Cover Image: I Know Where You Live

I Know Where You Live

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Member Reviews

Seriously good. I literally couldn't put it down and finished it in one night.

This book is on a very serious subject and will be hard for people who have experienced child rape. But I think it's important to get the story out how family members react to the situation and not in a good way. So many people want to just act like it didn't happen. This book can get people to understand they should and can stand up to the perpetrator.

I'm a huge fan of Gregg Olsen's writing but this really was exceptional. It can shake things up for some people and change their lives.

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Although it took me roughly a week to read this book, it was simply because I’ve been so busy with work and Christmas shopping. I didn’t want to put it down and could have easily finished it in a day or two. The story centers around some dark and hard to swallow topics but the point of the book (in my humble opinion) is transformation. That if you want to be defined by something other than your trauma, you have a choice to make — keep it hidden or face it head on. Even if that means burning everything to the ground.
Another huge plot point is revenge. Not the tit for tat type of revenge but revenge meant to provide the kind of justice and life-altering change not often provided by the legal system. Soul freeing. Chain breaking. A lifting of generational curses.
There are characters you will despise but also others you’ll praise. The hardest part of getting to know each one is the realization that they could be anyone in our own lives - a neighbor, the librarian, the sweet older man who bags our groceries. We don’t know the dark secrets, hidden in the deepest corners of our perceived reality.
Gregg takes a tough subject and expertly crafts a story that ultimately makes you wonder what you would really do in the same situation. We all may think we know how we’d handle a multitude of scenarios but until we’re actually living it…how can we know for sure. One lesson from this book is to be slow to judge and quick to help a friend in need.

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Violet knows that time is a futile healer. When she thinks of her happily married grandfather—a predator lovingly referred to as Papa—the feelings of rage and betrayal still swell. Her younger sister, Lily, just discovered the numbing truth about him. Their mother, Rose? She can’t believe it. Not Papa. Leave it alone, Violet. Focus on the now.
When Papa suffers a sudden, and suspicious, fatal heart attack at Violet’s wedding, she can barely conceal her joy. Maybe the fellow survivor at her support group is right: moving on is possible only when monsters are removed from society permanently. Violet is focusing on the now. Even if doing so calls for extremes.
For herself, and for the sake of other victims like her, Violet is reclaiming the power stolen from her as a child. Predator by predator, she’s coming for them. It’s intoxicating. It’s liberating. But the secrets she now keeps, and the lies she must tell, come with a price.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

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This is a pretty heavy subject, and so it took some time to read through this one. I can't say this is one of my favorite's by this author (absolutely LOVED Starvation Heights), but the subject matter is insane.

The characters, well, I could not like them - any of them! But overall, it was an okay read. One of those, I read it, and won't read it again books.

3.5 stars

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Gregg Olsen does it again! As someone who lived on the Kitsap Penninsula for several years, I love the way he accurately captures the environment, which lends perfectly to the storytelling. This book weaves an intricate tale of a family who by all appearances are picture perfect. The family secret brought to light brings about anger, guilt, revenge, and redemption. What I will say is the reader has to pay close attention to the female main characters. They all have flower names and can be quite confusing as to who is who. This book will not dissapoint!

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Short synopsis: Violet refuses to invite her Grandfather (known as Papa) to her wedding, he shows up anyway and suffers a sudden and fatal heart attack. Truths of Papa come to light that have been deeply buried, and they are horrifying.

My thoughts: As I finished the last of this book, I’m sitting here somewhat numb and completely sick to my stomach. Sick because while this story is fictional, these situations are not made up. There are so many children put in this world who have been put in these unimaginable situations. We as a society have to do better. We have to watch for abuse, for mistrust and we have to take action.

This book would be a very challenging one to write. Told from the perspective of sexual abuse survivors, and written by a man. Normally I would run and hide from that combo, but I’m here to say Gregg Olson told this story so well. This book has some very dark and heavy topics, beginning on page one and doesn’t relent.

Make sure and check the triggers on this! Rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse of a child, abuse, murder

Thank you Uplit Reads and Thomas and Mercer for this book. Pub date was Nov 15, 2022 so this is out now!

