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She left home as the local pariah at twenty-two, but when a family tragedy brings her back, she must confront her tortured pastâand a new danger in town that no one seems to understand but her.
After years of self-exile, Jacinda âJacâ Brodie is back in Brook Haven, South Carolina. But the small cliffside town no longer feels like home. Jac hasnât been there since the beloved chief of police fell to his deathâand all the whispers said she was to blame.
That chief was Jacâs father.
Racked with guilt, Jac left town with no plans to return. But when her granddad lands in the hospital, she rushes back to her family, bracing herself to confront the past.
Brook Haven feels different now. Wealthy newcomer Faye Arden has transformed the notorious Moor Manor into a quaint country inn. Jacâs convinced something sinister lurks beneath Fayeâs perfect exterior, yet the whole town fawns over their charismatic new benefactor. And when Jac discovers one of her granddadâs prized possessions in Fayeâs office, she knows she has to be right.
But as Jac continues to dig, she stumbles upon dangerous truths that hit too close to home. With not only her life but also her familyâs safety on the line, Jac discovers that maybe some secrets are better left buried.
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ISBN-10
166250831X
ISBN-13
978-1662508318
Print length
395 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Thomas & Mercer
Publication date
July 31, 2024
Dimensions
5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
Item weight
14.4 ounces
ASIN :
B0CQ36RDG8
File size :
4125 KB
Text-to-speech :
Enabled
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Supported
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Not What She Seems
âEndless skeletons in the family closetâŠâ âKirkus Reviews
âJacâs return to her hometown reveals lie after shocking lie. Youâre going to want to help her dig up every dirty secret. Not What She Seems is a must-read for thriller lovers.â âMelinda Leigh, #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author
âIn a small town, secrets collide with the grief and guilt of our fierce, feisty heroine, Jac Brodie. As her world is falling apart, Jac pieces together a mystery that could change her life as she knows it. With an expertly drawn setting, pulse-pounding pacing, and an explosive climax, Not What She Seems is a magnificent read. This twisty, high-octane thriller instantly hooked me and never let go. Iâm now a forever fan of Yasmin Angoeâs stunning writing.â âSamantha M. Bailey, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of A Friend in the Dark
âAnthony awardânominated author Yasmin Angoe is an expert at blending fast-paced action, jaw-dropping plot twists, and flawed but likable characters. Her first standalone, Not What She Seems, is a must-read for domestic suspense fans. An excellent tale of cat and mouse, or should I say spider versus fly.â âKellye Garrett, award-winning author of Missing White Woman
âAngoe not only creates believable characters, she crafts a layered mystery woven through with family secrets, sharp-edged revenge, and unexpected redemption. All that plus it has heart; the climactic scene brought tears to my eyes.â âJess Lourey, Edgar-nominated author of The Taken Ones
âYasmin Angoeâs Not What She Seems is a powerful, electric novel that explores the deadly secrets we want to forget, and the lengths people will go to keep them buried. A story of painful homecomings and powerful reckonings, Not What She Seems builds upon Angoeâs stellar library to present readers with her best novel yet.â âAlex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity and Alter Ego
âJacinda Brodie, you have my sword. Never have I fallen deeper in love with characters than I did the Brodies of beautiful, troubled, small-town South Carolina. Yasmin Angoeâs incredible blend of talentsâher ability to deliver high-intensity blowups on par with the best action thrillers and her deep character work, which shines through her uniquely voicey proseâmake Not What She Seems a total knockout. I laughed, I gasped, andâshockinglyâI cried. In an astonishing feat, Angoe combines a dark-as-sin psychological suspense with a heartwarming tale of familial redemption, peppered with laugh-out-loud social commentary. Like me, readers will marvel at her virtuosity while eagerly awaiting her next.â âAshley Winstead, critically acclaimed author of Midnight Is the Darkest Hour
It Ends with Knight
âWatch your back, Liam Neeson. This avenger is tough.â âKirkus Reviews
âHigh-stakes action, intrigue, and a professional assassin . . . the thrilling conclusion to Yasmin Angoeâs Nena Knight series has it all.â âWomanâs World
âNena Knight can cover Orphan Xâs six oâclock any day! Stolen from her village in Ghana, Knight reinvents herself as an elite assassin capable of all orders of badassery. One of thrillerdomâs rising stars, Yasmin Angoe paints Knight with nuance, strength, and grace. These books burn hot and read fast.â âGregg Hurwitz, New York Times bestselling author of the Orphan X series
âIt Ends with Knight finishes this trilogy every bit as heart pounding, soul searching, and explosive as it started. Nena Knight now takes her place alongside crime fictionâs most unforgettable heroines.â âRachel Howzell Hall, New York Times bestselling author of We Lie Here and These Toxic Things
âYasmin Angoe returns with both barrels blazing in It Ends with Knight. Nena Knight is such a well-crafted character, and Angoeâs writing is an absolute joy. You need some pretty strong writer mojo to get readers to root for an assassin, and Angoe pulls it off. I truly hope It Ends with Knight is not the end of this wonderful series.â âTracy Clark, bestselling author and winner of the Sue Grafton Memorial Award
They Come at Knight
An Amazon Best Book of the Month: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
âThereâs nothing ho-hum about Nena Knight, the killer at the heart of Yasmin Angoeâs They Come at Knight⊠In one blistering action scene after another, we get to see how good Nena is at what she does.â âNew York Times Book Review
âA second round of action-packed, high-casualty intrigue for professional assassin Nena Knight. A lethal tale of an all-but-superhero whose author promises that âin this story, there are no heroes.ââ âKirkus Reviews
âThis action-packed novel drives toward an explosive conclusion. Determined to survive devastating loss and mete out justice, Nena is a heroine readers will embrace.â âPublishers Weekly
Her Name Is Knight
âThis stunning debutâŠdeftly balances action, interpersonal relationships, issues of trauma, and profound human questions in an unforgettable novel.â âLibrary Journal (starred review)
âA parable of reclaiming personal and tribal identity by seizing power at all costs.â âKirkus Reviews
âAngoe expertly builds tension by shifting between her leadâs past and present lives. Thriller fans will cheer Aninyeh every step of the way.â âPublishers Weekly
âAn action-packed thriller you can lose yourself in.â âPopSugar
âMemorable characters, drama, heart-pounding danger . . . this suspenseful novel has it all.â âWomanâs World
âA crackerjack story with truly memorable characters. I canât wait to see what Yasmin Angoe comes up with next.â âDavid Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author
âYasmin Angoeâs debut novel, Her Name Is Knight, is an amazing, action-packed international thriller full of suspense, danger, and even romance. Itâs like a John Wick prequel except John is a beautiful African woman with a particular set of skills.â âS. A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author of Razorblade Tears
âItâs hard to believe that Her Name Is Knight is Yasmin Angoeâs debut novel. This dual-timeline story about a highly trained Miami-based assassin who learns to reclaim her power after having her entire life ripped from her as a teenager in Ghana is equal parts love story, social commentary, and action thriller. Nena Knight will stay with you long after youâve read the last word, and this is a must-read for fans of Lee Child and S. A. Cosby. I found myself crying in one chapter and cheering in the next. I couldnât put it down!â âKellye Garrett, Anthony, Agatha, and Lefty Awardâwinning author
âThis was a book I couldn ât put down. Yasmin Angoe does a brilliant job of inviting you into a world of espionage and revenge while giving her characters depth and backstory that pull the reader in even more. This story has depth, excitement, and heartbreaking loss all intertwined into an awesome debut. The spy thriller genre has a new name to look out for!â âMatthew Farrell, bestselling author of Donât Ever Forget
âThis brave and profoundly gorgeous thriller takes readers to places theyâve never been, to challenges theyâve never faced, and to judgments that leave the strongest in tears. Her Name Is Knight is a stunning and important debut, and Yasmin Angoe is a fantastic new talent.â âHank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of Her Perfect Life
âHer Name Is Knight is a roundhouse kick of a novelâintense, evocative, and loaded with character and international intrigue. Nena Knight is a protagonist for the ages and one readers will not soon forget. Her Name Is Knight isnât just thrills and action eitherâthe book lingers with you long after youâve finished. More, please.â âAlex Segura, acclaimed author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, Secret Identity, and Blackout
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The road to hell is paved with good intentions. âUnknown
PROLOGUE
Montavious Brodie Sr. clicked send on his Dell computer, the desktop over five years old that his eldest granddaughter had been begging him to let her upgrade to one of those Macs. He didnât need something skinny, fast, and flashy. He liked his clunky, heavy computer because it had just what he neededâthe World Wide Web, where he could connect to his fellow Armchair Detectives, or Armchairs for short, on the latest unsolved crime they were working to crack.
