In her therapist's playroom, eight-year-old Kathy uses an intricate Victorian dollhouse to act out horrific murders. The little girl hasn't spoken since she escaped the abductor who had held her captive for the past eighteen months. No one knows who took her or what happened during that stretch of time, but the stories she play acts with the dolls she buries in the playroom sandbox match up with unsolved murders...and she did some of them before the murders occurred.

I really enjoyed this thriller. The pace is a bit slow and there are a lot of characters doing a lot of things that don't have much to do with Kathy and her story, but one things start to come together my patience absolutely paid off.

My biggest complaint -- and the thing that drew me to the book in the first place -- is the dollhouse. I think the author is unaware of the fact that there are dollhouses for children to play with and dollhouses for adult collectors. Some of the scenes with the dollhouse left a sour taste in my mouth in a book that I otherwise loved.

“She needed to get home, where it was… safe. Where there were no bad men, and where Mommy and Daddy could hug her and her doll.”


I read and really enjoyed Mike Omer’s Abby Mullen series. Please Tell Me is a stand alone novel with quite a different vibe than the Mullen series.

This book is intense and had a nice twist, but it’s a bit darker and it won’t be for all readers.

There are several things in this book that may be turn-offs or triggers for some people so I’ll list them up front: child abduction, a narcissistic parental relationship, quite a few Covid references, and some graphic and violent deaths- we don’t get the play-by-play as they happen but we are told how the people died after the fact and we know that the killer was inspired by several horror films.

Just one of these could be enough for someone not to read a book, so Omer took a risk in combining all of these things into one book. For some, it may be too much.

I wouldn’t be able to read books like these one right after the other and if all his future books continue in this trend I would need to stop, but for a one-off, I could handle it. It helped that there wasn’t a ton of swearing and the violence was not glorified or overdone like a horror novel. There were creepy parts and uncomfortable parts and danger lurking around the corners, but we weren’t subjected to blood everywhere and we weren’t forced into the killer’s mind as he committed his acts.



I wasn’t sure how I was going to like the book when it opens from the POV of a little girl walking along a road without shoes. She had been abducted and she had somehow escaped. It breaks your heart to read her thoughts. That beginning chapter is the only chapter where we are in the little girl’s thoughts.

I was glad that the book didn’t portray her within her captivity because it’s so hard to read about kids going through trauma. Instead, the book is about trying to figure out who took her. She (Kathy) goes to process her experience with a child therapist, Robin— our main character.

Kathy has been so traumatized that she doesn’t speak. If she could have just been able to speak or write (like the title- please tell me), this whole thing would have gone a lot differently, but that’s not how trauma works. There are no neat packages with little bows.

And so, we are drawn through her therapy process through play. Kathy starts to reenact what appears to be violent scenes using little figurines and a dollhouse during her sessions. Robin realizes what she is doing and she tries to help law enforcement by providing details of these sessions that start to match up with murders that have occurred since Kathy was rescued.

Can they help find her abductor before the abductor comes back for Kathy?



Comments

I was mostly satisfied with the direction Omer took everything, but I feel like we needed a little bit more background on what led her abductor to do what they did. It wasn’t clear what was behind that and so the twist feels a bit like a twist just for the sake of a twist instead of a logical progression. It definitely made for a surprise— which I liked— but after we found out, I would have liked more information on motive.

There develops a small romance between Robin and one of the investigators on the cases. I didn’t care for that. It added a bit to the character development of Robin, but not much to the story as a whole. I don’t really like the trope of ‘woman in distress falls for law enforcement person helping her.’ Overdone, not realistic, unnecessary.


I think Robin was a likable character. Some reviewers have mentioned the therapy sessions being boring or repetitive, but I didn’t feel like that when I was reading. I thought it was interesting to see how a therapist would handle these situations. Based on the acknowledgements at the end of the book, it sounds like Omer got a lot of input from professionals so I think what he wrote is a pretty realistic handling. And I appreciated that Omer included that Robin consulted another therapist while treating Kathy to make sure she wasn’t doing anything harmful. She didn’t have an ego and it added to the authenticity of her practice.

