Member Reviews
This was a really interesting premise and overall I enjoyed it, but I also feel like there could have been about 50 pages cut out as some of it got pretty repetitive. Also I would have liked for Poe to do some sleuthing of her own, instead of just expecting her fan base to figure out who this guy was.
Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was absolutely captivated by this book from the beginning! It was addictive, fast paced and just everything I’m looking for in a book. I would recommend me this book in a heart beat!
Whew, talk about a wild ride of a book! I flew through this book and it kept me on the edge of my seat! I felt the premise was super unique, unlike other thrillers I’ve read. I took off 1/2 ⭐️ just because I wasn’t wowed with the ending. Still a great read! 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow! What an amazing read! Poe and her story had me captivated from the very beginning to the last page!
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A hair-raisingly creepy thriller, I devoured this book in less than a day + was enthralled from (digital) cover to cover. As someone who read almost exclusively thrillers for the entirety of 2023, this is one of the most binge worthy thrillers I've had the pleasure of reading since (and I have a HIGH bar for the genre).
Centered around a true crime podcaster who gets her interviewees to confess their darkest confessions, Poe Webb is caught off guard when a subject of her podcast claims he murdered her mother... but that can't be right because she killed the man who supposedly stabbed her mother 14 times. But this subject knows intimate details of her mother's murder: only details the true murderer could know. In a blood pounding, fast-paced race to the finish, Poe must uncover where the real truth lies and what her own sins say about her.
Taking a step back, Tell Me What You Did was masterfully intelligent, brutally dark, wildly, suspenseful, and just plain EERIE. I loved that this book had me gasping as much as it had me laughing (Carter's humor reminds me a bit of Brynn Weaver's dark comedy), and the moments of tenderness were also expertly interspersed throughout the novel. As a fellow New Englander, I also loved the setting and felt this was a perfect read to curl up with during the fall time.
An absolutely phenomenal thriller, this book was a nonstop game of cat and mouse where the roles were constantly reversing. The ending was extremely satisfying, and everything came together with a nice neat bow that made total logical sense (an area I've seen some authors stumble). Carter Wilson, bravo. You did NOT disappoint.
Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson is out of this world good! To be honest, I was drawn in by the summary, but I was hooked from the very first chapter. I haven't read a book by this author before, but if his other books are anything like this one, I know that I'll be reading more of his works.
The concept for this book is something new and original. Yes, there are tons of books coming out about true crime podcasts or that feature a true crime podcast, but a true crime podcast that allows people an anonymous space to confess to their crimes is something new to me. From the get go, I knew that I was going to enjoy this book. Poe is such a fun character! She is a fighter and a great protagonist that I think many readers will enjoy and wholeheartedly support. As for our antagonist, he gave me chills. My main genres are thrillers and horror, so I've read a ton of books about creepy villains, but it has been a very long time since I read a book where the villain not only creeped me out, but also sent shivers down my spine. There were multiple times that he made me audibly gasp with just a few simple words.
This books is absolutely fantastic, and I cannot wait for more readers to experience it. I highly recommend it! This book is a wild ride, and I'm so happy that I bought tickets to it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
Poe hosts a top rated true crime podcast where she asks criminals to "Tell me what you did". One guest seriously unnerves her when he confesses to killing her mother. Poe's mother was murdered years ago and he couldn't be her killer. Poe knows this because she killed him herself. Or did she ?
This book weaves in transcripts from her podcast with what is happening in present day. It's a tense thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book for review
I NEVER read a book in a single data. NEVER. So this is all you need to know about this book: it is so captivating, so well written, the suspense is so nail-biting, that you will NOT, I REPEAT, WILL not PUT IT DOWN UNTIL THE END. And what an end it is.! #tellmewhatyoudid #NetGalley
This book had my attention from the very first page. I enjoyed the writing style and the timeline and how it was written. Definitely a book that will have you wanting to finish it in on sitting!
Poe Web (what an incredible name, by the way) lost her mother when she was a teenager. She actually saw her being murdered and deals with it in a very healthy way (no). She has a podcast where she interviews people who have a crime to confess, and one day someone pretends to be her mother’s killer, except she already killed her mom’s murderer (she’s fine psychologically, I said).
I love morally grey characters, and Poe is exactly that. She makes terrible choices because of her trauma; she obviously should have gotten some help after her mother’s murder. I don’t approve of people getting revenge themselves in real life, but it is the most satisfying thing ever in books (I become morally grey in fiction too). I expected her dad to be a bad guy, but he’s not; he’s so incredibly normal, and that’s actually refreshing. I also love that Poe learns her parents were both flawed people. It was easy for her to blame her mom for maybe being the reason she got killed in the first place. It’s easy to be mad at the person who’s not here. Now, I wasn’t a big fan of Kip, I’m sorry. He’s mad at her for hiding things, but then he’s not very happy with what she has to say when she finally comes clean. Like, sorry bro, but she was traumatized, and that made her act a little (a lot) unhinged.
I loved this book! It was full of action and suspense. This is the perfect thriller!! I loved the varied time changes throughout
What can I say, I am in my thriller era. This one gave, not as twisty as many others. But I loved the way it goes from past, present. It goes through interviews so you can get pure dialog and it plays out like a podcast which is nice and unique. I loved that the zero cares the main female character gives, and I love that it intertwines with other stories within one, so you can get a bit of Alice's, Kip's background of abuse. Something we can relate to, or we know of someone going through something similar. Definitely will recommend to others.
