I was interested in this book because the description said it was for Lisa Jewell fans. It was a good thriller with a twist at the end. However, for me, it was a little depressing. The characters were mean to each other and the storyline did not always make sense. I kept losing interest.
I received this galley from NetGalley.

Loved how the book looked at generational trauma and the baggage carried from the past. A unique thriller. Thank you for an advance copy!

This didn’t work for me so DNFing at 5%. It felt very YA to me with childish writing, and I didn’t like the set up for a mental health trope of the “did I/did I not do something because I can’t remember due to my meds.” Thanks anyway for the ARC.

Thank you so much Dutton books for the ebook via NetGalley and PRH Audio #partner for the audio! I absolutely loved the narration by Kim Mai Guest!
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Annie “Ahn Le” Shaw comes from a poor and turbulent childhood having had a complicated history with her immigrant mom. Nonetheless, Annie has managed to have a stable life with a husband who’s able to provide her with everything and a daughter she adores.

However when Annie’s mom dies, Annie’s mental health begins to spiral and her OCD resurfaces to the point that Annie loses control over her surroundings and can’t trust herself of the actions she takes. Deaths of two of her close acquaintances in different capacities lead the police at her door and Annie is forced to regain control of her life to save herself from the looming investigations and keep her family safe.

This thriller was action-packed with back and forth timeline of events, unique elements of contamination OCD, toxic familial relationships and generational trauma as well as the immigrant experience. Even though Annie was a very intense character to read (with an often repetitive loop of her intrusive thoughts and mental state) and an unreliable narrator, I kept rooting for her to thrive and the complicated mother-daughter relationship really pulled at my heartstrings. Annie’s friendship with Ike was also a lovely respite in an otherwise grim state of relationships that Annie endures. Also, be warned, there’s a dog that’s unalived in the story. All in all, this was a very unique and memorable thriller to read! I can’t wait to find out what K.T. Nguyen will come up with next!

Annie looks like she has it all, but inside she’s unraveling. Struggling with her relationship with her mother and OCD, PTSD and memory lapses, she’s far from being in control. Distancing from her family, Annie wakes up in a hotel room next to a dead body. As an unreliable narrator it’s difficult to know what’s true. Even Annie is questioning what’s real. Dark and dreary, this one dragged for too long making it hard to connect with the story. The writing is good, the storyline wasn’t a favorite. Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

With vivid prose, this novel delves into trauma, intergenerational struggles, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters. It offers both thrills and emotional depth.
Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Duttonand to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Gripping thriller with twists I didn’t see coming. Fast paced, easy read. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for forwarding me this ARC.

It took me a long time to finish this book. Not because it was bad but because it was really hard to get into. The writing style is very unique and the storytelling did take a while to pick up. But once it did, I couldn’t stop.
This book tells a haunting tale of racism, gaslighting and toxic relationships.
Our main character Annie is suffering from OCD and is also the unreliable narrator.
Honestly if you love a good unreliable narrator this is THE book for you. It may be one of the best books I’ve read with that trope.
This thriller told the story of domestic horror so so well and it reminds us that often your daily life and the people you think you know and love are your worst enemies. I seriously devoured this.
I loved how this all wrapped up and am looking forward to read more by this author.

"A first generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares past and present ,,,"
Literally? Say less.

I was so excited by the premise and the dark, moody atmosphere of this book, but unfortunately the plot was not plotting and could not hold my attention all the way through. A solid 2.5 stars for me.

Thank you to both NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the ARC copy of this psych thriller out now!!!

While I do love me a great psych thriller, unfortunately this one was a bit too slow paced for me personally. It felt as though the beginning was filled with a tad bit of fluff, and it took a while before we really started to get into things.
I would've liked a little bit more happening to keep me engaged with the story line.

I also thought the ending was a little predictable.

However, there are plenty of readers that have rated this highly! So it may just be that it didn't quite work for me, but it will for you!

Unfortunately this just wasn't working for me. I am having a lot of trouble staying interested. I am thankful for an eARC!

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Rating 3.75

This novel was really interesting and fun, though it did feel slow at some points. I loved the unreliable narrator and how it kept me on the edge of my seat when it wasn't dragging in those slower moments.

I always love thrillers. The cover art had me interested and the comparison to Lisa Jewell made me know I wanted to read this book. I devoured the book, constantly guessing at the ending, but never quite getting it right.

This was a great story.

