This one started out a little slow for me. But once the plot advanced, I found myself getting more into the book. I really felt for the main character with the generational trauma and her OCD. It was heart breaking to read how her mother's struggles to get her children to safety had affected her entire life and how those struggles ended up affecting the main character, Annie. Some parts of the plot felt a bit hard to connect, but the author did a good job of tying it all together at the end.

This is the story of Annie Shaw.

Annie’s mother is a Vietnam War refugee and Annie knows what it is to be poor and looked down on. Annie is holding her now perfect life together with a very thin thread!

When her mother dies, this carefully crafted life begins to fall apart. Things go downhill from there. Is it all in her mind or is this real?

A mystery/thriller and a strong look at refugees and mother/daughter relationships.

I struggled with the first quarter of this one. With an unreliable narrator, you rarely get the full story. The ending was a bit pat, but I still enjoyed it.

NetGalley/ Penguin Group Dutton April 16,2024

Such a twisty suspense-y drama and I was absolutely here for it.

I definitely think this book can be triggering for some with mental health issues / relationship struggles, but as long as you're mindful of it - this slow burn is definitely worth it. Still confused in the best way possible. <3

Thank you so much to NetGalley & KT Ngyuyen (and team) for an advanced eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

You Know What You Did really worked for me as a portrait of generational trauma and mental illness, but as a thriller, the ending was just so-so. Plagued by the lasting effects of a dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship, Annie's marriage is on the rocks, her relationship with her teen daughter is a shambles and recurring intrusive thoughts are only making things worse. When people start to die around her, even Annie isn't totally sure if she's responsible or not. While things do come to a head, the ending was too easy and left me feeling, "Girl, you still need to get some real therapy."

CW: A dog dies (it's somewhat graphic, and I was unprepared), OCD, intrusive thoughts, generational trauma, infidelity,

This was a good read but not a fun one. The immigrant experience, generational trauma, and insect-driven gore were difficult to read at times but not as difficult as reading through the intrusive thoughts the FMC had that were almost triggering. The end felt almost anti-climactic, and the plot dragged in the last 1/3 of the book, but overall, an interesting read. I think if you like reading horror, you'll like this book. Do pay attention to the trigger warnings tho.

Took awhile to get into , because of how slow it but was very interesting at the same time ,with the twist and turns it had thought out the story , plus non of the characters was very likeable .

Interesting story line with flashbacks. Gaslighting at its finest.
I appreciate the ARC and will purchase this book for our library

Annie's perfect life becomes unraveled upon the death of her mother. Annie has it all- a great job, perfect husband, and a lovely daughter, all of which seem to come crashing down when her mother dies. All of a sudden she's haunted by the generational trauma and abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. She starts taking on characteristics of her mother, like OCD, and questioning if she loves her husband. Is her mother trying to get at her from the grave? Soon things start happening in Annie's real life that seem implausible, especially when she's accused of murder. The author does a great job demonstrating how OCD and other conditions affect your life and mental health. As things get more and more out of control, Annie must do everything possible to protect her daughter. Just when you think the book is going to end one way, a completely new twist comes out of nowhere. Definitely a unique thriller that will have you questioning the main characters' sanity, and perhaps your own!

I received an ARC, thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton.

It was hard for me to get into this story at first- the inciting incident doesn’t take place until you’re 1/3 into the novel- but once the plot really picked up its pace, I couldn’t put it down.

There are several themes explored, including mental health, generational trauma, loyalty, and mother/daughter relationships. At times, I felt there may be too much happening within the story, but it all came together nicely in the end. The twist at the end was not what I had been expecting, which is always appreciated in a thriller.

This book started off well enough for me, but I only made it about 32% of the way through before I completely lost interest. I just couldn't connect with the main character, the plot seemed to be going nowhere and the husband really got on my nerves with his constant reprimanding of his wife when it came to their bratty teenage daughter.
Overall, it just didn't appeal to me.

Wow wow wow. Holy smokes. This read had me over the edge. I couldn’t even put it down! This needs to be on your list of books to read

4.5 stars! A must for your thriller/horror TBR for 2024! WOW oh Wow and I promise a complete review coming soon. Thank you NetGalley , K.T. Nguyen for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nguyen developed nothing short of a slow burn, throbbing story about grief and mental illness. As the story picks up, you start to wonder just how much you know about Annie. How much you can trust her. Inside her head, you become more and more convinced that she could do terrible things. I can usually guess plot early on, but this one kept me on my toes. A brilliant debut; I won’t hesitate to pick up Nguyen again.
As someone who comes from a family with OCD, Nguyen’s portrayal, specifically of contamination OCD, is incredibly visceral. If you deal with this yourself, or consider yourself to be in a low point with your OCD, I recommend caution or passing on this one.

“The latter came as a shock to Annie, whose only knowledge of OCD came from television. The quirky germophobic detective, the neat freak with a color-coded closet, the lovable sitcom neighbor who knocks three times fast and two times slow before entering a room. None of these lighthearted portrayals bore any resemblance to the debilitating disorder that consumed her or the intrusive thoughts that held her hostage at times. Annie wasn't afraid of catching a disease, nor was she especially organized or tidy. How could she have OCD?”

You Know What You Did is an unraveling of a wife, a mother, a woman. I found myself in this thriller in many ways. Ways that disturbed me, ways that enlightened me, and ways that shook me to my core.

A lot of people joke about having OCD when they like things a particular way. But what they don’t get is how all consuming it is, especially when you have Contamination OCD. Every ounce of thought spirals into darkness, doom and death, and it is impossible to stop. It makes the behaviors of our main character, Annie, seem plausible. The loss and distortion of time lead us down dark passageways, asking ourselves, “Did she really do this?” It’s a question, I’m sure, a lot of people with Contamination OCD ask themselves on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis.

