"Tell Me What You Did" is a great thriller with the creepiest scenarios right from the start. I liked that it was scary but the violence didn't' seem over the top. I started this one night before bed and waited to finish the next night. If you want to sleep well. Since I finished this I've been checking over my shoulder and jumping a bit at sudden noises and I love it!! Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Pub Date: Jan 14, 2025

#TellMeWhatYouDid

3.5⭐️ I was entertained from start to finish, but all that build up for such a predictable reveal. I was disappointed. I enjoyed the short, addictive chapters and the animal love, but other than that .. Meh, it was ok. And even though it wasn’t a long book it still could have been shorter.. 😅

Poe watched her mother being murdered when she was a teen and has never uttered a word about what she saw that day. She now hosts a super successful podcast where she utters the words "Confess to Me" and her guests admit their most sordid secret.

Until one day someone demands she tells hers.

Dark & disturbing told in two parts - real time & a transcript from her own confession this is a good page turner that'll keep you guessing - Is he or isn't he?

The premise of this one truly dragged me in, but it just did not work for me. It was very predictable and the ending was very anticlimactic and truly came out of nowhere.

This book sounds like a gripping and eerie thriller with a fascinating premise. Poe Webb’s role as a true crime podcast host who offers anonymity to those confessing their crimes sets up a unique narrative foundation. Her show’s blend of secrecy and fame adds an intriguing layer of complexity to the plot, particularly when confessions are potentially linked to real-world consequences.

The premise of this book was terrific and it was mostly executed well. Overall, for me, the main character was not developed enough and the ending was lackluster. I did enjoy the dual narration with the podcast transcript. Despite being a long book it was a quick read. I did appreciate the father-daughter relationship and how sweet that was.

This book was sooooooo stinking good! It’s definitely going to be the MUST-READ psychological thriller of 2025! Right out of the gate it has several things I love – podcasts and a main character with a super cool name. The story goes back and forth between telling what happened leading up to the podcast and the podcast transcript of Poe’s confession. This is another sitting on the edge of your seat thriller. The author does an excellent job of building tension as you read. I loved Poe’s character! She was just an angry female and you know what? I can be an angry female. I have felt that unhinged feeling thanks to menopause. I also really liked the serial killer vibes Ian Hindley was giving. I thought this was a very original story. I mean what’s not to love about a good revenge/podcast confessions/murder story?

This was a fantastic read. The storyline is fraught with tension as a high stakes game of cat and mouse plays out. I've not read a thriller that had quite the plot as this one did. Poe Webb is a podcaster who hosts a show called "Tell Me What You Did" which allows the callers to confess their deepest, darkest sins. Poe has several rules, the caller gets to talk for 15 minutes without interruption and then if Poe feels they have told the truth, they can have a conversation. She has several hard stop topics - nothing to do with sexual violence and no hurting animals. Poe is a bit infamous herself as she witnessed her mother being killed as a young child and she was spared. Poe has her own confession that she keeps locked up tightly until a voice from her past comes knocking at her podcast door and her own confession is forced from her. The pages flew by as I absorbed Poe's story with deliciousy voyeuristic delight.

If you had the opportunity to avenge your loved one's death, if you came face-to-face with their killer, what would you do? Main character Poe Webb, a semi-famous podcaster who is equal parts sassy and morally gray, faces this question but with a twist: she already avenged her mother's death, but now is facing the wrath of a man alleging to be her mother's real killer. Chapters alternate between Poe's narrative and a jump to the future (or about the 75% mark of the book) to the transcript of a live-stream with the alleged killer. As the reader, you know that the live stream is inevitable, but you don't know what the fallout of it will be.

I found the backstory and set up of this thriller to be really intriguing. Poe is an interesting character because she's clever, flawed, loves wine and dogs (who doesn't?)--it's hard not to root for her even though we know she isn't the picture of innocence herself. I've read a lot of thrillers and I do love a shocking twist, but I hate a twist that's only shocking because it's outlandish. While I had a guess about the ending that turned out to be true, I prefer that over something ridiculous. Though my mind wasn't totally blown away by this one, I will say that I found the ending to be satisfying.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I predict this one to be talked about A LOT in 2025 so mark your calendars for the release date!!

Thank you net galley for the early copy!

Tell Me What You Did is definitely one of my top 5 thrillers I’ve read this year. I love how the author jumped right into the story on page one and kept me invested in what was going to happen until the very end. The writing style was unlike anything I’ve read, I feel like this would be an amazing audio book. I had never heard of the author before, but I will be buying more from him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was full of suspense and I loved Poe’s character. I did not put this down once. I couldn’t wait to see how everything turned out. I haven’t read any books by this author and I absolutely loved the writing style. I just ordered two other books by this author and I can’t wait to read them too!

Thank you Netgalley & Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this book! Tell Me What You Did was such a captivating and thrilling read. I flew through this book very quickly, and overall really enjoyed it! It was a bit darker of a story than I expected, and I did find the main character, Poe to be pretty unlikable. But overall, this was a unique, enjoyable thriller to read & I’d definitely recommend it!

I DNF'd at around 30%

All realism is thrown out the door for this novel and I could only stay in the dark on how we get from A to B for so long. Poe's job is hosting a very successful podcast where criminals come on to admit their crimes even though it means there's a high likelihood of them getting arrested afterwards. She lives with the trauma of seeing her mother get murdered when she was a kid and survives the same fate just by promising the killer she'll never tell. Poe not only keeps her promise and mentions nothing to the police, her father, or her therapist but she also destroys all evidence that would lead to identifying the murderer. One day on her show, someone professing that they are her mother's killer comes on the podcast and Poe is in disbelief as she thought she took care of him once and for all a while ago.

