You Know What You Did: A Novel

In this thrilling debut for fans of Lisa Jewell and Celeste Ng, three generations of Vietnamese American women come to terms with nightmares past and present. . . .

Artist Annie Shaw seems to have it all: a dream career, a devoted husband, and a whip-smart teenage daughter. But when her mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie's carefully curated life starts to unravel. She's spent her adulthood trying to escape her difficult upbringing--raised by a single mother in small-town Ohio, isolated by poverty and race--and has tried her best to give her own daughter a completely different, idyllic childhood. But in the wake of her mother's death, Annie's obsessive-compulsive disorder--which she thought she'd vanquished years ago--comes roaring back, and this time, the disturbing fixations swirling around in Annie's brain might actually be coming true.

When a prominent art patron goes missing, the investigation zeroes in on Annie. Under mounting police scrutiny, she begins to question her own involvement in the disappearance. Is Annie somehow bringing her nightmares to life? Terrified for the safety of her family and friends, Annie pushes everyone away, only to wake up in a hotel room--naked, next to a lifeless body. The police have more questions, but with her mind increasingly fractured, Annie doesn't have answers. All she knows is this: She will do anything to protect her daughter--even if it means losing herself.

With dizzying twists, You Know What You Did is both a harrowing thriller and a heartfelt exploration of the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.