Keep Them Close

By: David Ellis

Narrators: Robin McAlpine, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Kelli Tager

Penguin Audio

ISBN: 9798217045877

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Publication Date: 06/30/2026

Format: Other

My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)

JUN 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

From the bestselling author of Look Closer comes a new domestic thriller about betrayal and murder inside one twisted family.

“David Ellis is a master of layered, complex thrillers. A fast-paced, twisty, wild ride.” —Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of It’s Not Her

Two siblings. One murder. So many lies.

Siblings Allison and Luke have been through a lot together. They’ve always stood by each other. They’d do anything for each other.

Or so it seems.

When Allison’s husband, Finley, is murdered, the investigation threatens to expose the siblings’ darkest secrets. An illicit affair. A decades-old accident. A stunning deception. How do these events explain Finley’s death? How far will Allison and Luke go to keep their secrets buried? And can the siblings even trust one another anymore?

As the investigation winds tighter and past and present collide, the most shocking betrayal might lie a little too close to home…

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My Review

⚖️"A dizzying, hyper-twisty, and masterfully constructed psychological game of cat and mouse."

In KEEP THEM CLOSE, Edgar Award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author David Ellis delivers a relentlessly fast-paced, razor-sharp domestic psychological thriller. The story hinges on an intensely co-dependent brother and sister forced to defend their most toxic secrets after a sudden murder puts them directly in the crosshairs of a ruthless police investigation —as the past and present collide: sibling loyalty vs. a calculated trail of lifelong deceptions.

"An absolute slam-dunk of a domestic thriller that forces you to suspect everyone, trust no one, and question how far family blood will go to keep the past buried in the dark."

The Hook

Siblings Allison and Luke have always stood firmly by each other, surviving childhood dysfunction and maintaining a fiercely protective bond. But their carefully curated worlds completely shatter on April Fool's Day when Allison's husband, Finley, is brutally murdered. As the police launch an active homicide investigation, the spotlight instantly circles the siblings. The pressure quickly unearths a hornet's nest of long-hidden family crimes—including an illicit affair, a decades-old tragic accident, and a stunning deception.

🛗 Elevator Pitch

When her wealthy husband is found murdered, a woman and her fiercely loyal brother become the prime suspects in a tightening police investigation. Forced to defend a lifetime of buried secrets—including an illicit affair and a decades-old fatal accident—the siblings are thrown into a paranoid game of betrayal where they must decide whether to save their own skin or sink with their blood.

Setting

The pristine, wealthy suburban neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois. The setting acts as a clinical, high-status backdrop where manicured lawns and public images mask intense financial greed, buried trauma, and small-town corruption.

Vibe

Dizzying, addictive, and deeply cynical. It perfectly pairs the breakneck pacing and web of lies of Mary Kubica's It's Not Her with the meticulous, multi-perspective legal and psychological manipulation of Ellis's own smash hit, Look Closer.

Genre

Domestic Psychological Thriller / Suspense Fiction.

Themes

~The Fragility of Sibling Alliances

~Legal Justice vs. Private Retaliation

~The Weaponization of Long-Standing Grudges

~The Illusion of Marital and Suburban Security

👥 Standout Characters

`Allison: The fiercely protective, seemingly grieving widow. Trapped inside a messy marriage built on secrets, she is forced to play a high-stakes psychological game with the police to keep her past from blowing up.

~Luke: Allison’s devoted brother. Always willing to do anything to defend his sister, his blind loyalty is put to the ultimate test as his own dark, hidden agendas begin to leak into the investigation.

~Finley: The catalyst; Allison's wealthy, unfaithful husband whose sudden murder on April Fool's Day ignites a devastating domino effect across the family

Author Writing Standout

Ellis’s extraordinary gift for structural plotting shines through every single chapter. Using multiple untrustworthy points of view and dual alternating timelines, he builds a highly calculated, labyrinthine narrative where every single piece of information is a trap. He masterfully avoids standard, predictable thriller tropes by ensuring that just when you think you finally have the mystery solved, a brand-new bombshell drops to completely reset the board.

Takeaway

Blood may be thicker than water, but when a murder investigation closes in, even the tightest family bonds can become the most dangerous traps of all.

Title Significance

Keep Them Close plays on the classic idiom to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In this novel, the title morphs into a chilling warning: the people you are keeping closest to you—your family—might actually be the exact wolves you need to run from.

Metaphor

The decades-old childhood accident serves as the central metaphor of the novel. It represents the invisible, heavy anchor dragging the siblings down, acting as the structural blueprint for every lie, affair, and manipulation they have committed as adults just to survive the initial cover-up.

Why You Should Read

Read this if you love an aggressively fast-paced, multi-POV puzzle box like The Last Flight or The Guest List, where there are absolutely no sympathetic characters and the real joy comes from watching bad people construct and demolish their own elaborate webs of deceit.

My Thoughts

A long-time fan of the author, Ellis cleverly crafts a suffocatingly addictive, unputdownable ride in KEEP THEM CLOSE. The short, punchy chapters create a clinical tension that makes it practically impossible not to fly through the pages. Watching Allison and Luke’s sibling loyalty slowly degrade into mutual paranoia and hidden agendas is absolutely delicious. It is a brilliant, five-star masterclass in structural suspense with a wild, stunningly unpredictable ending!

Verdict: 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars

"A masterfully executed, wickedly entertaining domestic thriller packed with mind-bending deceptions and a spectacular sibling cat-and-mouse dynamic."

📚 Recs

~Look Closer by David Ellis (For more of the author’s signature, five-star Chicago wealth manipulation, timeline execution, and mind-bending revenge loops).

~It's Not Her by Mary Kubica

~The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

~The Sinner (USA Network / Netflix)

~Also for fans of authors: Lisa Jewell, Alice Feeney, BA Paris, and Bryan Gruley.

Special thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!

@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks

My Rating: 5 Stars

Pub Date: June 30, 2026

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June 2026 Must-Read Books

Praise

David Ellis is a master of layered, complex thrillers. A fast-paced, twisty, wild ride.”

—Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of It’s Not Her

“Bold, brilliant, and unforgettable. David Ellis is in a league of his own.”

—Alex Finlay, bestselling author of Parents Weekend

About the Author

David Ellis is a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson. His novels have been translated into more than ten languages worldwide. In December 2014, Dave was sworn in as the youngest-serving Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. He lives outside Chicago with his wife and three children. WEBSITE