I Know Who You Are: A Novel

Alice Feeney’s second novel, I Know Who You Are (2019), is a psychological thriller. A former BBC journalist, Feeney became a New York Times best-selling author with her 2017 debut novel, Sometimes I Lie (which is in development as a television series) and is known for complex plots and startling twists. Her subsequent works, including His & Hers (2020) and Daisy Darker (2022), solidified her reputation in the suspense genre. In I Know Who You Are, successful actress Aimee Sinclair realizes that her husband, Ben, has vanished, leaving behind his personal effects, and that their joint bank account has been emptied. As Aimee’s life unravels, she questions her memory and sanity.

The novel’s dual-timeline narrative alternates between Aimee’s disoriented present and traumatic childhood past, exploring several themes: The Fragility of a Constructed Identity, The Unreliability of Memory as a Consequence of Trauma, and The Destructive Nature of Deception in Relationships.

This guide refers to the 2020 Flatiron Books paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of child abuse, graphic violence, sexual violence, rape, mental illness, physical abuse, emotional abuse, animal cruelty and death, death by suicide, death in childbirth, substance use, cursing, and illness or death.

Plot Summary

Aimee Sinclair, a 36-year-old actress, returns to her Notting Hill home after a fight with her husband, Ben, during which she asked for a divorce. The house is empty, but Ben’s wallet, keys, phone, coat, and shoes are all there. Concluding that he has disappeared, she calls the police. The next morning, Aimee reflects on her troubled marriage: Ben resented her success and refused to have children. When she stops for a latte while jogging, her bank card is declined. A call to the bank reveals that their joint account, containing more than £10,000 of her money, was emptied and closed the previous day by someone the bank’s records identify as Aimee herself, though she has no memory of doing so.

Detectives Alex Croft and Sergeant Wakely arrive to investigate. Aimee tells them about the missing money and a stalker she had years ago, but she lies about when she last saw Ben, claiming that she was asleep when he came home. The detectives find a broken bolt on the inside of the master bedroom door and note that both Aimee’s and Ben’s passports are missing. Aimee can’t find a single recent photo of her husband.

The narrative flashes back to Galway, Ireland, in 1987. Five-year-old Ciara watches her abusive father force her older brother to kill a chicken, traumatizing him. Afterward, her brother cruelly blames her for their mother’s death in childbirth and their poverty. He shoves her, and she runs away from home. In town, a woman named Maggie finds Ciara crying and takes her to a cottage. Maggie gives her cake and a glass of chalky-tasting milk and then tells her that her father can no longer afford to keep her. Ciara feels tired and falls asleep, wondering how Maggie could have spoken to her father, as their family doesn’t own a phone.

Back in 2017, Aimee goes to work at Pinewood Studios. Her costar, Jack Anderson, tells her that the journalist Jennifer Jones is waiting for her. Aimee despises Jennifer, who asks invasive questions during the interview. Later, Aimee films an intimate scene with Jack. At home, she recalls how her stalker sent postcards with the handwritten message, “I know who you are” (39), signed “Maggie O’Neil.” In the attic (which is otherwise empty), she finds a shoebox filled with these postcards, which she thought Ben had thrown away. Detectives Croft and Wakely return, confronting her with CCTV footage of her slapping Ben in a restaurant on the night he disappeared. They also question why his car has an empty tank when a receipt places him at a petrol station just before he vanished. In the kitchen bin, Aimee later finds two empty bottles of lighter gel.

The story returns to 1987. Maggie takes Ciara to a flat above a betting shop in Essex and introduces her to John, her “new dad.” Maggie hits Ciara, cuts her hair, and informs her that her new name is Aimee and her birthday is now in April. Confined to the flat, Aimee must call Maggie “Mum.” Later, Maggie makes her clean the shop floor downstairs every night. As punishment for lying, Maggie forces Aimee to eat a meal off the filthy bathroom floor.

