A disgraced TV news reporter returns to her violent hometown to investigate a series of deadly shark attacks in this nail-biting suspense novel from the author of The Stranger Upstairs.
“A gothic coastal noir about generational violence and the cyclical nature of predation, The Only One Who Knows is visceral, haunting, and impossible to look away from.”—Carter Wilson, USA Today bestselling author of Tell Me What You Did
Something is lurking below the surface . . . and it’s hungry.
With her polished persona as a morning show co-host, Minnow Greenwood seems to have it all. But behind the camera, something’s about to break. When a public meltdown shatters her facade, Minnow flees back to Kangaroo Bay—a grimy fishing town on Australia’s southern coast, where locals vanish and something deadly hunts in the water.
On her first night back, a horrifying shark attack rocks the town, adding another body to the unsettling list of deaths and disappearances. Then a former colleague arrives to investigate, so she reluctantly teams up with him to find answers for herself and keep her own dark secrets buried.
But with danger closing in, Minnow must unearth her town’s deadly past—and face the darkness festering inside her—before she becomes the next to disappear.
The Only One Who Knows by Lisa M. Matlin was released March 3, 2026 from Bantam.
My Thoughts:
This is my first time reading something that is dubbed gothic coastal noir. And I would have to say it met the criteria on all three adjectives as well as thriller. The description intrigued me. All of that, plus shark attacks. I have a love/hate relationship with sharks. Would hate to meet one, but love to know more about them. This does definitely not fall into the knowledge based fiction, but more sensationalist with the deaths by shark attack. And yet the sharks seem to add to some of both the gothic mood and the noir.
Minnow is a flawed character and narrator. We see most of what's happening, past and present, through her eyes. The beginning of the novel serves to show the difference from where she came to where she was currently before she travels home. Home is such a comforting word usually, but for Minnow, it has mixed emotions. She has memories both good and bad, and more violent than peaceful. I would have to say she is the only really well developed characters. All the others are supporting characters in some way, shape, or form.
The story itself generally moves forward at a decent rate. There are some flashbacks that can be a little jarring. It is definitely a mystery/thriller as well.
i gave the story 4 out of 5 stars. It kept my attention and kept me guessing. If you enjoy thrillers with an unreliable narrator and sharks, you will probably enjoy this book. Just a note, it does get a little gruesome at some points. And there is a fair amount of different kinds of violence.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect my opinions.
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