Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - You Know What You Did

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen

15 reviews

booksandbujos's review

mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was a solid, standard thriller. The middle dragged a little at times, but the ending felt like a decently-paced climax. The reveal felt a little out of nowhere. I also don’t know if we really got closure on the sort of main mystery/ initial incident of the death of her mother. Was it actually natural? Was it supposed to be something more like the other deaths? Not entirely sure.

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rachelle_reads's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense

4.25

First, the good: The author’s portrayal of OCD and the way she addressed refugee trauma and intergenerational trauma were well done. That’s what sucked me in. I couldn’t always tell what was real and what was a dream or false memory, and that works well is a psychological thriller.

This was going to be a 5 star book for me until the last 50 pages or so. Everything wrapped up too neatly.

Three murders closed, with what evidence? And her relationship with her teenage daughter so quickly fixed? Please.

I wish the author had taken time to finish all the storylines better, rather than using dialogue to explain it all away.

One other complaint has to do with the role of the psychiatrist. I appreciated how the author used this character to help us understand Annie’s OCD. But the psychiatrist did a lot of things that are quite unrealistic.

You would never take on a client who was the spouse of a former roommate/boyfriend. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if Dr. Patel and the husband were conspiring together, but she was just a run-of-the-mill unethical therapist.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading more from this author as she hones her thriller writing skills.

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magyklyxdelish's review

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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minimicropup's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It’s not bad, but it felt unfinished?

Energy: Visceral. Conciliatory. Woeful.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Mount Pleasant, Virginia.

Perspective: We follow an artist with a spouse and 13 yr old daughter in dual timelines (1980s-1990s to current day). Their mother lived in their guesthouse and has recently passed, and they are grappling with grief along with personal stressors. We also get a side story of a character at a hotel.

🐺 Growls: Too many dream/vision sequences. Unnecessary shock-value dog stuff. Awkward villain monologue in the middle of high-stakes ending.

🐕 Howls: Referring to incidents withheld from the reader for far too long. Insufferable characters over-musing. Feeling like we never get to know Annie.

🐩 Tail Wags: The overall idea of the story.

🤔 Random Thoughts:

An “inferring” style read. There’s vagueness and we can infer to create suspense, but it relies so much on that approach that I felt disconnected from the story.

Everyone is insufferable. The only character I was rooting for was the dog (don’t recommend).

Annia being annoying isn’t a hit against the book, because I think there was meaning for why. She’d obsess over non-important tiny details, then her mind wandered at a key point, and she’d miss the obvious. Given her condition, I think that was the point – she isn’t always rational or justified in her approach to crises. But she felt so one-dimensional.

This relied way too much on dream sequences to create spooks and suspense.

I prefer third person, but wish this wasn’t. It felt like it was originally first person, then someone went back and changed it. The narrator was like an annoying middleperson between the story and the character. It was lagging on page.

It’s almost Chapter 25 before ‘something happens’.

The ‘big bad’ describes everything In The Middle of A High Stakes Scene…Why?! And in this case they are screaming the evil plan into the air!

This entire plot felt like it was dipping a toe in multiple genres on a shallow level. Like the same tale told as a contemporary fiction, then literary horror, then popcorn thriller, then magical realism suspense. It felt disjointed, never really went deep (if there was depth or meaningful symbolism, I missed it), but was written like it was trying to be deep. It’s not a bad story, it’s just told in a way that felt like the same story through the same lens with slightly different filters on.

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🤓 Reader Role: Middleman narrator. Interpreting first and conveying second, so it’s like they’re inserting meaning in the story without context.

🗺️ World-Building: Vapid. Both for the actual settings/atmosphere and for being in the main character’s mind.

🔥 Fuel: What do Annie’s dreams/flashbacks mean? What will happen with her marriage and relationship with her daughter? Driven by withholding, revelatory backstories, and dream sequences of cathartic release and philosophical insights.

📖 Cred: Plausible-ish suspended disbelief-ish

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Dog barking. Door knocking. Dark bedrooms. Dust. Rice cooker. Bugs. Porch discussions.
Generational trauma and second-generation immigrant experiences
Contemporary fiction with flashbacks
Musing, reflecting, overanalyzing character study at a distance.

Content Heads-Up: Loss of parent (in adulthood). Verbal abuse (from child). Controlling parent. Generational trauma. War (refugee; PTSD; brief mention/recall). Car accident. Alcoholism. Dementia. Racism (bullying, verbal abuse, tokenism, stereotypical assumptions by characters). Intrusive thoughts, losing track of time, rituals, contamination anxiety. Mysophobia. OCD. Loss of pet (dog, misadventure). Grief. Infidelity. Spiders. Toxic femininity/unhealthy gender roles. Hoarding. Alcohol use. Blackmail. Potential false accusation. Domestic abuse (attempted rape, physical assault).

Rep: Vietnamese. African. American. Second-generation American. Heterosexual. Bisexual. Cisgender.

📚 Format: Audible

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

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mysterymom40's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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menastarr's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lovelymisanthrope's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I picked this up because it is the Literally Dead Book Club pick for June.
"You Know What You Did" follows a woman named Annie Shaw. Despite humble and often challenging beginnings, Annie seems to have the perfect life now with her wealthy husband and sassy teenage daughter. Somewhat unexpectantly, Annie's mother, a Vietnam War refugee, passes away, and Annie's life seems to be coming apart at the seams. People around Annie seem to be disappearing or turning up dead, and she cannot believe she is the catalyst for all of this, but she also does not know if she can trust her own mind.
This was a highly enjoyable mystery. Annie's story felt very relatable, but unique at the same time. All of the relationships in her life seem to be complicated and rife with turbulence. For example, despite loving her mother dearly, and appreciating the sacrifices she made for Annie, Annie and her mother had a complex relationship that became very difficult at the end. Annie knows what her mother would want, and she still hears her mother's voice criticizing her every day. This is really compounded by her increasingly difficult relationship with her own daughter.
I really enjoyed the idea that Annie was an unreliable narrator. Annie really struggles with some mental health issues, and throughout the book, Annie herself does not trust her own mind. I really enjoy this trope because it really forces the reader to trust their gut and analyze every angle of every situation.
The ultimate twist and resolution of this story was fine, but I was kind of disappointed. The person responsible for what was going on felt very cliche to me, and easy to predict. I was also left feeling lackluster about where Annie ultimately ended up. It was poetic in a way, but it almost did not feel authentic to her character.
Overall, I had a fine time with this debut, and I will be curious to keep K.T. Nguyen on my radar in the future.

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