Member Reviews

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC of You Know What You Did in exchange for an honest review!

You Know What You Did is a slow-burn, twisty debut from K.T. Nguyen. A mystery, a thriller, a commentary on generational trauma, and tribute to the refugee experience, it tackles and confronts shifting perceptions and the battle of mental health head on. YKWYD follows Annie (or Anh Le), who has been spiraling since the recent death of her mother. Her husband has noticed that a lot of her OCD tendencies are resurfacing; her daughter (a typical teenager) wants nothing to do with her. When she’s left alone suddenly, time moves differently, and things begin to happen she cannot fully understand.

This book was a challenge for me. It felt heavy, complex, and personal. The first third builds slow and steady, but it really takes off around the 40% mark when Annie’s husband Duncan takes an assignment and her daughter Tabby heads off to camp. Annie finds herself in the middle of a murder and a mess, and becomes more and more unsure about the part she played as time goes on. We flash back to moments from her childhood and to some of the more difficult periods of her marriage. Ultimately, I was really glad that I stuck with it and finished YKWYD because it got better and better but I wouldn’t say it’s for the faint of heart. A lot of the topics it covers are messy, uncomfortable and occasionally gross. There’s a scene with a dog I haven’t quite recovered from.

Still, it’s a novel with a point of view. It reads like a letter, and remains a special glimpse inside the mind of a layered and challenging narrator, someone not necessarily easy to love, but lovable all the same. Someone worth understanding and sitting beside, amidst a battle that whether won or lost is hard fought and never relinquished.

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An artist finds herself slowly descending into madness as she begins to question what is true or not... and whether the monster is her own mind or someone out to get her as those close to her begin to die and it's all pointing to her as the murderer. Annie "Anh Le" Shaw looks like she has it all, a thriving art career, a devoted husband, and a beautiful home and daughter. Yet Annie's struggling, especially with a mother who she has a very difficult relationship with... that ends up worse when her mother dies suddenly. Annie's life begins to unravel and her OCD begins to flare up and things only get worse... from her art patron disappearing and to the man she had an affair with being poisoned... and someone leaving her threatening messages. Annie feels like she's losing her mind, she can't tell if she's the problem or if someone else is after her. Her memory is foggy at best and she can't seem to do anything right... yet something in her knows that she isn't the one doing this... right? If not her... then who? This was an interesting mystery because I loved the portrayal of Annie dealing with her own background and childhood versus that of the cultural differences in her husband and daughter. The portrayal of the refugee experience and the relationship between mother and daughter was really interesting and I enjoyed it. The mystery itself was pretty clear and I guessed who did it early on but enjoyed it overall. I liked how vulnerable Annie felt and how her struggles were realistic. It's an interesting thriller overall and I think it makes a good read!

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton | Dutton for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

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K.T. Nguyen's "You Know What You Did" is a rollercoaster of a read, devoured in two days, with a mix of intriguing psychological layers and quirky character dynamics.

However, despite its gripping start and engaging narrative style, the story loses momentum towards the end, leaving some loose ends untied and the resolution feeling a tad too tidy for comfort.

While the book's exploration of generational trauma and obsession is commendable, its over-explanation of character emotions and somewhat predictable plot twists detract from the overall experience. Ultimately, I'd give it 3 stars—worth the ride, but not without its bumps and detours.

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The way the author was able to layer mother- daughter relationships , the immigrant experience with horror elements was incredibly well done.
The pacing was perfect because I was glued to my kindle.
Thank you for the earc .

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3/5

This book was a weird case because the description of the book is actually quite misleading. I was almost going to give up on the book in the first 40% because of it before I realized that and was able to readjust my expectations. This is definitely a domestic thriller with a little bit of crime and not a crime thriller as the description seems to promise. Honestly I’m not sure why it was written that way as it’s actually a decent domestic thriller! Had I know that from the start I would have been way less frustrated at the beginning.

As for the story itself, I both liked and hated Annie. I kept flipping between being annoyed by her to pitying her as she struggled with her condition. It just felt so helpless seeing her make one horrible mistake after another and she was just as powerless as the reader is. I think that feeling was actually really well done as it felt like I was there with her one horrible step at a time. (You can see why without knowing it was a domestic thriller at first this would have been more aggravating than interesting). But I think the author did a good job fleshing her out into a very nuanced and troubled woman.

