The darkest book I've ever read

If You Tell

by Gregg Olson

/ Rating ⭐⭐⭐/

If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olson is easily the darkest book I've ever read. 

Calling this book dark is saying something, too, because I've read a lot of Stephen King. Nothing in the horror master's extensive oeuvre even comes close to the horror depicted in this true crime book.

As I was reading it, I kept asking myself "Why am I even reading this horrifying stuff?" Of course, the answer was the same as Annie Wilkes' answer in Misery. I HAD to know what happened to these people. Did the perpetrator(s) get brought to justice? Did the victims escape the abuse? In the interest of remaining spoiler-free, I'm not saying what happened.

If the book affected me so profoundly, why did I only give it three stars? I thought the writing was simplistic and repetitive. I wish there had been more explanations of the psychology of the main perpetrator. How in the world did someone get so fucked up?

If you like true crime, and you can handle horrific stories of abuse, you might enjoy this book. I frequently revisit a book I've already read. I won't be doing that with this one.