Novels No. 48 (LL366)

 

K.T. Nguyen. You Know What You Did. USA: Dutton Press, 2024.

Anh (Annie) has been sandwiched between her headstrong, spiteful teen daughter Tabby and care for her disturbed immigrant mother (called Mę), an obsessive hoarder. Her mother's death, instead of relief from a worrisome burden, brings Annie haunting memories and nightmares—only hinted at—of her grim impoverished life before she met and married Duncan Shaw. Although Duncan provides a very comfortable lifestyle, Annie works casually as an interior designer, ambitious to develop as an artist; the carriage house on their property, where her mother had lived, will be perfect as a studio. The thing is, with due respect to mental health professionals and their patients, Annie's crazy as a bedbug. No wonder Tabby rebels and Duncan's endless patience is getting frayed. Mine was! Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to be specific. Earlier treatment for it, from psychiatrist Lily Patel, is no longer working and Annie refuses to see her again.

Annie seems destined to endure blow after blow. First mom, then her beloved therapy dog dies. Her biggest client, Byrdie Fenton, causes her a huge disappointment and later, shockingly, is found murdered. Annie's brain seems likely to explode or implode from stress coupled with chronic reminders of her mother's relentless emotional abuse. It's hard to maintain empathy due to her repetitive cycles of self-torment and defensive tactics that alienate people around her. Even worse, the descriptions of her paranoid delusions are sickening. Annie comes to police attention for more than one violent incident; maybe then she, and we, will understand the tricks an unhealthy mind can perform. Are bad things happening, or are they all in Annie's head?

Who knows if the story portrays some truths about a complex OCD case? There seems no resolution for this frightened, confused, mentally battered, help-resistant woman. Toxic mother-daughter relations flavour the entire story until the action suddenly flips—which you may find credible, or not. A tense read!

Annie

▪ It wasn't necessarily a head-over-heels romance, but after fifteen years of marriage there's a lot of love between them. (19)

▪ Nasty criticisms came to Mę as naturally as breathing. (25)

▪ Obeying the commands of her obsessive disorder had become more important to Mę than her own physical needs, more important than her own child. (38)

▪ ... her nightmares have grown more vivid, more violent. Every night, she awakes sick with guilt from the carnage her unconscious mind has wrought. (41)

▪ As her vision adjusts, the figure next to her begins to take shape. A white hotel bedsheet wraps around his body, but, of course, she can tell—it's him. (112)

▪ Dr. Patel's description captures the powerlessness she feels with OCD. The endless cycle of distress, doubt, and compulsion—not being able to stop yourself even when you recognize what you're doing isn't working. (185-6)

▪ She strokes the thick, sinewy muscle of his forearm, reveling in the texture of the dark, coarse hair that is so unlike her husband's. (224)

Others

▪ "You get what you deserve, Anh. You know what you did." (25)

▪ "Can you please not overreact for once!" (52)

▪ "Have you lost your mind, Annie? Our daughter did not ... your paranoia is out of control!" (90)

▪ Dr. Patel described a lesser-known type of the disorder, a form of contamination-based OCD characterized by intense disgust. The human brain, as a means of self-preservation, is hardwired to be repulsed by "disgusting" stimuli— (94)

▪ "Your mother may be gone, but the more irrationally you behave, the more I see her in you." (140)

▪ They stored food inside the oven. It was one of only a few places safe from the rats that roamed freely about the house. (157)

▪ "It seems Miss Fenton was gradually poisoned. Hence, the coroner's classification of homicide." (196)

Elly Griffiths. The Last Word. USA: Mariner Books (UK: Quercus Editions Ltd.), 2024.

Mild curiosity: compare with Taylor Adams' The Last Word? (No. 19, LL337) I'd looked on the latter very favourably, but there is no comparison other than both books are about writers. Writers—especially crime fiction writers—are clearly a hot topic for ... crime writers.

Here we are with writers dropping dead of heart attacks. Or is something more sinister afoot? Private detectives eighty-four-year-old Edwin and his partner Natalka, much younger and gorgeous, are investigating at the behest of writer Melody Chambers' daughters. Who suspect a poisoning death by her second husband Alan. It's not long before similar deaths of other writers are noted, not only by the team but by policewoman D.I. Harbinder Kaur. Edwin and Benedict—Edwin's best friend and Natalka's boyfriend—sign up to attend a writers' weekend retreat at Battle House, perhaps the common denominator among the several deceased. They are about to make new friends.

Leonard Norris and Imogen Blythe are the retreat's coaches. Although Ben the coffee shop owner is secretly an aspiring writer, it's Edwin who is comfortable, even charming, with the pretense of being a crime writer. Finding in a pond the dead body of their new friend Sue, girlfriend of heart attack victim Malcolm Collins, brings the retreat to an abrupt halt. Murder is the verdict, but so many suspects! Our team flails at interviewing them all, improvising theories (the indeterminate flailing is relieved by the characters' saucy dialogue and antics). Then Leonard inexplicably becomes another victim; Edwin may be next in line unless he can figure out what is driving the killer.

Those who enjoy witty old folks and well-defined characters and mildly mad mysteries will love this. It is not Griffiths' first novel to introduce Edwin, Natalka, and Benedict.

[Another mystery: Why does the title page say "A Ruth Galloway Mystery" when Griffiths' well-known protagonist does not appear whatsoever in these pages?]

Bits

▪ "You shouldn't take it so seriously," Benedict's mother told him when he expressed a wish to give up meat for Lent. (39)

▪ Once more, Benedict feels a stab of jealousy. It's very childish to be jealous because the teacher prefers your friend to you but there it is. (90)

▪ "This is a police investigation." She's addressing all three of them now. "I don't want amateurs involved." (130)

▪ "I can cry if you like," offers Valentyna. "I'm good at acting." (169)

▪ "I wrote about prep school," says Edwin. "Boarding school is very useful if you want instant trauma." (196)

▪ He's not sure how he feels about the effect his girlfriend has on every member of the male sex but he supposes it's useful if it stops them being murdered. (201)

▪ "That's the good thing about not having children," says Pietro. "You don't have to worry about them growing up to despise you." (247)

▪ "It's about who Melody loved the most," says Alan. "And I can't help it if that was me." (192)

Clues?

▪ "I just wanted to say," she says, "I know it's your first time here, but you need to be a bit wary of Imogen." (69)

▪ "There's not much time," says the voice. "We have to be brutal. It's the only way." (80)

▪ "Malcolm sent her some pages he'd written and she didn't even bother to answer." (107)

▪ "I thought he was a nasty character. He talked about writing cannibalism books for children." (138)

▪ "I just want to see whether he's a bit free and easy with prescriptions. Or if he offers you something dodgy." (169)

▪ "Oh my God. Did you get the messages? About being scared and there being evil in the air?" (253)

▪ "There's something we're missing. I'm sure of it. 'If only I hadn't.' Why did Imogen set that task in the first place?" (284)