ARC Review: A Popcorn Thriller

Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson

Publication Date: January 28, 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she’s hiding a terrible secret. It’s time for the truth to come out…

Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they’ve committed to her audience. She can’t guarantee the police won’t come after her “guests,” but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that’s proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother’s murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother’s murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

ARC provided by Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

I found the premise of this book to be very interesting and for the most part it was well executed. I found myself turning those pages to find out what happened next, up until I got to the middle of the book. Then things went a little south and predictable. But this was still a pretty good read and I enjoyed it for the most part.

Poe is the main point of view and for the most part she is relatable. She is deeply flawed and has many issues surrounding her mother’s murder. But she is also intelligent and resilient, although I did question some of her choices both in her past and in the present. I loved her idea for her podcast and some of her ground rules for it were realistic. She had a great relationship with her dad and with her boyfriend/producer Kip although she was keeping a huge secret from both of them. And a big shout out to her dog Bailey who I just adored.

Ian Hindley was perhaps one of the scariest villains I have encountered this year. The descriptions of his looks, his voice and especially his laugh were well done and made me want to run far away from him. The cat and mouse game he played with Poe was also well done, although a bit predictable. The big reveal of who he really is at the end was very predictable, but I was still unsure if I was right up until the end.

The plot was well done, but I did have some issues. I loved the short chapters and the switching back and forth from the narrative to the podcast transcripts was well done. The first half of the book had me on the edge of my seat and I had a hard time putting the book down. But then the narrative suddenly went dead and got bogged down in Poe’s thoughts and emotions. Poe also at this point started making some questionable decisions. The action does pick up again towards the end, but by that time I had lost interest in the characters and story. I also found there were too many hints at the start of the book about what happens later and that took away from the suspense at the end.

Even with the few issues I had with this book, I would still recommend it to those of you that enjoy thrillers. This is the first book by this author that I have read and I would definitely pick up something else by him. There is a cameo by a character from a previous book that I liked and am I’m interested in reading her story.