of Suspense

    Written by Hallie Ephron

    Narrated by Amy McFadden

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    An addictive novel of psychological suspense from the award-winning author of Night Night, Sleep Tight, about three generations of women haunted by a little girl’s disappearance, and the porcelain doll that may hold the key to the truth . . .

    Seven-year-old Lissie Woodham and her four-year-old sister Janey were playing with their porcelain dolls in the front yard when an adorable puppy scampered by. Eager to pet the pretty dog, Lissie chased after the pup as it ran down the street. When she returned to the yard, Janey’s precious doll was gone . . . and so was Janey.

    Forty years after Janey went missing, Lis—now a mother with a college-age daughter of her own—still blames herself for what happened. Every year on the anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, their mother, Miss Sorrel, places a classified ad in the local paper with a picture of the toy Janey had with her that day—a one-of-a-kind porcelain doll—offering a generous cash reward for its return. For years, there’s been no response. But this year, the doll came home.

    It is the first clue in a decades-old mystery that is about to turn into something far more sinister—endangering Lis and the lives of her mother and daughter as well. Someone knows the truth about what happened all those years ago, and is desperate to keep it hidden.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 6, 2017
    ISBN9780062698001
    Author

    Hallie Ephron

    Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of Never Tell a Lie, Come and Find Me, There Was an Old Woman, and Night Night, Sleep Tight. For twelve years she was the crime fiction reviewer for the Boston Globe. The daughter of Hollywood screenwriters, she grew up in Beverly Hills, and lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

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    Reviews for You'll Never Know, Dear

    3.5/5

    192 ratings36 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I'm not good at guessing the plot twists in mystery and thrillers. But this one...I figured out the bad guys and the red herrings as soon as all the characters were introduced. The narrator did a lovely job giving a different personality to so many similar female characters, when she was in acting mode she was a delight, but the actual third person narration, which is half the book, was droning. Though that might have just been a reflection of the lifelessness of the prose. I feel like a jerk writing this, all the components for a great "the secret of the old doll and missing child" story was there...but it was rote and dull.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. The speaker did a good job without reading dull and lifeless. While I knew who the culprit was long before they figured it out, it was still better than a lot of audiobooks I have heard. Would recommend it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I thought it was very good and I like the plot twist ending and reading was good the actresses conveyed different emotions and made the story come alive. I had to keep listening to see what happen at the end. I finished listening in 2 days :))

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Very interesting book. Kept you guessing. Had some surprising events . Enjoy the book
    • 4/5
      This book wasn’t too bad. Although it was nothing like I was expecting, it was still a pretty good story which held my attention pretty much through to the end. I would describe this as a mystery more than anything else and, I don’t know but, for some reason, I didn’t think it was going to be a mystery genre.

      The narration was decent. I did think that, as the story approached the end, it did get a little silly in the way that one of the primary characters sort of suddenly flipped into the role of the villain without a whole lot of build up to it. Still worth a listen as there are a number of interesting characters and scenarios within.
    • 5/5
      A mystery and a thriller, everyone looks like a suspect, and you don't know who to trust. As if suspicions weren't enough the story is framed by realistic dolls that seem to jump put of the page with the authors' descriptions. The dolls, made to be a unique child's companion, hold clues and are painful reminders of innocence lost.
      The characters are vivid and realistic, all with a compelling story to tell. If you are looking for a cozy read to keep you turning the pages in search of answers, this is your book. There are twists and turns to not have the story be a predictable cookie-cutter mystery, but not so many that the story gets confusing.
    • 5/5
      I thought this was great kept me interested, not boring.
    • 5/5
      This was a great book to listen to while cleaning the house. It keep my attention.
    • 5/5
      Not bad but i guessed the bad guy. i do like the happy ending though...
    • 4/5
      Very suspenseful, good narrative & reader! highly recommend for mystery lovers out there!
    • 4/5
      For being a first for this author, I was highly entertained and surprised with the books outcome! I really thought i had it figured out, but was wrong. Will look for more by Ephron.
    • 4/5
      The book was very well narrated and I enjoyed it. I figured out pretty early in what was going on; however, it did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. It's worth a listen.
    • 3/5
      Elisabeth (Lis) Strenger has felt guilty for close to forty years, since she was a seven-year-old child whose mother asked her to supervise her younger sister while they played in their yard. When a puppy caught Lis's attention, she chased it and forgot about four-year-old Janey. Subsequently, her sister disappeared and has not been seen or heard from since. Lis's mother, Sorrel Woodham, whom everyone calls Miss Sorrel, does not blame Lis for the tragedy. In fact, even after four decades have passed, she firmly believes that her long-lost daughter will return.

