I Know Where You Live by Gregg Olsen

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Revenge, justice, or closure? Family crimes can't be hidden forever in this provocative novel of suspense by #1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen.

Violet knows that time is a futile healer. When she thinks of her happily married grandfather--a predator lovingly referred to as Papa--the feelings of rage and betrayal still swell. Her younger sister, Lily, just discovered the numbing truth about him. Their mother, Rose? She can't believe it. Not Papa. Leave it alone, Violet. Focus on the now.

When Papa suffers a sudden, and suspicious, fatal heart attack at Violet's wedding, she can barely conceal her joy. Maybe the fellow survivor at her support group is right: moving on is possible only when monsters are removed from society permanently. Violet is focusing on the now. Even if doing so calls for extremes.

For herself, and for the sake of other victims like her, Violet is reclaiming the power stolen from her as a child. Predator by predator, she's coming for them. It's intoxicating. It's liberating. But the secrets she now keeps, and the lies she must tell, come with a price.

Content Warning: Sexual abuse, rape, molestation, pedophilia, murder, gore, self-harm (not a complete list)

Have you ever read a book, really loved it, and just really disliked pretty much all of the characters in the book? That’s how I felt about I Know Where You Live by Gregg Olsen. I loved the book, loved the premise of the book, but really didn’t like the characters.

Violet and Lily were just irksome to me. Violet’s holier-than-thou attitude and Lily just basically doing her best to ignore everything that was going on just annoyed the daylights out of me.

I understood Rose and her mother’s dynamic because I lived through that time when you didn’t speak of things like sexual assault/molestation – even though we got the talks about “if someone touches you inappropriately, tell someone”, no one really did… it just wasn’t something you did. So I totally understand Rose and her mother’s dynamic in that respect.

So if I didn’t like the characters, what kept me reading the book? The plot. The things that were going on with Violet, the things she was doing. The things that were alluded to in regards to her grandfather’s death. The possible plot twists, which came and did not disappoint. That’s what kept me reading this book.

I’m not going to say much else about it. The plot alone was worth 4 stars. If I’d liked the characters, I might have given it 5 stars.

Oh… and I made a playlist of some songs you might want to listen to while reading… You’ll understand some of the choices when you read the book.

About Gregg Olsen

New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Olsen has appeared on Dateline, 48 Hours, Deadly Women, Good Morning America, The Early Show, Today, Entertainment Tonight, among others. The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington's Secretary of State for its contribution to the state’s history and culture. Envy was the state’s selection for the National Book Festival. The Boy She Left Behind was a finalist for the International Thriller Writer’s, Thriller Award. If You Tell was Amazon’s bestselling ebook in 2020.

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