I was also not a big fan of the ending at all. It felt so different in tone and pace compared to the rest of the book. Everything came to a quick and far too clean end in the last 20% of the book and it didn’t actually feel all that satisfying after so many layers of problems that had been built up until then. There were a lot of ideas in this book and the end really let all of the buildup down.

Overall, the beginning was ruined because of the bad description of the book, the middle was excellent and the ending was disappointing.

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K.T. Nguyen's debut novel, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID is a thriller/suspense novel that deals with heavy topics, such as death of a family member and coming to America as a refugee. The main character, Annie (Anh Le) Shaw is navigating her life with her devoted husband Duncan and their daughter Tabitha (Tabby). They live a beautiful and financially successful life together, but when her mother, a Vietnam War refugee dies, Annie's life and mental state begins to suffer. Annie suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and has carefully curated her life from the horrors of her upbringing and generational trauma. Annie begins to see the world around her crumble and she doesn't quite know how to navigate this new reality.

K.T. Nguyen is an incredible storyteller. I was hooked by how she was weaving the story around. This book is at its core a thriller/suspense, but I also think that you could categorize it as a slow-burn horror. The first half of the book really sets the mood for the second half, so you'll need to pick this up when you're ready for a slower read. Not only does this book deal with the effects of being a refugee and fleeing a country in turmoil, this book really dives into mental health.

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Despite the author’s great plotting and characters, foreseeing the ending was fairly easy…or maybe I’ve just read too many mystery/thrillers! Having one of her characters deal with a specific type of OCD was an interesting addition to the story. This was a quick, enjoyable novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Press for the ARC to read and review.

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It took a long time for me to get into this one. It was pretty descriptive of gross aliments and ways to die, which I wasn't a huge fan of. It was easy to follow the plot and the characters were very easy to keep track of! This was pretty predictable too. All in all, the good and bad level each other out to make this just an average read.

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It took me some time to really get into this story, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Annie has lots of issues, including OCD, which makes life a bit difficult. Thankfully she has a great husband who takes care of her, their daughter, and everything else in their lives. But with time, Annie realizes she wants a life of her own. That’s when things start to unravel a bit. I enjoyed the story, especially the ending.

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Excellent. A true 5-stars. The twistiest of twisty domestic suspense. Annie's reality is a slippery thing and K.T. Nguyen did a great job of letting me experience her confusion and panic while still keeping me grounded in the story. This is an extremely hard tightrope to walk and she pulled it off beautifully. Had some qualities of following someone into madness like Steven King's The Shining and the ending was just as explosive.

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Anh Le is the daughter of a Vietnam refugee. She goes by Annie Shaw now and is married to a wealthy man and she has a teenage daughter. She is an artist and has OCD. The OCD was under control, but after her mother dies it seems to come roaring back. Her mother was living in a carriage house on their property. Strange things start happening and after an elderly patron goes missing right after Annie had paid a visit, the police start questioning her. Annie begins having trouble keeping her dreams and reality separate. Some of her worst fears seem to be coming true. Annie’s husband, a journalist, decides to go away on assignment to Syria and her daughter goes off to summer camp. Annie does not handle the isolation well and her OCD continues to get worse. I don’t want to give away all that happens - let’s just say some terrible things happen that have Annie questioning everything in her life - her relationship with her mother, how it makes her relationship with her own daughter more difficult, her marriage, her career, her mind! Annie is a well written character, the OCD aspects of her life are very detailed and well done, apparently based on the author’s own OCD experiences. I found the book to be very interesting and suspenseful. I give the book 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. The book is due to be published April 16, 2024.

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This was a very slow burn, domestic thriller that I had some problems with. Part one was really slow and a little boring. Part two was a little better and part three there were some things that were so implausible that I just had to shake my head.
The writing was good but It just felt a little weak at times. I also just couldn’t connect with the character’s much. I was expecting more.
Thank to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for a honest opinion. 3⭐️

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BIPOC Mystery in which an Vietnamese artist begins to doubt her own mind and if she's responsible for her mother's death, an art patron's disappearance and the hospitalization of a lover.

