Introduction

Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by * NPR * Esquire * O, The Oprah Magazine * Real Simple * BBC * PopSugar * Bustle * Kirkus Reviews

“A gripping, astute, and deeply humane political thriller.” —The Boston Globe

“Mesmerizing [and] uncannily prescient.”—Los Angeles Times

A taut, timely novel about what a powerful politician thinks he can get away with and the group of misfits who finally bring him down, from the award-winning author of Ways to Disappear.

On an unnamed island country ten years after the collapse of a U.S.-supported regime, Lena suspects the powerful senator she was involved with back in her student activist days is taking advantage of a young woman who's been introducing him at rallies. When the young woman ends up dead, Lena revisits her own fraught history with the senator and the violent incident that ended their relationship.

Why didn't Lena speak up then, and will her family's support of the former regime still impact her credibility? What if her hunch about this young woman's death is wrong?

What follows is a riveting exploration of the cost of staying silent and the mixed rewards of speaking up in a profoundly divided country. Those Who Knew confirms Novey's place as an essential new voice in American fiction.

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of November 2018: When a senator’s aide is literally hit by a bus, Lena is suspicious. Years ago, she was smitten with the same politician, back when they were both young activists fighting the repressive regime of an unnamed island country—but a sudden act of violence brought their budding romance to an unceremonious end. Is he responsible for the aide’s death as well? And is Lena complicit after staying silent about what he did to her? Idra Novey’s Those Who Knew has a ripped-from-the-headlines quality, and despite the fact that you’ll likely be able to guess the ending as easily as a Law & Order episode, she does a deft job of mining the payoffs, and pitfalls, of speaking truth to power. A timely, insightful, and satisfying read. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review

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