IF YOU TELL Book Review
- Myranda
- Jan 2, 2023
- 2 min read
If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen, eBook, 431 pages
Synopsis from GoodReads: After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.
For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.
BOOK REVIEW: I'm still shocked that this happened so close to where I grew up. I'm not familiar with that side of the [Puget] sound and all of this came to light once I had graduated high school and moved away. The things that these women went through is horrific and at the hand of their mother...
The things they were forced to do and see at such young ages is devastating. As a mother I can't even imagine putting my daughter through ANYTHING this woman did. The fact that a deal was made and, spoiler alert, she is out of prison as of November 2022 (nothing a google search about this woman wouldn't yield) is just crazy!
I rate this 4.5 out of 5 stars. This book is very detailed and it took me over 2 months to read it because I could only handle it in small doses. While the things that happened are extremely terrible, this was well written and informative. It is graphic and just the things that woman did to those kids and her nephew is so unimaginable that I can't give this a full 5 star rating. It really is just knocked down a little because it was just so much from a woman who doesn't deserve the title of mother.
4.5/5 Stars ¹This is an affiliate link through Bookshop.org which supports independent bookstores nationwide. Pick a bookshop you choose to support and when you order a book, the proceeds go to that store! Books are sent from a main distribution center so if you don't know what store to support, it's okay. All orders not supporting a specific shop go into a pool that gets divided among all the stores listed on the site!