He loved solving puzzles, or being what the young ones these days called an armchair detective. He didnât care. He had been a South Carolinian detective and investigator (depending on the agency) in his heyday before heâd retired and left the policing to his son.
Now, something new, something heâd heard when he probably shouldnât have, had put a bee in his bonnet. Colleton. The name jiggled something in the recesses of his mind. Something from decades ago, but he couldnât quite shake it loose. Colleton. This was an old one. He could spend his time trying to track the name down to answer the question that was beginning to light a fire in his gut. But honestly, he hated the World Wide Web. There were too many searches. Too much bullshit clouding the truth. He left that kind of work to the younger Armchairs. They found some information, and he combed through it, teasing out the clues and the obscure bits of fact that the novices tended to gloss over. It was a good work model for the group. Everyone knew their lane. People from all points of the world came together in the name of helping to bring justice for victims and closure for families.
Montavious used his two pointer fingers to peck out the letters into his group forumsâwhere he usually went to find new cold casesâto see if someone might recognize the name. Then, satisfied his message had gone through, he logged out and picked up his weathered iPhone. It ran so slow these days because the damn Apple people didnât send any more updates. Plus, heâd heard on the CNN that consumers were suing the company for forcing customers to upgrade to new phones by not sending updates for the old ones. Well, no damn Apple was gonna make him buy a new phone. Heâd ride this one until the wheels fell off.
He looked over his half-moon-shaped readers. He only wore them to read the bright screens of his phone and computer. Maybe the newspaper, too, since the damn print seemed to be getting smaller these days.
He pulled up his recent-calls list, bypassing the first few: Chief Linwoodâs office (same office his boy used to head); the post office; Mrs. Barbara Harris (Barb let him take her out a time or two), who volunteered at the hospital and worked part time at the Manor overseeing the renovations with Ms. Arden; and his youngest granddaughter, Pen. He scrolled until his slightly crooked finger landed on the name of his favorite partner in crime, the one who humored his critical, never-trusting eye. Jac, the older grand whoâd lost her way, and for years, he had prayed to the man upstairs that heâd be able to get her back home. Somehow. Whatever had happened out there on the bluff, Montavious knew the truth wasnât gonna be found in the townâs gossip . . . or even in what she believed. What had driven Jac away from home.
Maybe this time sheâd pick up the call instead of replying to his voicemail messages days later. Maybe this time she missed her old granddad enough to call back, and he could hear her voice one last time before the night was up.
Probably out with her college folks, he concluded as the automated message told him his granddaughter was unavailable. As usualâthough the robot lady didnât say that part.
âHey, JD.â His knobby fingers rubbed absentmindedly at the area where his pacemaker was situated beneath his skin.
Junior Dick. The nickname between the two of them. One his daughter-in-law, Angela, hated with a passion, which made her daughter love it even more. Her junior dick to his senior. Partners in crime. Partners in this thing called life.
ââMember how I said way back then you can never run from your past?â He hesitated. Was this really how he wanted to begin? Did he really want to piss her off before heâd even gotten his message out? âOr rather, the past comes and finds you no matter what?â
Maybe this time heâd been asking for the past to find him. Heâd willed and hoped that someday the one that got away would come knocking. And they had.
âJunior, this ole man might have played his hand a little too soon. I think . . . think I screwed up real bad.â He swallowed nothing down his dry throat. âItâll make sense when I can show you. Itâs been years.â He couldnât believe it. After all this time. To have another chance at this again. âWho would have thought?â
He was breathless, looking up to find he was facing his large whiteboard stand and staring at the word heâd just typed to the Armchairs. Colleton. It was as if the name had beckoned him to it, and heâd come running, twisting his chair around instinctively to face the past. The name had just been mentioned in passing. Probably didnât realize it had even been said. But a reckoning came with that name, Colleton. As in, Colleton Girls. He scribbled it on his whiteboard.