You Know What You Did is beautifully written, with commentary that I appreciated so much as a mother, a daughter, a wife, and a person. There is so much to say about this book, and I feel like I have heavily fixated on the OCD aspect, but at the beginning of the book, it is dedicated to “mothers, daughters and daughters who mother.” I know every mother daughter relationship is fraught with some kind of tension, but daughters responsible for their mother’s emotions will especially connect with this book.

This will be, easily, one of my favorite deep reads of 2024. You do not want to miss this one.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy freaking cannoli guys! You Know What You Did had my brain in a choke hold for the entire book. There was so much unknown because I couldn't fully trust the main character, Annie. Without diving into all those juicy details, it was hard trying to figure out if she was just simply put trustworthy.

Enter all the abuse, mystery and murder - well, I was frankly hooked and just need to know who did it and why. Without having suspects, I knew there were people I just didn't like but didn't know why. The why was honestly bugging me because I was missing so much information and it was annoying the heck out of me.

Once little clues started coming into place, and the biggest reveal of my entire life, things definitely started to make sense to me. The entire time I felt a certain way towards someone, and I screamed, "AHA! I KNEW IT!" like the little fake detective I am. Either way, I really enjoyed this and hope everyone who suffered is healing and moving on with their lives.

Definitely enjoyed the heck out of this and can't wait for my next mystery thriller to come my way.

This book was an absolute delight! Filled with numerous twists and turns, it delves into the intriguing relationship between a mother and daughter. Annie's world begins to unravel when her mother passes away, leaving her feeling adrift and lost. If you're a fan of exhilarating journeys, this book is tailor-made for you. Seamlessly blending elements of horror and thriller with the intricacies of everyday life, it offers a captivating read that I wholeheartedly recommend.
A huge thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Annie Shaw seems to have it all: a blooming painting career, a devoted husband, a clever teenage daughter, and a dream house. However, when her mom, Me, unexpectedly dies, she finds herself trying to hold together a carefully curated life as it unravels. Annie has spent her entire adult life trying to build a new life away from the poverty and isolation of her childhood with her Vietnam War refugee mom. As she attempts to keep her life and her daughter's life idyllic, her obsessive-compulsive disorder comes roaring back. After years of successfully keeping it at bay, Annie's OCD begins to overtake her life as her fixations seem to come alive. When her art benefactor goes missing, Annie is considered the prime suspect. As she works to clear her name, she pushes everyone further away until she wakes up in a hotel room, naked, beside a man's lifeless body. The police have more questions, but Annie's fractured mind makes it impossible to uncover the truth. Annie is willing to do anything to protect and shelter her daughter, even if it means losing herself in the process.

Nguyen's novel is a fast-paced and compulsively readable thriller. As a reader, you are invested in the plot and the characters and want to figure out what is actually happening. Her writing style is easy to read and enjoyable. Perhaps the most interesting part of the novel is reading about Annie's relationship with her mom. We get the present-day chapters as we watch Annie try to cope with her mother's death and the mounting pressure from the police. We also get chapters from Grace Falls, Ohio in 1984. In the past chapters, we gain an understanding of Annie's childhood and Me's struggle with OCD. These chapters add another dimension to both Annie and her mother. Giving the readers insight into her mother's background explains a lot about Annie and her problems.

One of the most compelling parts of the novel is certainly the commentary about intergenerational trauma and what we inherit from our parents. Me's life in a war-torn Vietnam and her escape as a refugee left her feeling powerless and without control for much of her life. To compensate for the lack of control she feels, she becomes a hoarder and tries to control every part of Annie's life. Reasonably, Me wants to have some power and say in what happens in her life, and while she may have gone about it in an unhealthy way, we are unable to judge her trauma response. Me's OCD impacts Annie's life and creates similar responses in her adult life. Where Me attempts to control her life and those around her, Annie's compulsions revolve around cleanliness and routine. Annie's OCD swallows up any form of logic and reason and leaves her flailing in the void. She cannot function in places where she feels that she may be contaminated in some way. Her compulsions exhibit themselves by carefully being in public and removing all of her clothes prior to moving throughout the house so she can avoid further contamination. Annie's compulsions seem to be the exact opposite of Me's, which I find intriguing. Me's life as a refugee has long-term implications, which were passed down to Annie. As Annie tries to control her environment, she indirectly impacts her own daughter. On her website, she mentions how trauma can seep across generations and borders, and that is exactly what she reflected in her debut novel.

Lastly, the OCD representation was enjoyable and important. There are many misconceptions about OCD, and I admit, I was not entirely sure of the intricacies of OCD. When many people think of OCD, they think of being clean and tidy, but that is not always the case. People with OCD often have fears and anxieties that are kept in check by compulsions. Readers get to see two versions of OCD: hoarding and contamination. I thought this was an interesting choice as it provided different insights into OCD and how it can present itself. Overall, the OCD representation was handled with care and felt personal. I'm not sure what Nguyen's relationship is, but clearly, she holds space for people with these compulsions.

I so wanted to like this book but could not into the storyline. It was well written just not a topic for me

Thank you NetGalley, Dutton, and K. T. Nguyen for the advanced copy of You Know What You Did.

I unfortunately had to DNF this one at 26% due to the description of an incident that happened (I won't go into further details as not to spoil the book). It's a bit of a trigger for me so I am opting not to continue on.

I will not rate this book on any other retail sites aside from NetGalley as I do not feel that is fair when I did not finish the book. I will also not hesitate to pick this author up again in the future.

Wow. This was a really really really good book.
It covers a handful of topics- immigration, OCD, PTSD, infidelity and so much more.

ALSO DIDNT SEE THE PLOT TWIST COMING

Pls pick up this book when it’s released