1/5 stars: This is Nguyen's BIPOC Mystery that features an artist who's carefully curated life, dream career, devoted husband and whip-smart teenage daughter, starts to unravel. A string of events that include the sudden death of her Vietnam War refugee elderly mother, an art patron going missing and waking up naked next to a lifeless body, not only kicks her OCD into overdrive but puts her in the police sights. But with her mind increasingly fractured all she knows is She’ll do anything to protect her daughter—even if it means losing herself. Nguyen tackles some very heavy topics, so take care and check the CWs. Nguyen's writing and character work are nicely done. Unfortunately, this just wasn't a book for me; leading me to DNF it at 14%.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Dutton in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

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This is one heck of a psychological thriller. I loved seeing Vietnamese representation in this genre and even touched on more deeper subjects like how the Vietnam war effected Annie’s mother mentally.
It felt a bit redundant at times but overall, amazing debut and the unreliable character trope was done very well!

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This did have a really slow start, but I was pulled in and invested around 40% in. I know that's too late for some readers, and that's okay. However, I just want to note that I did think it got significantly better around that time.

There is OCD rep, which I am so happy to see more and more of in books these days.

I didn't expect the ending and would definitely seek out another book by KT Nguyen in the future.

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This novel started off waaaaayyy too slowly. There was a huge amount of buildup into Annie’s psyche and relationships with her mother and daughter. However, hang on the story does pickup! Deeply disturbing and more along the creepy mystery genre than thriller.

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I was really intrigued by the synopsis of this book. It’s a thriller about a woman who finds her mother dead one day, then from there her OCD starts to spiral out of control and she’s swept up into different police investigations. She doesn’t know who she can trust in her life… or if she can even trust herself.

At the start of the story I was enjoying it. I thought it was interesting to delve into the generational trauma that Annie had in her life from her mom being a ​​Vietnam War refugee. I also thought that the repetition of the phrase “you know what you did” added a layer of intrigue. The explorations of how Annie’s OCD impacts her life and how the way her mom raised her still lingers after her death were probably my favorite parts of the book.

While I did begin my journey with the book being intrigued about what it meant when “you know what you did” kept being brought up… eventually I just started to get bored with the plot. I felt like it took way too long for the present day mystery/thriller parts of the story to begin. A very big portion of the book just felt like a domestic drama rather than a mystery or thriller. Thankfully later in the book those story elements do appear, but I also didn’t end up enjoying them that much. Everything just started to feel a bit too over the top and mustache-twirly instead of grounded.

Even though this book didn’t ultimately work for me, I’d still be willing to read more from K.T. Nguyen in the future. I did appreciate some of her character work and the explorations of generational trauma.

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I would’ve DNFd this book if 1. It wasn’t an ARC and 2. I couldn’t figure out why it was so highly rated for the first 70% (!!!!!!) of the book. I kept thinking “this has to be so bonkers at the end” because it felt like one of those scary movies where almost nothing happens and then it gets absurd the last 10% of the movie.

There were two different sets of time jumps happening at the same time so the story kind of felt disjointed which probably slowed down my reading speed.

This was an excellent depiction of OCD by an Own Voices author which I really appreciated. She created a real sense of paranoia throughout the entire book but the main character was so upset by the wrong things that when actual scary things happened, it felt like they weren’t even happening because the main character didn’t see the danger in anything normal. As a result, I felt like nothing was actually happening in the book which made it hard to get through but in hindsight might have been a genius writing technique. It was almost like I was being gaslighted by the author.

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I found the story to be slow, and it was able to keep my attention. I found the bad language from the 14/15 year old girl to be ridiculous. I feel like here were some loose ends with Ray. Did he know about Duncan? The ending didn't give me the wow factor that made the slowness of the book worth it.

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Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dutton for a copy.

🔪Psychological Thriller/Horror
🔪Mental Health Rep (OCD)
🔪Unreliable Narrator
🔪Toxic Family Relationships
🔪Short Chapters
🔪Debut Author

What an excellent debut!
After the death of her mother, who was a Vietnam War Refugee, Annie’s life starts down a dark path. Her OCD comes raging back, her teenage daughter wants nothing to do with her and her husband is pushing her to get help. The loss has impacted her in many ways and we learn about their toxic relationship in the book.
Her husband goes away for work and her daughter goes to summer camp. Annie is alone to deal with everything.
After a persons murder is pinned on her, Annie starts losing pieces of her memory. She can’t remember what’s true memories or not. And when she wakes up next to a lifeless body with no recollection of what happened, the police need answers. But she doesn’t have any to give.
This is such a creepy story that I couldn’t stop reading. I just had to know the answers!
Be sure to check trigger warnings as this book can be dark and has many triggers.

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