Following the main character and her complicated relationship with her mother from childhood to after her mother’s passing. With suspense of did she do something to her mom, to someone else, interwoven through the story, you’ll stick around past bedtime turning pages to come to the satisfying conclusion and the answers that await you.

Unfortunately, You Know What You Did was a bit of a drag for me, which was disappointing because this was one of my most anticipated reads this year. I think K. T. Nguyen is skilled in terms of writing, but I just did not care about these characters and felt like Nguyen's efforts to be mysterious eclipsed the pacing and character development.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP, Dutton, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

Annie’s mother (with whom she had a complicated relationship) just passed away, her teen daughter doesn’t want anything to do with her, and a seemingly promising article covering her art career turns out to be a massive disappointment. All in all, it’s no wonder her OCD is flaring up (though she insists to her husband she’s fine, she doesn’t need therapy, stop asking.) Then, as soon as her husband leaves on a work assignment and her daughter goes away to summer camp, her arts benefactor disappears, and Annie is under suspicion. Suddenly alone and struggling against her own mind, Annie is not one hundred percent convinced she didn’t do it.

If you’re someone who is triggered by detailed descriptions of mental illness struggles, this book is not for you. Annie’s anxiety is palpable, running throughout the novel and growing thicker and more toxic throughout. It gave me second-hand anxiety, reading this book, making it at once more gripping and less pleasant to read. I found Annie deeply frustrating in a lot of ways, but also sympathetic in others.

The twist at the end was shocking but not surprising – I saw it coming but that didn’t make it any less impactful, and had me thinking back and reframing many scenes in my mind, especially ones with a certain character.

Representation: Vietnamese characters, including main character, and other POC characters; lesbian character

CW: severe mental illness (OCD, hoarding, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, dissociation, and memory loss), child abuse and neglect, PTSD, car accidents, death of animal, infidelity, domestic violence, sexual assault

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I’m kicking things off with K.T. Nguyen’s razor-sharp debut, “You Know What You Did." Here, complications from untreated mental illness drive the unreliable narrator trope for a swirly, tangled hair-raiser.

After first-generation Vietnamese immigrant Annie “Anh Le” Shaw’s mother dies unexpectedly — the two had a fraught but close relationship — the loss impacts Annie more than she is initially aware of, and her seemingly perfect life begins to fall apart. First is the emergence of Annie’s long-forgotten obsessive-compulsive disorder, the details of which are depicted in such a way that only someone who has experienced Shaw’s specific type of OCD can portray.

“Through Annie, I describe some of my lived experience with disgust-driven, contamination-based OCD,” Nguyen wrote in an online author’s note. “The imagery is raw and vivid — and very necessary to realistically portray how this chronic disorder can affect people’s everyday lives, how it can make you feel like a prisoner in your own body.”

Then, when a well-known art patron suddenly disappears, all signs point toward Annie, who can’t prove she’s not at fault because she isn’t entirely sure — with blackouts and visions, she can’t trust her own mind. As sinister as it is emotional, “You Know What You Did” explores mother-daughter relationships and generational trauma with taut, captivating prose and a touch of horror.

Unfortunately, I could not get into this book. The mystery aspect did not captivate me and it took a long time to reveal itself. Furthermore, the story seemed to drag on a bit and perhaps that was why I found it a bit hard to follow at times. I was so intrigued by the cover, but it didn’t live up to that for me. 2 stars ⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for review.

The ending really saved this book for me. I feel like it took me a really long time to get into this book. Chapter 1 grabbed my attention, but it was quickly lost after that. The story dragged on and I didn't feel it picked up until about the 80% mark.

While I did find that the OCD representation was accurate, I felt like the story relied too heavily on it. I didn't love that it felt like "are these things happening or is it just her OCD". Also the major trauma dumping about her life with her mom? That felt very out of place and I still am not quite sure how it added to the story.

Our main character was severely unlikeable which I think added to me not wanting to pick up this book. Honestly after the first weird thing happened I was hoping she would go to jail, that's how much I didn't like her.

This book should definitely come with some form of content warning. The scene with the dog made me want to throw up and honestly stop reading this book. It felt severely unnecessary to go into that much detail.

Overall it was a fine book. I don't know that I would read it again, but I am glad I experienced it at least once.

I loved this! Such a good twisty story. I love an unreliable narrator and was satisfied with the ending - however, the pacing sometimes felt like it was dragging in places which took it down to a 4 star read.