Gregg Olsen

Karen Peakes

A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

If You Tell

Ryan Mateyk

Ugh. A gripping story about a crime I was wholly unfamiliar with, but I found it poorly written, extremely repetitive and a bit insensitive to the victims. It tells the story of the extreme abuses suffered at the hands of Michelle Knotek, from her childhood in the 1960s all the way through to her arrest in 2004. Along the way, everyone suffered, including her children, her nephew, and her "best friends". Some issues I had; why did every single chapter (there were literally 85 of them) need to end in some cheesy, dramatic cliffhanger? Just in case you forgot, you were reminded every five pages or so that Shane, Michelle's nephew, thought she was "fucking crazy." Literally every five pages. It got to the point where the details of the abuses were repeated so often that it diminished their impact. And these were really horrible abuses! The entire book read as a drawn-out amateur creative non-fiction writing project, which is wild since Olsen has a prolific writing career. I honestly think this entire story would have worked a lot better as a longreads article as it was quite long and just didn't do it for me.

Also! A quote from this book: "Shane was humiliated and angry with Shelly, but he let her do it." This was referring to one of the many instances of intense physical and mental abuse that Shelly inflicted on her nephew Shane. This wasn't the only instance, but it really stood out to me how it felt like Shane chose to be subjected to this? That's not how abuse works, honey! 

Honestly, I found the afterword from the forensic psychologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland better written than the entirety of the book. A nicely written four pages to make up for the previous 340 I guess!

Bethany

This was really well written and it definitely gives you a very real look into this family, and what happened. You never know with people.

chloe ✩‧₊˚✧｡*ﾟ

"Any plans that distracted Shelly from how to make someone beg for mercy were very welcome around Monohon Landing"

My heart broke chapter after chapter. 
The story of the Knotek sisters was one I haven't heard of, and as someone who regularly watches and researches true crime I found that astonishing. 
There isn't much coverage on story (compared to others) and I'll forever respect their privacy so I think Gregg Olsen did a wonderful job at collecting first-hand words from the family. 

" It seems impossible that anyone could command such extreme compliance but successful predators use a variety of tools to ensure success... Controlling others with pain empowers them"-Katherine Ramsland, PhD

I wish the world was better at listening to kids who suffer from abuse, (even when some don't outrightly say it)

"She later said she only told the police "like half the bad stuff". Investigators however understood that 10 percent of a nightmare is still a nightmare."

Melyssa Tromberg 

Disturbing, heartbreaking, tragic.... a true crime story where you get an inside view into the world of a female psychopath, Shelly Knotek. Shelly is daughter, wife and mother who horribly abuses important people in her life. (I don't want to give anything more away). This story and POV is told from the recounting stories her daughters, husband, neighbors and family friends, starting from the beginning to the end, which was interesting experience to say the least.

I went into this book completely blind, for the most part and I wish I hadn't. Please do your research and know what you are getting into because this book is not for everyone. It truly dives deeply into the mind of an individual with psychosis and borderline personality disorder and the behaviors and traits that coincide along with it. It's alot. 

I can't rate this book from the content for obvious reasons but I did I gave this book 3 stars because of the writing style. While I realize this book is supposed to detail the crimes of Shelly, it followed such a linear structure and at times would jump around in time and perspective without warning, which was confusing. 

I also listened to the audiobook for a majority of this book and I would recommend that for this book! I thought the narration was excellent and her ability to voice all of the different characters to make it believable and I really don't think I'd be able to get through this book by just physically reading it.

Lukas Ellerbrook

I just want to say that my rating is no reflection on the actual case itself. What happened to them was absolutely horrible, my rating alone reflects the writing.

This story was not told in any sort of cohesive way. We were constantly jumping back and forth from one year to five years later and back again. It was hard to keep up with everything that was going on because it was constantly going back to things that had already happened. Like with Shane, he disappeared on page like 200 and we didn't find out what happened to him until almost the end of the book and in between that time, we had so many other things that happened.

Also, the chapters were so short? I don't know if this is a common theme among true crime books but it was unbearable with how short they were. And each chapter seemed to cover a different aspect of the crime, some of which happened years after the last chapter so it was hard to keep up with the timeline of events because the chapters were so short and flip-flopped between years.

Again, what happened to them was horrible and I am glad that they are healing from the traumatic life they grew up with but I just wish their story was written better. 

Parker Jones

It was so horrible but so good. It was like a bad car wreck that you just can’t look away from. 

rach

This rating is in no way indicative of this story or the horrors of this case, but rather the writing style, which I thought was pretty clunky at some points. 

That being said, my heart is with the Knotek sisters and the victims’ families. This is honestly one of the most grotesque and horrible true crime stories I have ever read

Marisa Mioduski

It was very interesting at first, but the writing wasn’t the best. There really wasn’t any order and I was constantly confused of when certain things were happening. I also think the book could have been shortened, some parts were pretty repetitive. However, with direct quotes from the family, it definitely pulls on some heart strings 

Vicki Grever

Very poorly written. Needs a good editor.

Marissa Zander

** spoiler alert **
           Okay, I’ll start by saying I didn’t understand what I was getting myself into. This book is thrilling and terrifying because it’s mostly true. 

I’ll also add in I feel there is so much sympathy for Dave (probably because he participated) when I don’t think he deserves it at all. Michelle and Dave Knotek were both conniving and violent people. 

I gave this 4 stars because the writing was done well, and I feel like it did a long story some justice. Knocking off a star for the sympathy from the author towards Dave.

Amanda Autumn Berrey

torn

content was gripping and the story was heart breaking but presentation got a bit stale at times. I skimmed a lot but it is still a very powerful story.

Abi Lee

I just couldn't get through it. Made it halfway and didn't see where it was going so I gave up. 

Venessa Johnstone

Heart breaking tale.. couldn't put it down..

Andrea McGuffey

I thought the book was really really good but if you've been a victim of mental or physical abuse, I do not recommend. Some of the events were hard for even me to stomach and the fact that these are true events makes it that much more unnerving.

If You Tell A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

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