He was in his cabin in the woods, away from the house, where he could get his thoughts together without the constant distracting chatter from Pen and her mom, Angela. Back at the house with them, it was easy to get caught up in Angelaâs helicopter mothering and Penâs incessant doctoring, like he was some kind of invalid. It was just a little thing with his heart.
He cleared his throat and chased away the case of jitters that had suddenly sprouted. âCall me back this time, will yaââ
The snap of brittle branches crushed beneath weight stopped him cold. He ended the call.
Out here, the woods were always alive with sounds, but he knew them all, and they soon became background noise he barely said âbooâ to. This wasnât a raccoon or a coyote, however. Not a bear (hadnât seen one in decades) or a gator (too far from the lakes and swamps). A tree limb falling? No. Heavy enough to be a deer, though.
The old manâs heart was terrible. Eyesight wasnât like it used to be, but he thought it was better than that of most folks his age. But his hearing was damn near perfect and could suss out a racoon digging in the trash bins or a wandering deer out there. This was not either. There was no more noise after the snap, as if the trespasser had halted, worried the old man had heard them. Well, he had. And if they were worried about being heard, then that meant they werenât supposed to be there. He ignored the protesting creaks from his bones as he eased out of his worn, wooden swivel chair, pulling his half-moon glasses from his face before setting them upside down on the oak desk heâd built from scratch. He cocked his ear, honing his hearing and waiting for more noise so he could determine its cause.
Snap. As sharp as a crack of thunder. So loud. So deliberate.
Not an animal or falling wood. Was closer this time.
His cabinâthe home he, his dearly departed Mae, and their two sons had owned for over half a centuryâwas made up of five small rooms. Two square bedrooms on opposite ends, with the living room in the middle and their kitchen at the top of it with a tiny bathroom beside it. A small half hall to the left of the kitchen ended at a single side door. If he went out that door, heâd be deposited into the dense woods and marshes surrounding his home. His land stretched out until it bumped into the sprawling Moor property that was made up of a good portion of these woods. The Manor, the winding trails that dumped into the clearing before eventually hitting the cliffs at the back of the mansionâall of that was Moor property.
Stacks of old papers, piles of books, corkboards stuck with pushpins where Montavious had mapped the cases that he and his folks followed with the stereotypical red yarn, all cluttered his living room. No one used the yarn anymore, but he liked it just the same, a nostalgic reminder of back in the day when a cop had to pound serious pavement to figure out the connection. It wasnât just practically at the tips of your fingers on the computer like it seemed to be these days. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe not. He hadnât decided yet.
He thought of going to his bedroom and double-checking his hidden safe, which held two things. A case heâd die for. And a case heâd kill to solve. Heâd been keeping watch on the first for nearly thirty years. It was the only case he never wanted solved.
Lord forgive him.
The half hall and the side door were where the noise came from. He moved toward them, pulling his handgun from the top bookshelf, where he kept it locked and loaded. If he was anyone else, Montavious would have given the unannounced visitor a second thought before opening the door. But this was his home, his property, his neck of the woods.
Hell, in his career, Detective Brodie had gone up against the likes of murderers, bank robbers, abusers, organized crime syndicates (yes, even in the good ole South), traffickers, and even a serial killer or two.
Not to mention that, as modern and accepting as people claimed to be now, this was still the South. He was still a Black man living in a small house, alone, deep in the woods. He was not far removedânot removed at allâfrom those times of his life when his advancement in the military, then in the police academy, then through the ranks to detective, then to a job as an agent at SLED, South Carolinaâs State Law Enforcement Division, was hindered and nearly made nonexistent because of the color of his skin.
That kind of hell would never be forgotten, no matter how much he and his family were known and respected throughout South Carolina, especially in the Lowcountry, by both Black and white folks. Heâd seen the worst of society because of skin color. Heâd seen the worst of humanity because of what Cain did to Abel way back when. Murder.
Heâd seen plenty of terrifying things. Yet, alone in the pitch black with nothing but the spotlights surrounding his property to stave off the night, and despite his aged body and slowed reflexes, Montavious Brodie Sr. refused to ever be scared. Despite what heâd endured in his lifetime, some clown in the woods wasnât about to make Montavious Brodie Sr. lose his religion. Not then. Not now.
