Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

45 reviews

kelly_e's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

Title: If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood
Author: Gregg Olsen
Genre: True Crime
Rating: 4.0
Pub Date: December 1 2019

T H R E E • W O R D S

Disturbing • Shocking • Haunting

📖 S Y N O P S I S

If You Tell is the real-life horror story of three sisters who endured years of torture and abuse at hands of their very own mother, Shelly. It delves deep into their lives as Shelly manipulated and controlled everyone in her life. It's a story of dark family secrets, the power of denial and the unbreakable bond of sisters.

💭 T H O U G H T S

There's always something about true crime that interests me. Having studied psychology, I am fascinated by the human brain and often drawn to stories for the psychological sides of things. This book was definitely one of those where I had a million questions going through my mind as to why and how something so horrifying could happen.

When it comes to content it is certainly not an easy read to stomach, and yet it reads very well structurally. I was gripped from the very first pages, and although the pace seemed to tag three-quarters of the way through, it kept my interest. Olsen has done a fantastic job pulling together pieces of both the past and the present. It is clearly evident he has done a tremendous amount of research in putting this book together.

While there were certainly times when I had to put this book down just to give my mind a break or because I was absolutely blogged by the horrific events that took place, the bond between the three sisters offered a glimpse of hope. I wanted nothing more for these three girls to be able to find happiness and safety in life after facing such evil for much of their first twenty years. This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed learning about this story and was absolutely shocked to learn Shelly will be released next year after all she has done.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• True crime fans
• Psychology students

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"She knew that Shelly was searching high and low for her, and that thought of her mother coming to get her made Sami sick inside. Even so, the hold her family had on her was like a leg trap and she was some animal out in the woods."

"I loved my mother because I didn’t know I had a choice. I had to love her." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence, Blood, and Excrement

avidlywriting's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

The story catalogues the escalation of someone's sadistic need to manipulate and torture people, whether it be strangers or family. Over the years it highlights, there are instances where this behavior isn't addressed by authority figures, but swept under the rug. Thus allowing the perpetrator to continue their abuse for decades unchecked. It's a detailed retelling of her crimes from the victims' perspective. So this book may not be for everyone if they're extremely empathetic/sympathetic. Approach with caution and read at your own pace with your metal health in mind. It's a very interesting story, and gives a peak inside to the mind of a monster. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys true crime stories and is able to handle explicit descriptions of abuse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

e_sisack's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

ryuk's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt