Annie's mental state definitely added so much to the suspense of this story. It was an exceptionally well-executed unreliable narrator situation.

I absolutely loved Nguyen's writing. The character work in particular, I was so impressed. I enjoyed not only the suspense and mystery of this story, but Nguyen also chose to tackle some difficult topics, such as the immigrant experience and mental health.

K.T. Nguyen offered the reader glimpses of Annie's past which explained some of her behaviors in the present day. She endured severe emotional abuse by her mother and was subjected to the generational trauma that often occurs in immigrant families. I think this would be a great book club book because there are many components that would prompt thoughtful discussions outside of the plot.

This book is so damn crazy in the best way possible!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an advance readers edition of this title. My reviews never contain spoilers and are freely given.
The relationship between a Vietnamese mother and daughter are central to the storyline of “You Know What You Did”. Annie’s controlling hoarder mother has died, and Annie (who has OCD) is reeling. Her marriage is suffering, her daughter is distant, and people around her are being hurt and killed. Annie is a flawed person, but surely she is innocent. Or is she?
The story alternates between what is happening in the present with Annie’s past experiences with her mother. It certainly holds your interest, and the ending wraps the story up nicely.

Two stars for part one, three stars for part two, and a big fat zero stars for the reveal in part three.

This was an exceptional portrait of the mind of someone experiencing a unique form of OCD, but there was not much in the way of plot for the entirety of part one, more than a third of the book. It did pick up in part two, but I found part three offensively disconnected from the rest of the story, to the point where it seemed the author wrote the first two parts then threw a dart at a list of her characters to pick who the sociopath would be and wrote part three off of that random choice.

I thought it was a poor execution of the unreliable narrator trope, it lacked a sympathetic build up and jumped straight to unlikeable and unbelievable. The only thing it did well was portraying the disgust factor that characterized Annie’s OCD. And did I need that scene with the dog? Absolutely not.

This is such a creepy and thrilling debut from K. T. Nguyen!

After Annie's immigrant Vietnamese mother dies, the OCD Annie thought she had under control rears it's head back into existence. While she struggles to keep control of her mind, one of her wealthy art patrons disappears, and Annie finds herself in the middle of a police investigation. Then, Annie wakes up in a hotel room next to a dead body with no memories as to what happened to land her in that position. She's left wondering if she can trust her own mind well enough to work her way out of the situation she is now in.

This story is suffocating and eerie from the get go, and escalates to an even scarier conclusion along the way. While staying true to itself as a thriller, it also explores generational trauma, mental health and the fragile bonds between mothers and daughters. I was so impressed by it and look forward to more from Nguyen!

Impressive psychological drama. It includes family trama, the immigrant experience and some unexpected murders. A completely surprise ending.

This thriller/horror focuses on a woman with OCD tendencies who is having all the family issues one could image. Her mother dies, her teenage daughter is on her case about everything, her husband is working overseas, and she is contemplating meeting up with another man. On top of that there is a murder investigation that she's being questioned for and she's a bit of an unreliable narrator. Overall, an interesting read, but I did find some parts of the story slow and/or confusing.

After her mom's death, Annie's life starts to spiral out of control. Her OCD is taking over more and more everyday. And multiple crimes are popping up and she's being looked at as the main suspect. On top of all of this, her marriage is suffering and her relationship with her daughter is failing miserably. So what's a lady to do?!
First off, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

So, the first half of the story dragged for me. The way the story jumps around from past to way in the past to current was confusing and hard to follow at times. I also struggled because there was not a single character I really liked all that much, and the main characters were extra unlikable. I did not fully see the ending coming so that was fun! But it felt a little rushed and too perfectly resolved for me. I did appreciate the insight into the struggles of OCD, specifically around contamination/germs, and the PTSD symptoms that can come from experiencing war, immigrating, living without money or means to survive and how the generational experiences are passed down in different ways. The author did a good job of sharing a peek into these things that most may not understand or be familiar with.

This is an excellent debut! Annie Shaw appears to have an Idyllic life as an artist with a smart and headstrong teenage daughter, Tabby, and a loving, patient, and successful husband, Duncan. After her mother, a Viet Nam refugee, passes, Annie’s life begins to spin out of control. Her OCD comes back with a vengeance and people start to die around her which, eventually, grabs the attention of the law. This story is tightly plotted and well written. With an unreliable main character, it almost reads like a fever dream. It is a bit of a slow burn but the short chapters and the suspenseful, even disturbing, content is gripping. There is a lot to unpack in this one with themes of generational trauma, mental illness, and complicated mother/daughter relationships to name a few. There are some trigger warnings so read up on this one before diving in! Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on May 16, 2024

Anh Le, the daughter of a Vietnam War refugee, grapples with OCD and paranoia in You Know What You Did, a spellbinding thriller that touches on many topics. Annie, as she is known now, sees her life spiral out of control after the death of her elderly mother. When a client of hers goes missing and the police zero in on her, her once dormant OCD overtakes her life, and she finds herself struggling to separate reality from fantasy as several events put her squarely at the center of a police investigation. The slow moving early chapters subtly build the tension until the explosive second half of the book firmly grabs the reader through a series of plot surprises that propel the book right through a blockbuster finish. The writing flows easily as the author guides the reader through a difficult subject, well worth a read. 4.5 stars! I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

Struggled to read this. Not my cup of tea. It didn’t hook me at the beginning so I could never really get into the story.

Thank you to the publishers at Penguin Dutton for the chance to read “You Know What You Did” by K. T Nguyen!

Part murder mystery, part domestic drama, but all rooted in the experiences of a Vietnamese-American, reeling from the death of her mother. Our protagonist, Annie Le, tries to piece back together her life as her OCD systems begin flaring up. When a disappearance happens, Annie is forced to reckon with some harsh truths about her trauma, her marriage, and her life.

What I treasure so much about this book is the way it viscerally tries to reconcile so many messy experiences. In particular the book gives life to how difficult it is to live in translation between cultures, generations, and different class circumstances (when her mom complained that Annie’s dog was a waste of money and not a beloved pet, I cackled).

This is also such a painful but necessary representation of life with OCD that needs to be out in the mainstream. OCD - and other mental health concerns - have never been a exclusively a problem for the wealthy and white; these are just the folks who have had the most access to diagnosis and treatment. This book thoughtfully tackles how class impacts mental health outcomes without ever being preachy or shy about the gory details.

If you’re a fan of Gillian Flynn but thinks she writes about white women too much, this might be right up your alley. Can’t wait to see what K.T. Nguyen writes next.

This book was slow burn at the beginning and I really struggled to get through it until I hit about 40% and then I could not stop reading. The twists and turns caught me off guard and I truly had no idea how the book was going to end. It was so worth pushing through to get to that ending. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy, I throughly enjoyed this one.

This story was so captivating. We follow Annie, a woman who loses her mother. However, everything is not as it seems. Annie begins experiencing mental health struggles that she had issues with previously, and the story turns dark fast. This was a thriller that was different and far more interesting than others I read because it looked at the genre from the point of view of someone who had come to the United States from Vietnam as a young child, and experienced far different things than the norm. I really enjoyed the fast pacing, great writing, and different outlook than what I am used to in psychological thrillers I have read before. I would highly recommend grabbing this, as it is sure to be a hit!

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author + publisher for this arc! This was a thriller/horror read with initially slower pacing that picked up quickly. I enjoyed the story and the Vietnamese American representation. I can’t say I’m all that excited about my daughter being a teenager in a handful of years, but the author did a really nice job supporting the creepy complicated relationship vibes I expected with this read.

**4.5-stars rounded up**

You Know What You Did is an intensely-suspenseful Mystery/Thriller debut from a hot up-and-coming author, K.T. Nguyen. And what a crackling debut it is!!

This story follows a fascinating-MC, Anh Le, who goes by Annie. She's married, and the mother of a teenage daughter. Annie is also an artist, although she's feeling unsatisfied with her career lately. In fact, a few aspects of Annie's life are beginning to derail after the passing of her Mom, a Vietnam War refugee, who Annie had a contentious relationship with. Annie's mother had been residing in an out-building on their family property, so she had been a fairly constant presence in Annie's life.