There's a B plot to this book, where Poe is being interviewed in the style of her podcast by the self-claimed mother killer. There aren't details of where this interview takes place nor any real stakes explaining what holds her there to keep answering his questions. These scenes are written in a script format, and most of Poe's dialogue is just complaining about being there and having to answer the questions. There is such an askewed complaining to answering ratio, I don't even understand why she is complying at all.

Maybe the ending of this book is something like, it was in Poe's head the entire time. And if so I am glad I stopped where I did. There are scene's that are impossible to explain, like when Poe notices that someone has been in her house, even though she has cameras and a security system that would capture it. Poe's boyfriend having some sort of lie detecting super power. The random small town stabbing victim. I can take a little bit of mystery, but not an entire world of it.

Amazing book that was hard to put down! Written beautifully and had me on the edge of my seat wondering what the MC would do next. Excited to buy this when it comes out!

Super super predictable- in all aspects. Some of it seemed pointless and some seemed far fetched (the cops seriously had nobody posted there?) and I really didn’t connect with the main character. Or many of the characters besides Alice.

That said- I read it quickly, and while it didn’t surprise me, it was exactly what I would expect. And it made me want to read Alice’s story.

This book was incredible. I went into it blind and quickly fell in love with the main character Poe. It delves into serial killers, podcasts, and a little bit of romance.

Wow! I have never read anything by this author, but I most certainly will now. This book kept me entertained from start to finish. I loved the short chapters and the true crime podcast aspect of the book.

A must read for anyone who like true crime and thrillers! This was fast paced, twist and turns, and lots of "gasp"! Carter Wilson did great on this one!

Shortly said: The first half of the book was way more enjoyable then the second half.
It gets advertised as a thriller and it wasn't one.



First of all before I start mentioning the parts that I personally didn't enjoy let us start about good moments and aspects of this book.

1. The story unfolds itself by showing us interviews of the incident before it happened
- Yes, I talk about the broadcast with the two most important characters in this book, where we got some quick records of it as readers while reading the story. So the story unfolds itself.

2. Some nice quotes/speeches.
- Especially Hindley said stuff that felt thought through and inspiring. I always look out for quotes while reading a book and unfortunately some don't have any (that I personally like), so was nice to see some I did add later on to my collection.

3. Short chapters
- As someone who is easily distracted, when reading longer than 30 minutes, I appreciate short chapters A LOT.

4. Alice's backstory



Now we come to the aspects I didn't like

1. Main character, Poe.
- Arrogant/snooty, stupid, making stupid decisions, cringe, irony (saying she won't, but does it anyway)

2. Lovey-dovey relationship (Poe & Kip)
- Their romance was just exaggerated and cringe sometimes

3. Kip
- Switching moods and opinions way too often
(+ for 1 scene also stupid)

4. Unrealistically telling a whole conversation out of the MC's head that happened so long ago that she wouldn't be able to tell it THAT precisely (chapter 42)

5. Triggering content & flat characters
- Even though I like dark stuff, it was for this case kinda unnecessary as no plot twist or anything else was connected to it and it was mainly to deepen the relationship with the reader and the MC, but we don't get the same for the other characters. (So except the MC and the villain everyone was flat)

6. The WHOLE story was about Poe not telling anyone her actual story of what happened, just so that she overcomes the fear of vulnerability in like just a few days and acts like she was always an open book.

7. The book was NOT a thriller
- A thriller or even mystery thriller is based on some kind of plot twist, which wasn't there or so obvious that it can't even be called a plot twist as it was such a typical cliché ending. Like there was no surprise. Even the characters weren't surprised. And I wasn't feeling anxious or anything while reading is as it usually should be as the 'fearful' thing was so downplayed due to how the main character reacted. She reacted in such an exaggerated or stupid way that I was more focused on that then the 'scary' event.

In general I can't quite enjoy a story without liking the main character and since the character building wasn't that great and said above even the plot (and it's supposed twist) wasn't that strong and rather unoriginal, I will give it 1 instead of 2 stars. Yes, I still liked a few aspects, but as I always say; Some other aspects weight more in my reviews (i.e. enjoyment, plot and character building, et cetera)

Read: 11-12. August
Wrote review: 13. August 2024

Another podcaster/thriller? Sigh, I thought as I started reading it. But maybe this one will be different. And what a difference it was!This was a great thriller, with an anti-hero with an adorable dog, a loving father, a loyal producer/boyfriend, and a lot of skeletons in her closet. Poe is a podcaster who asks folks "tell me what you did" and I have to say, I nearly DNF as the first podcast guest was starting, but I'm glad I kept going. While that first guest is fine in the end (seriously), the next one is terrifying. He tells stories of torturing animals and then claims to be the person who killed her mother. But Poe knows that's not true because Poe killed her mother's murderer. From that point on, Poe and the would-be murderer play a nasty game of cat and mouse.

This was a fresh twist on a formula I've been seeing more and more frequently as of late. Poe is a complex woman with a lot of issues around trust. She's not black or white--she's wonderfully grey. Herboyfriend/producer is kind of boringly normal but is also a solid guy you know you can count on when it matters the most. And while she doesn't have the best relationship with her dad, they find their way back to each other. There were some issues: like, why didn't Poe get therapy after her mother died and a few others that would be spoilers. But overall, this was a great book. It was one I was thinking about when I wasn't reading and only wanted to read it when I had lots of time to really enjoy it. And I immediately went to Carter Wilson's backlist to catch up on all that I had been missing. Today, I signed up for his newsletter.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.