"The author is a first-rate military historian, and his first crime novel reflects the skills of a terrific storyteller with a keen eye for both character and plot. Just after losing his family in a horrific car crash, F.B.I. agent Ryan Tapia is assigned to Bangor, Maine, where the discovery of a dead fisherman leads to an inquiry into the illegal trades of drugs and, yes, rare fish. Thomas E. Ricks lives part-time in Maine, and his knowledge of the terrain and people of that hauntingly beautiful state helps make for a heartfelt thriller."
Description
An FBI agent finds himself in the insular world of a fishing village on the Maine coast where the rules are different—sometimes lethally so.
After his wife and two children are killed in a car crash, Ryan Tapia starts a new life in Maine. But his first case there is a puzzling oddball—the corpse of a fisherman washes up on federal land, while the man’s boat drifts into waters that are part of an Indian reservation. Ryan quickly learns the nuances of Maine life as he delves into two illicit coastal trades: hard drugs and rare fish. Many of the locals are happy to see that particular fisherman dead. What’s more, they are not shy about noting that Ryan must have screwed up pretty badly to be posted to such a remote location as Bangor, Maine.
Undaunted, Ryan works to understand the unforgiving way of life on Liberty Island, where people live by an older, harsher code. Adrift on a sailboat one day, he encounters a man from the Malpense tribe, living as a hermit on a remote island, who witnessed something that fateful day.
In his riveting crime debut, New York Times bestselling author Thomas E. Ricks turns his literary talents to land he knows deeply, from working in the Maine woods and trapping lobsters year-round. Everyone Knows But You is a rich and dynamic crime novel that brings a unique part of America to vivid, thrilling life.
Reviews
"A crackling procedural about a grieving FBI agent who sets out to solve a murder in Maine. The sturdy whodunit plot is enriched by the author’s firm grasp of his setting and a colorful cast of New Englanders who never veer into caricature. A sequel would be welcome."
"I really enjoyed Tom Ricks's Maine-set mystery Everyone Knows But You about Ryan Tapia, a solitude-seeking FBI man on an isolated part of the Maine coast. After the death of an ornery lobsterman, Agent Tapia uncovers enough secrets, lies and shenanigans to give Jessica Fletcher a run for her money. A sophisticated thriller debut from one of America's finest writers."
“Thomas E. Ricks’s beautifully written mystery merges people and place with page-turning suspense into a seamless whole. The finest kind of mystery novel.”