disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I enjoy an unreliable narrator (like, as in we have no idea if we should be trusting her or not for the majority of the book, because she barely trusts herself!)

Though this wasn't my favorite (I had issues with the pacing especially, because I did have to will myself to pick this back up sometimes), I would try out another psychological thriller from the author in the future. I appreciated the OCD representation without wholly villainizing the person with OCD, and spotlighting mental disability as "evil" as it typically is in this genre especially.

Check trigger warnings below and take care while reading 

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the Digital ARC of You Know What You Did. 

I love a thriller. I especially love a thriller that’s dealing with larger issues beyond the crime(s) themselves. The way Nguyen writes about the immigrant experience, PTSD, mental illness, mother/daughter relationships, and generational trauma is important and timely. At times, the messaging can be heavy handed if the reader considers themselves slightly versed in the topic(s) above, but overall the writing was a welcome addition to the thriller as a whole. 

Where the novel lost me was in the pacing and time jumps. A lot of the chapters in the middle section of the book generally ended on the same note or even the same sentence. Some chapters felt like lateral moves as opposed to steps in the plot. It was also difficult to keep track of where in the overall story a certain chapter was taking place. Both of these aspects messed with the pacing and took me out of the story. 

Overall, I would generally recommend this book to someone who enjoys thrillers and family dramas, but I would warn them of the pacing issues in advance.