The loss impacted Annie in a lot of unexpected ways. Her severe-OCD comes roaring back and the dark fixations of her mind seem to be morphing into her reality. When Annie's most wealthy patron goes missing, shortly after Annie visited her home, the police come knocking.
The disappearance is shocking and it has Annie questioning everything, even herself. She can't seem to keep current events straight in her mind.

She's confused about many things and it's scary. She begins to distance herself from her family and friends. With Annie's husband traveling for work, and her daughter off to summer camp, Annie is left to her own devices. As you can imagine, that doesn't go well. Waking up in a hotel, with a lifeless body beside her, Annie has officially hit rock bottom. The police are back and she doesn't have answers that make sense, not even to herself.

Y'all, I loved this. I found it completely engaging, creepy and thought-provoking. K.T. Nguyen delivered all the tense, claustrophobic, desperate, unreliable narrator vibes that I could ever hope for. I found it so easy to connect with Annie. I felt everything she was feeling. It made me incredibly anxious, but in a good, entertaining way, if that's possible. There were times that I was crawling out of my skin of anticipation.

I was sympathetic to Annie's character from the start, particularly since I couldn't stand her husband, or her daughter. It often felt like they were ganging up on Annie and were just not giving her any slack. I was happy when they both left, so Annie could be alone. Although it definitely didn't help her mental state.

It's funny, I was Buddy Reading this with a friend and she mentioned, like how much is what Annie is relaying to us about her husband and daughter true? Could it be her paranoia? Part of her mental spiral? Or were they really being that rotten to her? I didn't even consider that before she said it, but yeah, Annie's mental state definitely added so much to the suspense of this story. It was an exceptionally well-executed unreliable narrator situation.

I absolutely loved Nguyen's writing. The character work in particular, I was so impressed. I enjoyed not only the suspense and mystery of this story, but Nguyen also chose to tackle some difficult topics, such as the immigrant experience and mental health. I enjoyed the levels of depth that these topics added to the story. This is more than just your standard Popcorn Thriller. This story has meat and I enjoyed every bite.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a taut, engaging and emotional Mystery/Thriller. Particularly, if you enjoy an unreliable narrator. Thank you so much to the publisher, Dutton, for providing me with a copy to read and review. If this is her debut, I cannot wait to see what Nguyen delivers next!!!

I’m not going to lie through a good first halfish of the book I wasn’t deeply invested and didn’t quite see what all the hype was about. However by the end of the book I was impressed by a lot of topics this book touched upon and the significant impact these have in our world that don’t often get the attention they deserve.
The main character Annie is someone I didn’t know if I liked, wanted to know more about, or could trust… a total roller coaster. The first part of the book gives a lot of background about her life growing up, her Mother, family, etc…. And as the book continues I quickly learned how imperative this was to her fully developing her character and understanding her. I did figure out some of the twists and turns, but there were also definitely some surprises (I can’t go into too much detail without giving key points away).

This book definitely explores generational trauma and how deep that goes into every aspect of someone’s journey. It also touches on a lot of mental health associated with that journey and how it comes out in Annie’s life. Don’t give up if you aren’t immediately hooked , keep reading and even if this doesn’t top your constant twists and turns thriller list … it definitely has some chilling moments !!
3.5!!!
Thank you to the Author, Netgalley, and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC!!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on April 16, 2024.

I got about 40% through and had to place it to my DNF shelf. It didn’t grab me and the dysfunction was a bit much for my taste.

Fans of psychological thrillers will LOVE this suspenseful, disturbing, fast-paced book about a first-gen Vietnamese American who starts to doubt her own sanity as the death toll rises among those around her. Complicating her analysis of the harrowing situation is the main character's lifelong struggle with OCD, "the doubting disorder," which causes her to question what is real and what is a function of her own mind. There are twists and turns, and also some reflections on the refugee/immigrant experience and intergenerational trauma. I couldn't put this book down and I think it's going to be big in 2024.