      "You'll Never Know Dear," by Halle Ephron, is a thriller with a Southern gothic flavor. It takes place in Bonsecours, a South Carolina town where wisteria blooms, trusting people leave their doors unlocked, and meddlesome neighbors gossip about one another but lend a helping hand when needed. Adding a creepy dimension to the goings-on are the lifelike dolls custom-made by Miss Sorrel and her best friend, Evelyn Dumont: "Each face was a carefully sculpted and painted portrait of a real child." Some of these have become expensive collector's items that "were as valued for their eerily realistic features as for their scarcity."

      One day, a stranger brings Miss Sorrel a battered old doll that the elderly woman recognizes at once. This meeting sets in a motion a series of events that will have life-changing consequences. Ephron creates colorful and intriguing characters and explores such themes as the power of nightmares to destroy one's peace of mind, and the constructive and destructive ways in which individuals handle adversity. The author is, for the most part, a proficient writer who generates an appropriately spooky and suspenseful atmosphere. The ending is flawed, however; Ephron wraps up the proceedings with a predictable and melodramatic conclusion. This quibble aside, "You'll Never Know, Dear" is an engrossing and fast-paced novel that will hold readers' attention while they try to figure out who is behind all of the mayhem.
      .
    • 4/5
      You'll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron is a fast-paced and engrossing mystery that centers around the forty year disappearance of Janey Woodham.

      Every year on the anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance, Miss Sorrel Woodham runs a newspaper ad offering a reward for the return of Janey’s porcelain doll which vanished along with the long missing girl. This year, a young woman brings a doll that Miss Sorrel is certain belongs to her daughter. However, Lis Strenger, who continues to feel guilty for her sister’s disappearance, is not as convinced. That same evening, an inexplicable explosion injures both women and when Lis’s daughter Vanessa returns to the family home, she is confused to discover Miss Sorrel’s prized doll collection has been stolen.  Equally puzzling is next door neighbor and family friend Evelyn Dumont’s insistence that Miss Sorrel’s conviction the porcelain doll belongs to Janey is nothing more than wishful thinking. Lis and Vanessa decide to locate the young woman who delivered the doll but will they find the answers they are searching for?

      Lis wants nothing more than to find out the truth about what happened to Janey, so she is impatient with the local police department’s lack of urgency in locating the woman who brought them the doll. With Vanessa’s help, they quickly uncover the identity and address of the person they are searching for. Their arrival at the Maggie Richards’ home is just the first of many surprises surrounding Maggie and her mom, Jenny.

      Despite police assurance they are taking the situation seriously, Lis continues her own investigation. She is puzzled when information she uncovers is quickly contradicted by the police.  Are her results wrong? Or is there a more sinister reason for the discrepancy?  Lis cannot begin to guess who would want to interfere with the investigation but she refuses to stop searching for the truth about what happened to Janey. The discovery that another young girl connected to her mother’s porcelain doll business also disappeared years after Janey’s kidnapping is yet another shocking bit of news and Lis is determined to continue looking for the truth. How far will the perpetrator go to keep their long buried secrets from being uncovered?