Still, his mama didnât raise no fool, either, and the old man could never be too careful. He had his gun. When he opened the door to the warm autumn night, the leaves rustling in the wind, he saw nothing but dark. The light of the cabin shone behind him, making it harder for his eyes to adjust. He should have remembered his police training instead of assuming nothing could touch him here. He should have cut the lights in the house so he could have made out the figure coming close in the dark. Montavious should have done a lot of things differently. But he didnât.
Recognition washed over him as his visitor approached, and his once-defensive stance with gun at the ready relaxed. Shouldnât have done that either.
âWell now,â he said. âItâs damn late to be calling.â Surprise, annoyance, and a tiny bit of curiosity overpowered what should have been suspicion and mistrust. âHad time to think it through?â
The Taser lashed out quicker than his numbed reflexes could react. Montavious stumbled back from the impact, surprised at the force with which the contraption was shoved into his chest, right on top of the area where the pacemaker kept his rhythm in check. His gun clattered to the ground, going off in a sharp crack that rendered one ear useless. But the suddenly muted sounds didnât faze him.
It was the electricity. The volts surging through his body over and over. Paralyzing him. Making his teeth come down hard on his tongue. His mouth flooded with the warm gush filling his throat, spilling through his bared teeth as he ground in. His hands clawed and couldnât help to break his fall. The Taser was one thing. Heâd been hit with one before, though not over and over.
It was his heart. The volts seized the muscle, making it beat faster and fasterâtoo fast. Frighteningly fast. Until it stopped entirely.
As his body lay half in, half out of the tiny cabin where heâd lived with the love of his life (now gone), where heâd raised his two boys (both gone too), where his granddaughters had played, his last thoughts settled in his mind. This had been a happy home. He was glad to die here.
His last thoughtsâbefore the blood from his heart stopped pumping to his brain, until the room went hot and bright and then his sight began to dimâwere that now his partner in crime, his JD, would be able to find her way back home to Brook Haven. He was finally bringing her home.
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Yasmin Angoe
Yasmin Angoe is the author of the critically acclaimed Her Name Is Knight, first book in the Nena Knight trilogy. She is a first-generation Ghanaian American and the recipient of the 2020 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color. Her Name Is Knight came in #1 on multiple Amazon Bestseller charts and is an Editorâs Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense.
Yasmin is a nominee for the Anthony Awards for Best First Book and the AAMBC Awards for Debut Author of the Year. Her work has received numerous recognitions, Best Of lists, and a Library Journal Starred Review. Her book has appeared in Womanâs World Book Club, POPSUGAR, Nerd Daily, the Washington Independent Review of Books, and other platforms. Yasmin is a former educator and received a Kirkus Review calling Her Name Is Knight, âA parable of reclaiming personal and tribal identity by seizing power at all costs".
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Customer reviews
4 out of 5
3,659 global ratings
Kindle Customer
5
Very good!
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024
Verified Purchase
Really great story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. it just was so wordy! Some of it was so drawn out I got bored. But still a great and creative story!
Amazon Customer
5
Excellent!!
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2024
Verified Purchase
Wow!! Excellent read all around! Great story, well developed characters and wonderfully written with so many twists and turns! Please keep writing!! đ
6 people found this helpful
Lagertha's Apprentice
5
This is Different
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book is somewhat different for me, a white Seattle girl. The mystery was intense, addictive, and unputdownable- it is too a word! My reviews on here are predominantly thriller based because I canât get enough of the hook, the horror and trying to find the, âbad guy.â As with all the greats, this one definitely caught me by surprise, and I loved it! But it was different for me because it had quite a bit of Southern, âculture?â if thatâs the right word? Itâs fun reading about different places and the way people live elsewhere, and this one was extra interesting for me because the writer and protagonist were both black women, and honestly thereâs definitely Not enough thrillers featuring and/or written by people of color (or if there are Iâve sadly missed them). The pigment tone of the author obviously has nothing to do with what makes a book good or bad, but I at least didnât realize how much of a difference it can make in the experience of reading and character traits. But regardless of all that, the book has my favorite thing to read about - bad ass women solving crazy-twisted crimes!
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17 people found this helpful
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