In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I’m kicking things off with K.T. Nguyen’s razor-sharp debut, “You Know What You Did." Here, complications from untreated mental illness drive the unreliable narrator trope for a swirly, tangled hair-raiser.

After first-generation Vietnamese immigrant Annie “Anh Le” Shaw’s mother dies unexpectedly — the two had a fraught but close relationship — the loss impacts Annie more than she is initially aware of, and her seemingly perfect life begins to fall apart. First is the emergence of Annie’s long-forgotten obsessive-compulsive disorder, the details of which are depicted in such a way that only someone who has experienced Shaw’s specific type of OCD can portray.

“Through Annie, I describe some of my lived experience with disgust-driven, contamination-based OCD,” Nguyen wrote in an online author’s note. “The imagery is raw and vivid — and very necessary to realistically portray how this chronic disorder can affect people’s everyday lives, how it can make you feel like a prisoner in your own body.”

Then, when a well-known art patron suddenly disappears, all signs point toward Annie, who can’t prove she’s not at fault because she isn’t entirely sure — with blackouts and visions, she can’t trust her own mind. As sinister as it is emotional, “You Know What You Did” explores mother-daughter relationships and generational trauma with taut, captivating prose and a touch of horror.

Unfortunately, I could not get into this book. The mystery aspect did not captivate me and it took a long time to reveal itself. Furthermore, the story seemed to drag on a bit and perhaps that was why I found it a bit hard to follow at times. I was so intrigued by the cover, but it didn’t live up to that for me. 2 stars ⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for review.

The ending really saved this book for me. I feel like it took me a really long time to get into this book. Chapter 1 grabbed my attention, but it was quickly lost after that. The story dragged on and I didn't feel it picked up until about the 80% mark.

While I did find that the OCD representation was accurate, I felt like the story relied too heavily on it. I didn't love that it felt like "are these things happening or is it just her OCD". Also the major trauma dumping about her life with her mom? That felt very out of place and I still am not quite sure how it added to the story.

Our main character was severely unlikeable which I think added to me not wanting to pick up this book. Honestly after the first weird thing happened I was hoping she would go to jail, that's how much I didn't like her.

This book should definitely come with some form of content warning. The scene with the dog made me want to throw up and honestly stop reading this book. It felt severely unnecessary to go into that much detail.

Overall it was a fine book. I don't know that I would read it again, but I am glad I experienced it at least once.

I loved this! Such a good twisty story. I love an unreliable narrator and was satisfied with the ending - however, the pacing sometimes felt like it was dragging in places which took it down to a 4 star read.

DNF at chapter 7. i was so lost with the story going back and forth. her mother is dead, but then with no date/time change they're having a conversation about tabby. i didn't have the patience to keep it straight myself. i feel like the plot won't develop anyway.

Okay this one took me a while to get into--at first I was pretty confused and didn't see the point in a lot of the story line--but by the end I was invested, there ended up being a lot of good twists!

*Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This book is intense - there's really no way around it. K.T. Nguyen viscerally describes symptoms of OCD and psychosis. Between the mysophobia, hallucinations, and intrusive thoughts, it's hard to discern what's real and what's a symptom and the author really leans into it. I quite enjoyed the moments we got where Annie was lucid and enjoying herself, she really deserved it. We're flip-flopping in the timeline with flashbacks and never-weres, just often enough to really jar the reader. This is a true psychological thriller, but also delves into generational trauma.

I did see the ending coming and was honestly kind of annoyed by it. But I did like that there was still a bit of a sinister air at the end despite the happy ending. Big fan, will read again.

Holy smokes! My first KT Nguyen book but please sign me up for the next one! Hard to believe this fascinating novel is a debut. Rich and well developed characters started the book out right and it just kept building steam throughout. Tough subject matter that was delivered with tender care and precision. Just nonstop secrets, lies and tension. Crazy great reveals. I was literally exhausted when I closed the book. Dark and disturbing.
Thank you NetGalley and KT Nguyen for the opportunity to read and review this cracker of a book.

Intense, fast-paced thriller dealing with OCD, trauma due to being a refugee from the Vietnam War, and trying to deal with some pretty evil characters. Annie is an artist, wife and mother. She recently experienced the death of her mother who she called Me, a difficult woman who hoarded the guest cottage she lived in and raised Annie with little food and little love. Me herself lost a child and found herself pregnant in a refugee camp after making sacrifices just to keep her baby alive. As a mother she was over-protective in terms of allowing Annie to have friends or much of a life, but she also failed to provide food or physical safety. Annie has long suffered from la particular type of OCD, one in which she has intrusive thoughts about germs and dirt as well as disease. She has mostly been doing well but the death first of her mother than her beloved dog has caused her to spiral.

This book is a. slow burn in the first half and then moves very fast. The parts dealing with mental illness and trauma are well done but the thriller parts are not given the same attention. Annie's dreams and intrusive thoughts are so horrifying that the author tries to create the thriller portions to be just as horrifying which made some of the dialogue and scenes almost cartoonish. I guessed the bad person from the beginning but the author does include a number of suspects as we find out about he deaths of a wealthy woman named Birdie and later an attack on a man that Annie has met named Gabe. I found a few things to not make sense like the police being overly concerned about a woman dying a natural death in her 80's and American police receiving insider details about an unsolved murder in Hong Kong many years after the event. Annie was often frustrating as she seemed to make little effort to help herself and was often rude to other people. I also thought the character of Dr. Patel seemed very unprofessional and Annie's daughter was hard to like. This was a good read despite my few nitpicks and I look forward to more from this author. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

You Know What You Did by KT Nguyen was a propulsive thriller, but readers need to be aware that some of the imagery in it veered into horror territory that was a little more intense than the average thriller. In fact, I read it much slower than many thrillers just because some of the scenes were very difficult to get through and I would need to take a break from the heaviness before moving on to the next one. Annie Shaw is the protagonist. She is a Vietnamese woman married to a white man. They share a teenaged daughter. Annie's mother, who was a refugee of the Vietnam War, has recently died at the beginning of the novel. First, we learn that Annie's mom had crippling mental illness that caused her to live in squalid conditions in Annie's and her husband's carriage house. The more we learn about Annie and her mom's background together, it is clear that the mom lived in terrible fear of all things "other". She was paranoid of most people and she was controlling to the point of mental cruelty.