      You'll Never Know, Dear is an intriguing mystery that fans of the genre will enjoy. The storyline is unusual and the creepy porcelain dolls are shudder inducing.  While it is rather easy to guess the identity of the kidnapper, the motive for the crime remains elusive.  Hallie Ephron brings this suspense-laden mystery to an action-filled, satisfying conclusion.
    • 4/5
      Whatever you want to call this – mystery, thriller, psychological suspense – You’ll Never Know, Dear fits the bill. Three generations of women in a small town Georgia family are existing on the income earned from the matriarch’s doll-making and repair enterprise and their memories of the day a young sister was kidnapped with her own custom doll. When a clue finally arrives, so do the beginnings of fear, as danger begins to surround them. As the strings tighten around the women, the missing girl’s now-grown sister begins to find the answers to the knots in the mystery and to untangle them. I thought Hallie Ephron wrote a tight mystery with characters who felt real to their circumstances. Learning a bit about doll-making was an extra perk.
    • 3/5
      You’ll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron is a 2017 William Morrow publication. Deceptively addicting-Three generations of women work to find the answer to a forty- year old puzzle in which the biggest, most important clue is a priceless porcelain doll. Miss Sorrel, is a doll maker and collector, who at one time had a booming doll making business and made a name for herself among collectors. But, the doll that means the most to her, the one she is always in constant search of, is the one that disappeared along with her daughter, Janey forty years ago. Lissie never got over the disappearance of her younger sister and always blamed herself for what happened. The incident has haunted her all her life, even through marriage, divorce, and motherhood. Vanessa is Lissie’s only child, a sleep/dream researcher who returns home after her grandmother has a health scare. Little does she know her area of expertise will come into play while she is there. With all three generations now under one roof, the women are ready to seriously consider the possibility that Janey’s doll has found its way back to them and that the doors of the decades old cold case are about to blow wide open. I thought the cover of this book was a little creepy, and the title was intriguing. While the missing child theme is hardly a new one, I always find this to be a compelling storyline, and also falls within my favorite mystery trope- the cold case. This book also appealed to me in a way because my grandmother made her own ceramics, and on occasion made porcelain dolls, as a hobby. Not only that, my daughter had a nice doll collection we displayed behind glass when she was younger, so I could understand the value and work that goes into the making of these dolls. The mystery is intriguing, and kept me interested, and guessing for a good while, but I did guess who was behind the kidnapping before it was revealed. Still, I couldn’t figure out the motive, so there was still an element of mystery to keep me invested in the story. There were a few too many conveniences, and for some reason the dream thread didn’t do anything for me. But, I did like the way it all came together in the end, although one may have to suspend belief a little for it to work. However, the feel good, grab a tissue, emotional parts won me over, causing me to overlook a few implausibilities. I’ve never read anything by this author, so didn’t have any expectations one way or another, but I liked this book well enough to give the author’s other work a try. Even though it wobbles here and there, I enjoyed the book, overall.
    • 3/5
      A doll is returned to Miss Sorrel after vanishing 30+ years ago along with her toddler daughter. This book was OK. Very systematic writing. There was a surprise or two but nothing earth shattering. I couldn't get into the story and the characters didn't appeal to me but in interest of fairness, I am in a reading slump and forced myself to finish it.
    • 3/5