There are parts of her character that make her more complex— her relationship with her mother, her divorce, her miscarriage, and her own need for therapy. I think we view people like therapists on these pedestals like they don’t have anything traumatic or dysfunctional in their own lives because they have all this psychological knowledge and know what’s going on. But it makes sense that they should have their own struggles and might need to see their own therapist. I don’t think that makes them a bad therapist, it makes them a normal person.

I think Omer did a great job with some of Robin’s inner dialogue— like when she is doom scrolling on Facebook one night. Omer is very attuned to social media behavior and psychology and I found that section relatable and humorous. Like how she made sure to ‘like’ all the posts about Kathy’s return because she didn’t want to make her own post about it because ‘It always confused her when people stampeded their way to social media to share their feelings.’ but she also didn’t want people to think she didn’t like that Kathy was back. (Side note: Robin has more Facebook friends than me.)

I do wish Robin wasn’t a smoker. It seems like such a stupid habit for anyone to take up now that we KNOW all the harmful effects of smoking. Why would anyone do that?! So it’s hard for me not to see smokers as dumb people. I wish her coping mechanism was something else. Like candy. I don’t know.



One thing I thought was strange as I was reading it was that it felt like Omer only used the word ‘cop’ instead of police officer. Cop just feels like a negative way of referring to officers. If I was talking to my kids I don’t think I would use the term cop. But in the story Robin used ‘cop’ with Kathy.

I did double check this and my perception was a little off from reality. Cop was used 65 times— which is a lot, but then I checked for police and that was like 73. So he did interchange, but my perception while reading was that ‘cop’ was overused.

I know cop is just more informal, but it just feels disrespectful to me. Cop feels like the term perpetrators use. Police feels like the term victims and normal people use. Is that just me?



The Triggers

As mentioned, there are several trigger points or turn-offs.

Child abduction. As a mom, I’ve obviously worried about this scenario multiple times. I think Omer does a good job of portraying Kathy’s mom’s (Claire) struggle with what happened. Kathy was taken from her yard while she was playing and her mom was doing dishes. Claire endures judgment from people about not paying attention to her daughter, and the guilty ‘if onlys’ that plague her. And then once Kathy is back, Claire has to learn how to care for Kathy all over again because of her silence and her reactions to loud noises etc.

Narcissistic parent. Robin’s mom is a classic narcissist. I know of several people who have one of these in their life and the way Omer writes their interactions and dialogue seems very on par with reality. It is a frustrating thing to read and I can see how some who already deal with that in real life would not want that in a book they’re reading.

Covid. I’m not a fan of Covid being included in books. I’ve read a few now where authors have set their stories during or in a world where Covid existed. The way it’s talked about in the book is very pragmatic and normal conversations or comments about people’s lives: when they couldn’t leave their houses, when they had to wear masks, how people were fighting over toilet paper, how people cared if you were vaccinated or not, etc. There was also one reference to a shooter drill in school. It’s not everywhere in the book but it’s more than a few comments. I do think it’s an interesting point within the setting of the book. When Kathy first disappeared and they had the community help search, everyone had masks which obscured the police from really seeing who came out to help (since the abductor often shows up to those kinds of things).

Violent deaths. I won’t go into details here because I’ve already mentioned a few things, but the deaths are based on horror movie scenes and each one was different. I don’t feel like it was written like a horror novel at all which is good. It adds a darkness to the book, but it’s not super descriptive and doesn’t take up a lot of page real estate. Another element of this was that there is mention of these crimes and violence being an erotic experience for the perpetrator.



Recommendation

This is a hard book to know how to recommend. I think people who really don’t have any triggers and they just want an intense thriller will really like this book.

But I just think it’s important for the reader to consider if this combination of things will be okay for them to read.

If it was really graphic and dark I don’t think I would recommend it at all, but I don’t feel like that was the case here. It wasn’t over-the-top, it just had a unique combination of things that could be overwhelming to certain readers.