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I found this book to be intense at times. I will say that I did not see the ending. The characters were very relatable. It surprises me what we do when trauma comes into play. The question is can you ever heal and do people ever change.

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𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬!

Talk about an intense ride, this book will keep you at the edge of your seat. I discovered recently Greeg Olsen’s books and his writting is simply fantastic, this story was no exception. Heavy topics but very well written, I highly recommend!

Thank you UpLit Reads for this tour invite and #gifted copy.

𝗜 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 by Gregg Olsen released November 15, 2022.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

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Gregg Olsen was able to write a story on a very difficult subject that gives a lot of food for thought and while you read it, you feel anger, hate, and the need to hit back, with care, and then you remember it's fiction. I Know Where You Live might be fiction but is also the reality for so many men and women throughout the world. They must be told that there is help and that they should be heard!
I thank the author, his publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

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This book was wayyyyy longer than it ever needed to be. I still enjoyed it but I feel like it needed a lot of editing

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Violet has made it clear that her grandfather is not allowed to attend her wedding. When the happy day finally arrives, she is horrified to find out he is there. During the reception, her grandfather collapses with an apparent heart attack. He is whisked off to the hospital leaving Violet secretly thrilled by this turn of events. It turns out that Violet has a good reason to hate her grandfather and wish him dead; he molested her when she was a young girl. Despite trying to tell her mother what had happened all those years ago, Violet ended up having to spend her childhood being gaslit by her family who didn't want to face the truth.
The chapters are told from the alternating viewpoints of, Violet, her younger sister, Lily, and their mother, Rose. This would be an interesting premise - long buried family crimes, who is covering for who, what is the truth - but I felt like they were all rather unlikeable. There just isn't anyone to root for in this book. I know who I'm MEANT to root for, but they are all so unsympathetic. Also, the sub-plot is just unbelievable. It goes off the rails for me as the story progresses in a cringy way. I can't say more than that without giving away too much of the sub-plot. The twists don't hit for me either. I think most people will see them coming and find them flat. All in all, it just didn't work for me. I found myself very bored about halfway through. To be honest, I probably would have DNF'd it if it wasn't a Netgalley read. In short, I know that other Gregg Olsen books are much, much better. If you are a fan of his writing...I'd skip this one.

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Sexual abuse is the ugly topic of much of "I Know Where You Live". A young woman's abuse at the hands of her grandfather is revealed in the book. He dies under suspicious circumstances while attending her wedding reception against her wishes. As the book unfolds other of his victims come to light as do other abusers and their fate. Who is doing all of the payback? Will they be caught? It takes a while to find out in this book that is full of secrets, murder, and revenge. Thanks to #NetGalley#IKnowWhereYouLive for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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Rating: DNF
Genre: Thriller

Read if you enjoy:
- Dysfunctional Families
- Victim to Vigilante

Thoughts:
▪️ It’s hard for me to not finish a book. I don’t like being or feeling like a quitter. I just could NOT get into this one. I tried hard, I read about halfway before I decided that it was better to not finish it and try to get out of the “slump” that I’ve been feeling all month long.

▪️ I just feel icky about a male author writing from a female character POV. A female character that has been the victim of sexual abuse as a child. All the characters which we get their POV are female too, each with their own personal issues. Why not write about a male character instead? Couldn’t that have been just as powerful?

▪️ To further prove my point about male authors and their attempts to write from female character POV - this quote “Paris has a key chain with a bead for each guy she’d slept with. Seriously. She insisted that if guys could put notches in their belts, why couldn’t she? A true feminist. I respected her for that.”

….just really? Was this necessary? I cringe.

▪️ I found that the chapters are just kind of jumpy and fragmented. I’m finding myself having to regroup occasionally throughout, reframe what’s going on and remember who is now narrating.

▪️Mediocre suspense, not feeling a big build up or the urge to not put this one down. Hence why I haven’t finished it, it just didn’t really get my attention.

▪️ I had difficulty connecting with any of the characters on any level. I wanted to feel something, and it just wasn’t happening. I struggle when I can’t get invested in at least one of the characters.