      Forty years ago the Sorrel family was struck by tragedy when the youngest daughter, Janey, went missing. Lissie, the oldest daughter, was seven-years-old on the day it happened. She was outside with Janey playing with their porcelain dolls in the front yard when a black and white puppy showed up and drew Lissie to chase after him. After recently losing her own dog, Lissie desperately wanted to play with this one and left Janey in the yard as she took off after it. When Lissie finally returned Janey, along with her doll, was gone. Present day finds us with Lissie, who now goes by Lis, a woman who a number of years ago moved back her hometown and in with her mother. After a rocky divorce many years ago Lis returned with her daughter to the town she did not want to be in and has built herself a new life. Now that her daughter, Vanessa, has moved away for college, Lis is slowly trying to rebuild her self-confidence, but cannot stop blaming herself for what happened to Janey all those years ago. Their mother, Miss Sorrel, continues to be haunted by the loss of her daughter as well and each year she places a classified ad in the paper with a picture of Janey’s doll offering a reward for its return. Miss Sorrel’s hope is that if someone has the doll, they can give information on how they found it that would lead to answers on what happened to Janey. In the past there have been many false claims brought to Miss Sorrel by people looking to cash in on the reward she is offering, but this year is different. A young woman named Maggie shows up at the Sorrel house with Janey’s doll. As the Sorrel women dig deeper into the owner of this doll and its history, they bring themselves closer and closer to danger. Who in this sleepy town of Bonsecours is to be trusted? What really happened to Janey all those years ago?YOU’LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR presents an intriguing story of a missing child and a family desperate to find answers many years later. The novel is filled with deception presented to the Sorrel family by people they have always trusted. It is a story of secrets and lies that have over the years built upon each other and now with the return of Janey’s doll they slowly come to the surface. Despite Ephron’s use of red herrings throughout the novel, I found it easy to guess who was behind the disappearance. There were some revelations that I didn’t expect, but overall they were far and few between. YOU’LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR left me wanting more suspense and more edge of your seat intrigue. While the ending was more fast-paced than the rest of the novel, it wasn’t enough to boost this book beyond a middle of the road rating for me. Thank you to William Morrow and Hallie Ephron for allowing granting me a copy of this novel through Library Things.
    • 3/5
      I received this book as part of the LT early reviewer program. Set in a small coastal town in the south, this is the story of a decades old kidnapping and the family it has affected. Ms Sorrel makes beautiful dolls, and when her daughter is taken from her yard, the doll that disappeared with her may be the only key to finding her, even a lifetime later.I enjoyed the pacing and characters in this book. It was easy to read and felt myself engage in-- my only real complaint was that it was too easy to solve the "who dunnit." I felt like it was obvious from almost the beginning of the book and kept waiting for a change of course that never came.
    • 3/5
      Two stars for an okay read. The books description of psychological suspense had me ready to read, but it just did not meet my expectations. The story revolves around the decades old mystery of a kidnapped sister who disappeared with her doll. Forty years later, the doll resurfaces. There were just too many unlikely coincidences for me. However, I was super excited as I read the descriptions of the setting. I kept thinking, this sounds just like where I live. Bonsecours is the name of the town where the story takes place, but a few chapters in, I knew the author was describing our beautiful town of Beaufort, SC! I received a complimentary copy from Librarything Early Reviewers in exchange for a review.
    • 4/5
      "You'll Never Know Dear" by Hallie Ephron was a quick read. It is the story of a woman who's sister disappeared years ago and she's always blamed herself. Her mother is a doll maker and the kidnapped sister's doll disappeared with her. Every year the mother places an ad in the paper asking about the doll and a reward for its return . This year someone brings the doll in. I knew whodunit early in the story, but it was still a quick enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      Creepy doll book? Kidnapping? Why of course!!!Four year old Janey disappears from her front yard while her sister was supposed to be watching her. Janey's mom is a famous dollmaker and restorer and someone shows up at her house many years later with a doll that could be Janey's. This novel reminds me a lot of Mary Higgins Clark and Wendi Corsi Staub, so if you like those authors, you will love this. A really great, fun read.Thank you to LibraryThing for the ARC!
    • 4/5
      Review based on ARC (Advanced Readers Copy received for free in exchange for an honest review).