I would still definitely recommend Omer’s other books (they’re more crime/procedural thrillers with law enforcement being the primary characters) and I’ll keep reading his future books at this point!


[Content Advisory: 1 f-word, 31 s-words; no sexual content; violence and some graphic deaths described after the fact]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

(3.5) Mystery, some creepiness and a surprise. There was a lot going on in this book, a lot of people, and their stories, in depth. I was getting lost and trying to figure out why I needed such in depth on so many people, it kept pulling me from the plot, or so I thought. The ending almost made the slow reading worthwhile. It was completely unexpected and appreciated. Thank you for the arc. I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions. #PleaseTellMe #MikeOmer #ThomasandMercer #Netgalley

Entertaining and immersive. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

Overview:
After disappearing from her front yard, little Kathy is found wandering the streets, shoeless and disorientated. Everyone wants to know where she’s been the last 18 months and who took her but Kathy is dealing with lots of trauma and has become mute. Eager to get her talking again, her parents ask for help from child psychologist Robin. But during her sessions Kathy begins to act out violent murders with the toy dolls, murders that have already happened. Robin must try to unlock the information Kathy is holding before another victim is murdered.

My Review:
This one was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me in terms of enjoyment. At the beginning of this book I very almost gave up and didn’t finish it. It was the writing style I struggled with and at times it felt quite basic and didn’t flow very well. I decided to stick with it and ended up getting into the plot. Then at about 75% in it felt like everything was coming to an end and I was left thinking “is that it”? But there was more to come and by the end I’m glad I struck with it. It turned out to be a good read and I was invested in the characters.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

When eight-year-old Kathy Stone turns up on the side of the road a year after her abduction, the world awaits her harrowing story. But Kathy doesn't say a word. Traumatised by her ordeal, she doesn't speak at all, not even to her own parents. Child therapist Robin Hart is the only one that has success connecting with the girl. Robin has been using play therapy to help Kathy process her memories. But as their work continues, Kathy's playtime takes a grim turn: a doll looks to stab another doll, a tiny figurine is chained to a plastic toy couch. All of these horrifying moments, enacted within a Victorian doll house. Every session, another doll does.

The pace is perfectly set. Each chapter seems to end in the middle of a dramatic scene, so I just had to keep reading to find out more. The story is told from multiple points of view, we even get the voice of the perpetrator. I really liked Robin, we learn of her sister, Melody, and the dysfunctional relationship with her mother. Kathy's mother Claire - her story is told in the present day and flashbacks to when Kathy was abducted. It did take me a little while to get into this book, but once I was in, I was hooked.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Thomas&Mercer and the author #MikeOmer for my ARC of #PleaseTellMe in exchange for an honest review.

8 year old Kathy is abducted, but manages to escape a year later. She does not speak and is terrified all the time. A child therapist Robin agrees to help Kathy learn how to handle and how to live with her traumatic memories. During the sessions Kathy seems to playact recent murders.

I really liked this book. The story is told from several points of view, but Robin is clearly the main character. She's recently divorced and also grieving after the death of her father. In addition to that her mother is unstable and demanding and makes her life really difficult. Robin still manages to be a sympathetic and likable charater.

It takes a while for the author to set the stage for the story. I was anxious to get it going. Fortunately the build up was really worth it. The chapters are short and end in cliffhangers. There was a sense of urgency that kept me reading and turning pages. I thought I had the killer figured out, but I was totally wrong, which is nice. I usually don't care for romance in thrillers, but here it was quite cute and subtle and I actually liked Nathaniel too. There are many references to Covid-19, which is something I would not care to read about. I eventually got over it, though.

This is the first book I read by this author, but definitely not the last.

Happy Pub Day ! 🥳
#NetGalley ArC

#PleaseTellMe had a lot to unpack & I guarantee you didn't guess who did what because there was no way ! Which was kinda cool but also super random.. but I guess these cases are right?!
This book was very repetitive at times & the length of the book overall imo was too long
Menny the dog was a fave of course 😂
Robin's mom completely made me cringe & want to slap her. I hate her 🙊
Overall good & bad parts but I felt it did drag in parts.

