Brutal, shocking, gripping. I listened to the audio version all through the night. It was so disturbing that I couldn’t sleep for the remainder of the night. ( )

I am so torn about my feelings for this book. On the one hand, I normally really like true crime. On the other, apparently, I don’t like the crime so much as the crime investigation. “If You Tell” is packed solid with depravity and suffering. It’s quite literally a tour through not one but two deaths by neglect and abuse ala Sylvia Likens.

The subtitled “unbreakable sisterhood bond” doesn’t resonate, which is why I’m dropping my review of the book to four stars. From my vantage, there was nothing but secrecy. The sisters appear to have looked on while their parents heaped abuses on family and strangers-in-need to the exclusion of all else. No judgement, but if there was any hope or comradery in this situation, the author didn’t demonstrate it other than between Nikki and Shane (their cousin).

I can’t imagine what living in this household must have been like, and my heart goes out to the survivors. That they appear to have cobbled together a semblance of normalcy after what they endured is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, though I really think the book would’ve benefited from a shift in focus every now and again.

The author’s note indicates that one of the reasons he wrote the book is because the case got so little focus in the media, and for some reason the sisters wanted their story told. I can’t imagine wanting to make these details public given that they didn’t even speak to each other about what happened, according to the book, until the youngest of the three was fourteen and the other two were already out of the house, but it isn’t for me to guess at their reasons. As the story goes—what the author chose to include and exclude—the focus is abuse. Cruelty. It isn’t a book I walked away from understanding anyone’s motivations, and I miss a redemptive quality. After all the tragedy, the book ends on an even lower note. I wouldn’t have guessed that was possible.

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Murder

I have heard that Gregg Olsen is one of the best true crime writers. This story, starring Michelle " Shelly" Knotek, and her clueless third husband shows how they got away with torture and murder for years. My friend Anna read this and said it was one messed up book and I needed a break from fiction so I decided to shift gears and go back to my favorite thing’s true crime. I finished this 411-page book in three days so I can tell you it’s good. It is so good that I have to sit down and look at other true crime books Gregg Olson has written.

Shelly's daughters and nephew had no idea how evil she really was. She degraded them, broke them down, so they had no idea what was normal, or what she was truly capable of. With his mindless acceptance, compliance, and avoidance, David Knotek made her job much easier. He spent much of his life at work, only coming home on weekends. He mindlessly carried out whatever she said. Unbelievable. Her other 2 husbands left their children as sacrifices to get away from her. David wanted to see the best in her without seeing the damage she was causing even to him.
I can see this happening. The rest of us travel to the other side of the street to stay away from people like this. We sometimes see the damage but we don’t know how to help without causing more harm. The horrendous things they do and get away with, because no one gets close enough, blind and deaf to dysfunction and plain bizarre, because "She's crazy. " I'm sure there's teachers, neighbors, mailmen -and the coworkers -with stories that are just way out there. And likely if they had reported them, the police would've done exactly what they did when Nikki and Lara approached them. This story should make us all look a little closer. There are many more Kathy’s out there. More children need help much sooner than these three girls.
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Possible Triggers: Please be aware that is a true crime novel with some murders beyond gory,
I didn't realize it at the time that I picked up this book that it was a true story.... I should have since I have read Gregg Olsen's books before. Noone wants or should ever, in a million years... have a family like this one. In a nutshell it's the story of three abused sisters who helped to put their mother in prison. Nobody in this little Washington town seemed to even notice when a live-in babysitter vanished from the home of Dave and Shelly Knotek in the tiny town of Raymond, Washington, in 1994. Then two more of the family’s boarders disappeared, and Shelly’s three daughters suspected the frightening, unimaginable truth...the missing people had been murdered and they knew exactly who was responsible. Gregg Olsen writes the most amazing true-crime books, and this one is right up there at the top of the list. The half-sisters' fears proved justified after the older two went to the police. Shelly and Dave were arrested in 2003 and sent to prison for their roles in the deaths of the babysitter, Kathy Loreno and two others. It’s a really grim tale, told in short chapters, that highlights the sisters’ amazing courage, strength, and love for one another. For years, their mother, Shelly had inflicted abuses that bordered on. and then escalated into the realm of the sadistic on her boarders as well as her three daughters. Dave either helped or simply stood passively by. Loreno was drugged, beaten, starved, and subjected to a crude form of waterboarding using a torture devise composed from household items... and their other victims endured similar fates. Gregg Olsen had first-hand access to the three sisters, Dave Knotek, and a grandmother. Yet even his repetitive prose robs the victims’ stories of the emotional impact that they so deserved. On reflection I had to think that there was no way that anyone's mere words could possibly tell or make "normal" people understand what the victims had suffered through. Meeting the three sisters even through the written word gave us insight to their amazing resilience. Nikki is the strong-willed oldest; Sami, the middle child is the accommodating one; and Tori, the youngest was simply lost not understanding anything until she understood everything....and it nearly destroyed her. As for their mother, Shelly...she was every monster you can possibly think of, personified. There are almost no words that a normal person can think of that adequately describes her. In spite of all the gory details we are given...I still have to wonder how in the name of everything holy...in a town as small as Raymond where everyone tends to know everyone else’s business, did these horrific crimes go undetected for so long? ( )