Annie, as an adult, has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is where most of the horror-like imagery I mentioned before comes in. Annie is so fearful of germs, she pictures things in her mind that are something out of a horror novel/movie. Many are related to bugs infesting living bodies, both animal and human. Unfortunately, much of what she fears ends up actually happening. She has started to lose some time in her mind, even passing out occasionally. Her OCD symptoms are getting worse, which has led to relationship problems with both her husband and her teenaged daughter. Suddenly, one of Annie's main clients is found dead and Annie is a suspect. She doesn't fully trust herself or her memory, so she is precariously on the defense, with little support around her as her journalist husband has taken an overseas assignment and her daughter has gone away to summer camp.

This book is well-written, but I was so uncomfortable reading it. The nature of mental illness is difficult to understand, but the author did a beautiful job demonstrating how OCD works from the perspective of the one suffering. She also does a great job showing the effects the disorder might have on relationships as well.

A thriller with a MC that really worked my last nerve. She seemed kind of whiny to me, but redeemed herself in the end. I liked th element where you weren’t quite sure if this was all in her head or if it was truly physically happening! I do think the book could’ve been shorter, but the twist was worth it in the end. I gave this 3.5 stars.

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

I found #youknowwhatyoudid to be as overwrought as its main character, Annie Shaw. Goodness the rabbit holes we go down, with Annie as self-centered as she can be. Her childhood was incredibly traumatic so I get why she's such a fragile adult, and why the line between reality and imagination blurs. Yet, the times she does show strength are hard to believe and incongruous. Tiresome and tiring.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

What a dark journey through Annie's mental illness and her toxic/codependent relationship with her mother. From the beginning, I suspected certain things were happening and who was behind them. That did not detract from the story at all. Annie's journey is the whole point of the story, not who did it. Annie is a hero.

Annie’s perfectly tailored life has unraveled after her mom dies. Her mom was a Vietnam War refugee and had her own demons. After her mom’s death Annie’s OCD reappears and with it her life spins out of control. There are a lot of twists and turns here so I don’t want to give much away but this was a solid debut. I’m excited to see what she writes next.

I loved the beginning of this book, then the pace slowed down and crawled slower than a slug. I just found it hard to get past the super slow pace. This book had so much potential, but overall just ended up not being my cup of tea.

Anh Le, aka Annie, is a first generation American. Her mother escaped Vietnam while she was pregnant. Growing up was difficult because her mom had some mental health issues and they were quite poor. Now Annie is married to Duncan, a prize winning journalist. They have one daughter, Tabitha, who is 15 and Annie is battling her own mental health issues. AFter Annie's mother dies suddenly, her emotional support dog dies things start to fall apart for Annie. I never knew if what I was reading was real or part of Annie's delusions. It was a longish book at 384 pages and it started to feel repetitive and I started to skim. None of the characters were the least bit likeable but they all seemed to smell great. Maybe I would have seen the end coming if I cared enough.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Dutton for providing me with a digital copy.

I almost stopped reading this multiple times because of Annie’s daughter. Other than that, it was a great thriller that told the story of immigrant families, the toll being a refugee has on one’s mental health, generational trauma, assimilation, racism, and finding yourself after being a wife and mother for so long.

This book is intense! I absolutely loved it.
There were so many elements to this story that made it so unique, and that’s so hard in the thriller genre.
Ann just lost her mother and basically from there her life goes down an absolutely insane spiral.
There are many mental health issues with the characters. I feel like mental health was almost a character of its very own in this book. I enjoyed that aspect of the story, and felt like it really brought something different to this read.
I recommend this 100% ! 4.5 stars!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Annie’s perfectly tailored life has unraveled after her mom dies. Her mom was a Vietnam War refugee and had her own demons. After her mom’s death Annie’s OCD reappears and with it her life spins out of control. There are a lot of twists and turns here so I don’t want to give much away but this was a solid debut. I’m excited to see what she writes next.
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Thank you #Dutton and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great debut! There were a lot of layers to this novel: generational trauma, refugee trauma, exposure trauma and interpersonal trauma. The portrayal of OCD was raw and truly made you empathize with the main female character. The depths of the illness were exposed in a manner that resonated. The author also touched upon the mother and daughter relationship which can be tumultuous and beautiful.

This was a slow burn, that gave little Easter eggs throughout to lead you to the ending. When the last egg dropped, it was predictable in my opinion, but also really fitting, it made so much sense.

Even though this one took me a little longer to get through. I really enjoyed it. I was selective in when I read this one because I wanted to give it the proper attention. (I’ve realized I’m more of a mood reader than I thought!)

If you like novels that touch on refugee trauma, ptsd and mental illness, this one is for you!

Thank you netgalley and Dutton publishing for the ARC!