In the present, Aimee is at Pinewood when she learns that a rival actress, Alicia White, wears a red lipstick that matches the one she found under her marital bed a year ago. Detective Croft arrives on the set with more evidence. She shows Aimee CCTV footage from the petrol station of a woman who looks just like her buying lighter gel. Aimee denies it’s her, suggesting that it’s her stalker, Maggie O’Neil, whom she says is dead. Croft then reveals that on the day Ben disappeared, he reported Aimee for assaulting him. Croft shows her a photo of his severely beaten face and says he told the police about Aimee’s childhood diagnosis of transient global amnesia. Croft plays a voicemail that Ben left for a domestic abuse counselor, in which he said, “I think she's going to kill me” (81).

Back in 1988, Maggie saves Aimee and John from attackers, wielding a gun. That night, Aimee overhears John say, “Aimee is dead” (110). Seeking to erase Aimee’s Irish accent, Maggie gives her elocution tapes.

Returning to 2017, Aimee wakes from a nightmare that she realizes is a memory of Ben raping and beating her on the night he disappeared. She’s hungover and can’t remember how she got home after having drinks with Jack. Jack is in her house and explains that he brought her home after she became intoxicated. An online article by Jennifer Jones shows intimate photos of Aimee and Jack. Croft returns, revealing that the stalker emails were sent from Aimee’s laptop. She asks to see Aimee’s legally registered gun, but Aimee insists that the police obtain a warrant. She meets her agent, who has arranged a meeting with a top director, Fincher. Upon returning home, she sees police carrying a body bag out and flees. At Ben’s old workplace, she learns that he was fired two years ago. That night, at the wrap party, Aimee gets a “Happy Birthday” text on her real birthday. She fleetingly thinks she sees her husband across the room. Croft arrives and arrests her for Ben’s murder.

In a final flashback to 1988, the betting shop is robbed on Grand National day. An accomplice, Susan, tricks Aimee into leaving the back door unlocked. The robbers shoot Maggie and John. As Maggie dies, she whispers the code phrase, “Say your prayers” (184), prompting Aimee to retrieve a hidden gun and kill all three robbers. The dying Maggie wipes the gun and instructs Aimee to place it in John’s hand and tell the police her name is Aimee Sinclair.

In prison, Aimee’s cellmate shows her a news photo of “Ben Bailey,” a man Aimee has never seen before. Croft secures her release, explaining that the body is that of the real Ben Bailey, who died by suicide two years ago and was dug up to frame her. The man Aimee married was an impostor. Croft also reveals that John Sinclair survived the robbery and was imprisoned for the killings. Aimee goes to Jack’s home, and they have sex. She then retrieves her hidden gun from her own house. While jogging, she sees a childhood photo of “Ben” in an antique shop window. The shop owner tells her it came from a house-clearance supplier named Maggie O’Neil, providing her business card. On the back of the photo is written “John Sinclair. Age 5” (262), indicating that the impostor was using a photo of her foster father.

Aimee goes to the address on the business card, the old betting shop. Inside, she finds a scrapbook of her career and the letter she wrote to her brother, Eamonn, years ago. Her husband appears, removing a wig and makeup to reveal that he is Eamonn. He has had plastic surgery to look like Jack. He confesses that he carried out the entire plot, including killing John Sinclair, as revenge for her abandoning him as a child. He reveals that Maggie and John accidentally killed the real Aimee Sinclair. He incapacitates Aimee using a stun gun and takes her to their childhood home in Ireland. There, Aimee seduces him to gain his trust. When he sleeps, she attacks him with a statue, fleeing to the shed. He corners her, but she finds the axe and decapitates him.

Six months later, Aimee is married to Jack and pregnant. At a press junket, Jennifer Jones asks about the mysterious disappearance of Alicia White, who vanished after losing the Fincher role to Aimee. For a promotional video, Aimee intentionally blurs her identity with her character’s, stating, “My name is Aimee Sinclair […] Sometimes I kill” (288).