You Know Why
J. T. Ellison
Thomas & Mercer
August 2026
You Know Why by J. T. Ellison is a psychological thriller that has sisterly rivalry, buried secrets, retribution, and the lies that can upend a family.
During the holidays, photographer Brooklyn Locke is bound for Italy with her husband, Trey, and their two children. But when Trey vanishes from the airport, missing their connecting flight and their impromptu vacation, life as she knows it begins to unravel.
Desperate to find her husband, Brooklyn accepts help from a stranger, Eden Barrow, who works at the airport. But Eden soon makes a shocking claim. She is the sister of Trey’s first wife, and ten years ago he was the main suspect in her murder, and his name is really Andrew.
Struggling to comprehend these accusations, fate delivers one more blow: a violent accident that leaves Brooklyn fighting for her life. With nowhere else to turn, Brooklyn leans on Eden for support. But each kindness feels too rehearsed, feeding her doubts about Eden’s motives and Trey’s true past.
This story has intrigue, suspense, and twists with page-turning thrills.
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
J. T. Ellison: It is a combination of two different ideas that I had a long time ago. I just always wonder what if someone just walked off from their partner, just left, and never came back? And then the other half was, I saw this couple, this gorgeous, perfect couple, having an argument on the flight, with these two cute kids. I was in the middle of fertility treatments, and I was just kind of a rage monster. I just wanted to reach out and bang their heads together, and say, ‘do you realize what you have?’ I tucked both of those away and just carried them with me.
EC: How would you describe Trey versus Andrew?
JTE: Trey is certainly living a life that is not necessarily what he thought he was going to, and it’s against what he’s been allowed to do. And he wants to protect. He wants to protect his wife and children. And that was one of the biggest challenges of the story for me, is why he would leave them if they were in danger. It took a long time to figure out. Andrew too just wants to protect his wife and protect his legacy and all the things that he has. And a lot of bad things happen, even though he tries to keep her safe. So, he’s not very different from personality to personality. I wanted both husbands to be complicated and complex. I wanted to do something different with him. Trey seems like a great guy, but then he walks out on his family at the airport. Why would he do that if he is such a great guy?
EC: Why would the female lead, Brooklyn, stay with Eden, a total stranger?
JTE: She’s many, many hours from home. She can’t get home. She doesn’t want to leave until she can talk to the police and make a statement. She doesn’t have any money. They won’t let her stay at the hotel. She can’t get the car home. This woman, Eden, has been nothing but a help, we suspect her, but she’s been nothing but a help to her. And says, ‘Here, just come stay with me. It fine.’ And she’s part of the airline. She’s a trusted employee of the airline. So, Brooke goes against her misgivings to do that. Plus, there’s the lure of being able to talk to the cops directly. She didn’t have a lot of options, so, what was she going to do?
EC: How would you describe Brooke?
JTE: I think she’s been domesticated by suburbia. And maybe that takes the edge off her instincts a little bit. She is strong and cunning, an incredibly intelligent woman. She’s been very fiercely independent. She’s been able to travel around the world from a very young age, and has had a lot of success. Sometimes she gets herself in over her head.
EC: How would you describe Eden?
JTE: Dedicated to having a life. She wants to have a life, but wants to get justice for her sister. But she’s not who she says she is. She’s a very complicated person, and very intense.
EC: What about the dynamic of the siblings, Eden and Chloe and Brooke and Margot?
JTE: I don’t have sisters, and I’ve always wanted them, so I have a lot of fun writing sisters. There is an inherent competition, between them, especially the identical twins. Brooklyn and Margot’s parents tried to raise them as differently as they could, so they didn’t become each other. They wanted them to have individual personalities and likes, and they were very individual people, even though they were identical twins. Chloe and Eden, had just the older sister/younger sister dynamic with different personalities. Eden is overprotective but jealous at the same time. As I was writing this book, at the lake I saw a mom with three little girls, and they were all playing close on the dock, really close to the water. And the eldest of the three, she couldn’t have been more than five or six, was kind of pushing around the little ones, and pushed one towards the water, and her mom was like, ‘Hey, stop that. Be the example.’ The idea of the older sister having to be the example and the pressure of that, came to me. Eden’s the one that must be the example, and the pressure of that is too much for her to bear.
EC: Would you ever write another Samantha Owen or Taylor Jackson book?
JTE: I got all the rights back to the Taylor Jackson series and sold it to Thomas and Mercer. They’ve been re-releasing, the first four already came out the next five start in January. And I’m hoping that with this series going to them, they would be interested in another Taylor book and it would be with Sam. It would wrap Sam’s story that has been obviously left out in the cold. I’m trying to get the Sam books back too. Her story was left in such a huge cliffhanger. I need the rights back because my old publisher does not want that fifth Samantha book. They just don’t want it. I am trying to get the rights back so I can do it myself.
EC: Do you have another book coming out next year?
JTE: I do have a working title so I don’t want to put it in print. It’s about revenge. It will probably come out this time next year.
THANK YOU!!