▪️ While I don’t seem to be alone - there are a lot of people out there who really seem to be enjoying this one. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

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My Review ✨

I Know Where You Live by Gregg Olsen

#qotd: Do you think that sexual offenders can be "fixed"

Firstly, thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had LAYERS. Layers of abuse, layers of plot and layers upon layers. The first 40% of the book was a lot of slow building, and had quite a few silly quotes. I'll share ONE.
"He's muscular for a nerd, but also funny." Weird. But, as the book goes on the writing definetley becomes better and you start to see where Olsen is heading.
I have to give Olsen credit for being able to write 3 distinctly different female characters so well. He did what most male authors can't - and didn't make the females over sexualized like most male authors do.

The main topic in this book is incestual rape and sexual abuse by a family member and how turning a blind eye to that creates more problems than telling and each family member (Rose, Lily and Violet) all struggle with the after effects of it being shut down.

I loved the slow decline of all three characters and by the end was 100% rooting for Violet and wanting to murder Rose myself.

"For every member of that sad group of abuse surviovors, all of them have been fucked by silence" -Lily

"Only a victim knows the lasting damage of what these men do. People will say they sare, and on some level, they might. Who wouldn't agree that molestation or rape is among the vilest things one human can do to another? In the end, the only ones who really know are those who experienced it." -Violet

"Mom had spent her enitre life denying what happened in our home. She let a monster come and go freely.... Papa was free to hide what he was, while we were forced into a charade. It was like we were a family in witness protection with a false narrative protecting who and what we were. So yes, it was all her fault." -Violet

The ending was satisfying. Great read.

My Rating: 4 Stars.

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I absolutely love this author’s work. I’ve not been disappointed in any that I have read. This one I can’t read and don’t feel I should mark it as a DNF. I’ve actually barely started it. It’s like reading about my life at the beginning only I was nine and it was my stepdad and my mother beat me so bad I missed a few weeks of school. Though I did go into therapy many years later it still messes with my mind. I suffer from extremem insomnia and felt so dirty and ashamed. Like I did something wrong. I know that is crazy but it’s how it happens sometimes.

I hope the publisher understands and that Mr Olsen does also. I just can’t read another word. It is making me have horrible flashbacks. I hope this book has a trigger warning. It needs one bad. Sexual abuse by a grandpa is so heinous and sick. Of course it is from anyone but a grandpa…

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I’m truly sorry I just can’t.

I give it 5 stars because I have no doubt it’s well written.

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This was a difficult book to read, as it deals with childhood sexual abuse, but I found Violet to be such an empowering character. Though she had blood on her hands after hunting down predators, it in a sense contributed to her healing process and allowed her to take back control of what was taken from her as a child. Her mother and grandmother on the other hand…I so badly wanted to wring their necks throughout this book. I don’t understand why they couldn’t accept what was happening right under their noses and admit that what “Papa” had done was unforgivably wrong. Rose herself was a victim and still she brushed it under the rug and allowed this monster to be around her daughters.

This is definitely not for the faint of heart and could be triggering for some readers, so read at your own risk.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing a copy of this book to review.*

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Gregg Olsen never ceases to scare me and unsettle me, and I Know Where you Live was no exception. The circumstances were outlandish yet somehow believable due to how good of a writer he is. I recommend everything he puts out.

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This book is slow and boring. This book was a struggle and it took me forever to finish. With this subject matter, you should feel a connection to the characters. Every single character was unlikable. The whole book was a convoluted mess.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Gregg Olsen for a copy of "I Know Where You Live" in exchange of an honest review.

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Gregg Olsen is one of my all time favorite authors, both fiction and non fiction. This one was a tough one for me to get through. It has quite a few triggers in it-child abuse, refusal to believe and revenge. You think that Violets mother Rose is the beginning of the cycle but you soon learn it goes farther back. This is a story of sweeping issues under the rug and then having them fester to the point of explosion. Although I understand where Violet is coming from I don't agree with the revenge that she takes. When we have trauma it is so easy to look the other way and that is what happens in this book. The outcome is what happens when everyone looks the other way.

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I Know Where You Live by Gregg Olsen is a heavy, disturbing book but very well written book. There are many triggers but as always, his characters are intriguing and complex. Reading about revenge and vigilantism is the ultimate escape from reality for me. This was a quick read and I’m definitely going to be looking for more books by Olsen.

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