      I really enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was expecting something extra creepy and maybe in the horror camp. This was more suspense, maybe a little lite-horror, some relationship building, and just good story-telling.

      It's called "A Novel of Suspense," and I would agree with that. Even though you may (I did) "figure it out" really early in the novel, it still reads really well and still creates a tension and a suspenseful feeling as you quickly turn the pages to find out if you're right, *how* you're right (or wrong), *why* you're right (or wrong), and most of all, how it all resolves anyway.

      I love the creepy doll backdrop and I enjoyed the different perspectives from which the book is told. Although I am not always a fan of the back and forth, and certainly not when such perspective is used for convenience, in this book, it really just worked. It was a quick and definitely enjoyable read for me, and I easily recommend to those who are looking for a quick, rainy-day read. A strong FOUR stars!
    • 3/5
      Interesting info about dolls, and a nice set-up, even if there's a pretty clear idea where things are heading.
    • 4/5
      A young girl disappeared from her yard over forty years ago. When her doll isv brought back to her home, the family renews their hope that they will find out what happened and start to investigate. I enjoyed the book, even though I figured things out way too early. A house full of dolls was a little creepy, but it was a fast paced, fun book to read.
    • 4/5
      I received this book through Early Reviewers, for a fair review. I found the beginning of this book to move slowly. I found Vanessa's part in the book boring. But you can't like everything. I liked the lightness of this book, I LOVED that it held suspense but wasn't in the form of a killer. I of course had my "feelings" about some things in the book, but the author went above and beyond to make everything finished. There was some surprise in certain parts that I did not see coming. Overall, a great easy read. I would recommend.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars and a thank you to LibraryThing.Com for my review copy.I was attracted to this book by the creepy doll on the cover, wondering if dolls can still get to me like they once did. Well, this was not as creepy as I had expected (and hoped) -- no dolls displaying signs of life; no Twilight Zone flashbacks. This has more of a slow-burn, smoldering feel to it.Two friends/neighbors, Miss Sorrell and Evelyn, are retired from their business of making dolls. Miss Sorrell's daughter Janey went missing some forty years ago, along with the doll Miss Sorrell had made especially for her. The older daughter Lis was supposed to be watching Janey so she's felt guilty all these years, and still lives with her mother. They place a yearly ad offering a reward for the missing doll and any information as to where it came from. A young woman answers the ad with a very old, damaged doll, leaves in a huff without giving her contact information, and the story takes off as the family tries to pursue this very strong possibility of a connection to Janey.The story is engaging and did keep me wanting to read on to see how the various mysteries would come out; to see if what I thought had happened to Janey came true (I had it pegged almost to the letter). As in many suspense novels, this had its red herrings and implausible coincidences. A rather slow start for me and then it took off, with well-drawn characters and an interesting sleep study program as a side story.
    • 4/5
      You'll Never Know, Dear"....how much I love you -- please don't take my sunshine away...Two little girls are playing outside one day when a little puppy runs past. The older girl, Lis, is captivated and leaves little Janey behind as she chases after it. When she returns, Janey is gone. She was never found. Flash forward almost 40 years. Lis and her daughter are living with Miss Sorrel, a renowned dollmaker (she is Lis's and Janey's mother), and have almost made their peace with Janey's absence all these years. Miss Sorrel still believes that Janey is out there somewhere, and every anniversary of her disappearance, she puts an ad in the paper with the picture of the portrait doll she had made for Janey -- hoping that somehow it will be recognised and Janey will see it -- wherever she is. Well, someone does see it. Jenny Richards brings the doll to Miss Sorrel. And Lis and her daughter Vanessa feel that somehow Jenny is connected. I won't give any spoilers, but this was a satisfactory -- though predictable -- story.I enjoyed the characters and the family drama as these women go about solving the mystery through revelations and gut instinct. I've never read any of this author's previous work, but I'd definitely like to give it further attention. Nice little domestic drama.Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me the hardcover to review -- I enjoyed the book.
    • 3/5
      The idea of a bunch of eyes watching you is enough to give you chills. I can image the kind of life that Lissie lived with her mother being a dollmaker. The most fascinating thing is that the dolls' wigs were made out of real hair. I found all of the women engaging. They interacted well together. There was hardly any police engagement in this story, except for Deputy Policy Chief Frank Ames. Even than, he seemed more like an sport to the women as they attempted to solve the mystery of what happened to Janey. Speaking of the mystery. While, I had no problems with the start of the story happening forty years after the disappearance of Janey, the lack of clues leading to the disappearance until the last third of the story made the reading experience more muted then heightened. Although, I must admit that the project that Vanessa, Lissie's daughter was working on with dreams was interesting. It played nicely with the story.
    • 3/5
      YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEARis not what it claims to be, a novel of suspense. It is a mystery, yes. But suspenseful? Not really.This book begins with a young woman, Maggie, visiting a doll maker/repairer, Sorrel. When Sorrel lays her eyes on Maggie's doll, she insists repeatedly that Maggie tell her where she got it. The story actually began 40 years before the book does. Elisabeth and Janey, Sorrel's seven- and four-year-old daughters, were outside playing. When Elisabeth ran off to follow a puppy, Janey disappeared. Neither she nor her doll were ever found again until Maggie appeared with the doll 40 years later.Now Elisabeth is an adult. She lives with her mother and has an adult child of her own. Together they try to find Janey or at least find out what happened to her, but the various mysteries they encounter lack suspense. Partly that is because they are predictable. Also, the book reads like a young adult novel. As an adult, I feel beyond that. So I was bored.I won this book through librarything.com