This is definitely a case of an author showing all his cards early on.
If you had read at least 5 thrillers in your life, you are 90% able to predict what was going to happen from the very beginning.
It didn't really have a twist or grand reveal, it was a 50/50 chance of a presumption being the truth. In the first third, I tried to make a specific guess, and lo and behold. I was correct!
The writing definitely made up for the storyline though. Although the book dragged in some places, I wasn't bored.
The characters were more like puppets or ornaments. Calling Poe a main character os kind of a stretch. She was more of a visualization of the story, things happen to her, not because of her.
Overall, it was an okay book. I think it just wasn't my style, others would definitely love it.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
I was immediately drawn in from the book description and it did not disappoint! It had me hooked from the first chapter and read the whole thing in a day. The flashback and present day views were well-written and woven together in a very compelling and unique way. Though I was able to guess the twist early on, the author did a fantastic job at conveying and maintaining the tension and suspense throughout the whole book. Overall, I found this to be a really engaging and eerie thriller- a real page turner! Highly recommended. I am excited to check out the author’s other works as well.
Its been a while since a book disturbed me this much (in the best way) and I just couldn't put it down or turn off the lights. Poe's story is gruesome and she hosts a podcast where sinners confess their crimes. But, the past comes back to haunt her and now she's the one confessing. More Carter Wilson books are on the tbr!
Poe Webb hosts the top-ranked true crime podcast in the country, Tell Me What You Did, where guests call in to confess their crimes. She’s generally pretty good about compartmentalizing—hosting the interview and then forgetting about it—but when a strangely familiar man calls in one day, it stops Poe in her tracks. Claiming to be the man that killed her mother, he traps Poe in to conducting an interview like no other because Poe knows that it can’t be true… She killed the man that murdered her mother.
Maybe I don’t know the legal system well enough or maybe it’s a general flaw of the book but couldn’t Poe be arrested for aiding and abetting all of these criminals who come on her show? She has video evidence of who they all are but the whole concept never seems to be a problem… I guess this synopsis works if you can suspend belief there.
At first glance it seems like it will be hefty book, coming in at over 400 pages—I’ll admit I was concerned because what thriller needs to be over 400 pages—but a lot of it is podcast dialogue so it went by surprisingly fast. Still, there are places where it dragged. There was a lot of back and forth between Poe and her mother’s supposed killer that either felt repetitive or like unnecessary detail.
This story drew me in immediately with its thrilling and suspenseful prose and I think readers who love strictly plot-driven narratives are going to love this one. I would consider this to be very popcorn thriller-y as there is so much focus on driving the plot forward and so little on the characters’ actual being; Poe is one-dimensional with very little character development or emotional depth.
Surface level, it’s a fun, quick read—an absolute page turner due to the short chapters—but I wanted more from the characters; not likely one that I will remember but enjoyable enough.
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 01/14/2025.
This book is a ride from start to finish! From the first page, it had me hooked in a way I didn't expect, especially given how many true-crime-podcast-themed books we’ve seen lately. This one, though, manages to feel fresh and different, and it has its own unique spin that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The story revolves around a podcast host, Poe, whose life is thrown into chaos when a guest on her show claims to have murdered her mother. What really makes the book stand out is how it flips the usual narrative. It's not just about unraveling a mystery; it's about Poe's journey through some very murky moral waters. She's a character you can't help but empathize with, even when she's making some pretty questionable decisions. You feel for her, yet you can't quite endorse everything she does, and that’s where the genius of the book lies—it makes you question your own moral compass.
And OMG let's talk about the creep factor. The antagonist is as unnerving as they come, almost in the realm of Hannibal Lecter-level creepy. He’s a character that will make your skin crawl in the best possible way if you’re into that kind of thriller.
One of the things I loved most was the twist. I thought I had it figured out early on, only to second-guess myself thanks to some clever storytelling. When the reveal finally hit, it still managed to surprise me, which is a rare treat.
Overall, I’d give this book a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. It’s a fantastic read for anyone looking to be immediately sucked in by a good thriller, especially those who enjoy stories with morally complex characters and sinister bad guys. If you're looking for a book to devour over a weekend, this one should definitely be on your list.
Thanks to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Carter Wilson for the advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.
I loved this!!
I was hooked from the very beginning. Poe was a conflicting main character, but I still found myself rooting for her. I was in a state of anxiety throughout the novel wondering what was going to happen. The author did a great job with surprises and keeping the reader guessing. I will definitely read further works by this author!
Thanks to Net Galley for the book to review.
4.5/5
Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC!!!
THIS BOOK!!!! I can’t say enough about this. Another thriller based off a podcast but honestly nothing like I’ve ever read before. There is a lot of dark humor and cussing which I absolutely love. It’s all one POV but told from different ways - past vs present and even written differently in some of the chapters (ie chapter based but also interview based).
The one funny thing is I definitely thought the main character (Poe) was a man until about a quarter of the way through. I would say this is probably a mix between thriller and horror - a bit spooky, but I loved it. I took away half a point due to feeling like it kind of glorified murder? But seriously - YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. It comes out January 2025 - preorder it now, you won’t be sorry.
Oh. My. Gawd. This book! Talk about a cat and mouse chase! I absolutely love Poe - she is such a bad ass. Her struggles are so believable. My mind kept trying to figure out any twists and turns but did not figure this one out. Now I have to get my hands on the other books written by Carter Wilson. Would make an incredible movie but too often they wreck the story. Please let there be more of Poe in the future!