This is my seventh book my Mike Omer - another cracking thriller! He’s firmly on my ‘must read’ author list.

“I don't want any evidence from the scene ruled inadmissible because you were outsmarted by a bird."

Eight year old Kathy returns after being missing for over a year. Her trauma is so great that Kathy has stopped speaking. To anyone.

With the help of child therapist, Robin, Kathy starts to work through her experience with play acting. All is fine(ish) until Kathy starts to play act real murders with the toys in therapy.

How could she possibly know? What does she know about future murders? Can Robin get to the truth without putting herself in danger?

Sounds good, right?! I couldn’t put it down.

It kept me riveted from the beginning and every time I thought I had it figured out, I was totally wrong. Lots of red herrings that I completely fell for!

Wonderfully written characters; one woman in particular was just awful. But I felt I knew her. Omer uses splashes of humour to break the tension. As well as focusing on the abduction and murders, the story explored the impact trauma can have on a relationship and how people can be forever changed.

It’s a really gripping page turner that I’d recommend to anyone!

What did Kathy really see during the year she was being held? That's the question for Robin, the psychologist who is working with the girl to draw 0ut her memories and deal with her trauma. This wavers between being fast paced and too wordy and it's fairly trope-y. I found the conflict between Kathy's parents interesting. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Meh from me but I'll bet others will enjoy it.

I first found Mike Omer on Kindle Unlimited. From the first book I read, I have elevated him to the top of my must-read authors. This book was exceptional. Not only does it explore the relationship of a child therapist and a traumatized child, it also incorporates events outside the tragedy that enhanced that event. The worldwide Covid pandemic and its effect on the community, especially the children stood out to me as an important aspect of the story. Too many people have already forgotten how the pandemic isolated children and their parents from their daily interactions. Relationships are also an important part of the story; those between Kathy and her mother Claire, Robin and her mother and sister and of course, Claire and Peter, Kathy’s parents. I was impressed with how well these relationships were developed and enhanced the story. As for the investigation and the outcome, there were several times during reading this book that I thought I had it all figured out. I admit freely that I was dead wrong. It was beyond my imagination and that is a very good thing. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves suspense, twists, and drama. Thank you Mike Omer for another great read.

Excellent read from one of my favorite writers. Full of suspense, it keeps you questioning. I was hooked from the beginning. The characters are intriguing. I loved the relationship between Robin and Nathaniel. The pacing is fast and I couldn't put it down. It was worth the lack of sleep! The ending was perfect.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #Thomas&Mercer for the ARC #PleaseTellMe by #MikeOmer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book with the missing daughter, the therapist and the murders. I could not believe the surprising plot twist and ending.

Mike Omer does it again. Great book. Great Suspense. Keeps you on your toes from page 1 until the end. I have loved every one of his books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Couldn't get into the book.. DNF.

No one expected eight year old Kathy Stone to be found but a year after she was abducted, she appears. Scarred from her experience, Kathy refuses to speak and is easily scared. When Robin begins therapy sessions with her, Kathy plays with toys, reenacting situations which Robin puts together as the way several recent murders have occurred. Could Kathy have witnessed these murders? Is her abductor the murderer too?

I really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get going, however once the scene was set, I was so engrossed. I thought I knew who the murderer was too, I was dead certain I had it but I was so wrong which I was thrilled about. The best thrillers are the one where you don't see what's coming! This is my first book by this author and I now look forward to reading more.

Please Tell Me by Mike Omer is chock full of tension and suspense, all one wishes for in a thriller. It is propulsive and grippy and held my attention every moment. Not only is the location abuzz with unsolved crimes but several domestic issues have dug their claws into residents. Most characters also have a past and wonder whether they can move onto a better future, The atmosphere has just the right amount of creepiness without verging into horror, particularly perfect for autumn.

