Katie Gutierrez’s debut, More Than You’ll Ever Know, explores our obsession with true crime against the backdrop of motherhood and family secrets.

Cassie Bowman is a small-time crime blogger who embarks on a career-making story.

When Cassie first reads about Dolores Rivera, she can’t stop digging for more. Lore, as she is known to family and coworkers, was at the center of a fatal love triangle in the mid-1980s. Lore was a banker that traveled to and from Laredo, Texas, to Mexico City when she met Andres Russo during a business trip. The chemistry between Andres and Lore was undeniable. She found herself thinking about him after a thrilling motorcycle ride, a steamy kiss, and a hasty departure. But there was one problem: Lore was married to Fabian and mother to their twin boys, Mateo and Gabriel. As their first night together escalates, Lore makes a series of choices that would change her life forever, leading to the eventual murder of Andres by her husband, Fabian.

At least, that’s what she reveals to Cassie as they begin a conversation about Lore’s life. Cassie wants to write a book about Lore’s side of the story, focusing on the why behind Lore’s double life.

It’s a life Cassie knows a lot about herself because she holds a few secrets too. The secrets the characters keep close to their chests cause earth-shattering revelations towards the end of the book.

Gutierrez aims high in her exploration of what our true crime obsessions reveal about us as a society. How far is Cassie willing to go to turn this case on its head and publish her findings to jumpstart her career as a writer? Gutierrez also wants us to consider how far a mother will go to protect her children as Lore reveals her story’s unknowns to Cassie. Cassie herself begins to discover secrets about her parents’ marriage. The story unfolds in short alternating chapters and the swift shift of perspectives and timelines builds and maintains suspense until the very last page, leaving the reader one-hundred percent hooked.