Eight-year-old Kathy disappeared from home, her parents' worst nightmare. After returning home fifteen months later she is unable to verbalize what she witnessed at the hands of her captor. In an effort to help her process her ordeal, she sees Robin, a child psychologist. Robin gives Kathy plenty of space and time and encourages her to enact through toy figures. Robin and her parents are unprepared for the level of violence she shows and know there is something very disturbing going on. A detective enters the scene and with Robin's help investigates.

If you seek something a little different, this may be the thriller for you. Be sure to read the author's notes.

My sincere thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this riveting novel.

A Child Knows What No Child Should Ever Know

Nine-year-old Kathy Stone is limping alone on a road. She is shoeless, soaking wet, and scared. All the houses seem scary. Her foot is bleeding from a thorn she stepped on. She is afraid bad men could track her blood trail. A man in a car stops. After giving her his coat to warm her up. He calls the police. He tells them that he has found a girl walking alone in the middle of road. He describes her as very young, six or seven. Kathy wants to tell him that she is nine, but she couldn’t. From this start, Kathy’s difficult recovery starts.

The main storyline consists of four threads. First is narrated by protagonist, Robin Hart. She is the therapist for Kathy, who discovers terrible events experienced by Kathy. The second is narrated by Claire, Kathy’s mother. Much of this thread is presented as flashbacks to the time of the abduction. The third starts with the investigation into Kathy’s abduction. The fourth and most chilling of all is narrated by the perpetrator. If this last thread is not enough, Kathy’s therapy is under much criticism. Robin and Claire want Kathy to come to terms with the events she suffered. Kathy’s father, law enforcement, and most town’s people want Kathy to cooperate with law enforcement to catch the perpetrator. Soon, Robin realizes that Kathy’s experiences accurately portray recent deaths that had not been connected by law enforcement. This and the perpetrator’s thread push the suspense through the roof. There are twists and turns, several of which are quite significant. The author weaves these threads so well, that I did not have any problems following this storyline. My interest was held in a vice grip until the end.

The character of Robin Hart is well developed. Much of her background is provided in a B-storyline that tells the story of Robin’s sister, Melody, and her dysfunctional relationship with their mother. More is provided in the Claire Stone thread both in the present and in flashbacks. Lastly, Robin analyzes the sessions with Kathy, so her thoughts reveal more about her. These aspects of the novel improved my reading enjoyment of this novel.

For the aspects of a novel that can make some readers stop reading, there are no intimate scenes. There is a low level of vulgar, rude, and impious language. Describing the level of violence is more difficult. I general use to two categories to describe type of violence. First is as it happens that is more edgy, and after the fact that is less edgy. Here, there is a cruel serial killer. All the violence is edgy. The young Kathy recreates these murders using a dollhouse and toy figures. Therefore, let the reader be forewarned. Personally, for me the violence did not reach a level that it soured my reading enjoyment.

Overall, I did not have any significant concerns about reading this novel. I did like why the perpetrator’s modus operandi drastically changed from victim to victim. There were no loose ends at the end of the novel. I was happy with the end. It was as if the clouds were clearing, and the sun was rising after a stormy night.

I have read for prepublication and two purchased novels by this author. In my opinion, this was his best so far. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. If you like this genre, I highly recommend reading it. I rate it with five stars. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.

I received a free prepublication e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer. My review is based solely on my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

I love a good thriller and this book hit the mark and provided a new angle. When Kathy is found wandering alone months after being abducted, Robin, a child psychologist steps in to help her process her trauma. Kathy won't speak, but communicates via disturbing pictures and playacting violent scenes. During one session, Robin makes a link between the scenes being acted out and real life crime scenes... just what did Kathy see during her abduction?
I really enjoyed this take on a thriller. I'm not too familiar with child psychology but it felt believable to me. The relationships between all the characters were realistic in a messy, everyone has issues way.
If you think thrillers with a good twist and believable characters then I would definitely recommend!

A unique plot and one I was invested in from the beginning. However, between the therapists issues and the actual issues this was too much. I enjoyed the plot and found it to be incredibly interesting. But there was so much going on with everybody in the book that I was experiencing sensory overload. I enjoyed the ending but frankly, was really glad it was done. Just… too much.