Amateur Book Review - Please Tell Me by Mike Omer

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After a year in captivity, a kidnapped child escapes—only to reveal horrific truths that lead her psychologist on a race against time in this thriller from New York Times bestselling author Mike Omer.

When eight-year-old Kathy Stone turns up on the side of the road a year after her abduction, the world awaits her harrowing story. But Kathy doesn’t say a word. Traumatized by her ordeal, she doesn’t speak at all, not even to her own parents.

Child therapist Robin Hart is the only one who’s had success connecting with the girl. Robin has been using play therapy to help Kathy process her memories. But as their work continues, Kathy’s playtime takes a grim turn: a doll stabs another doll, a tiny figurine is chained to a plastic toy couch. All of these horrifying moments, enacted within a Victorian doll house. Every session, another toy dies.

But the most disturbing detail? Kathy seems to be playacting real unsolved murders.

Soon Robin wonders if Kathy not only holds the key to the murders of the past but if she knows something about the murders of the future. Can Robin unlock the secrets in Kathy’s brain and stop a serial killer before he strikes again? Or is Robin’s work with Kathy putting her in the killer’s sights?

Book Review: 

WOAH! I just finished Please Tell Me by Mike Omer, and I’m still reeling! This book had me hooked and I couldn’t put it down. It’s a rollercoaster of a thriller.

We jump right in with 8 year old Kathy a little girl without shoes trying to find her way home and thankfully meeting a stranger who helps. Kathy was kidnapped a year ago from her families home and somehow escaped. So is so traumatized that she can't speak so no one knows what happened to her or what she went through while gone. My heart just broke for her! 

Robin Hart is a child therapist who is hired to help Kathy process everything through play therapy. Not to try to find out what happened to her but to make her feel safe and get back to some sort of normalcy. Things get intense when Kathy starts acting out these creepy, violent scenes with her dolls that seem to connect to real murders. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how this little girl knows so much. Was it supernatural? I was excited to find out!

Omar does a great job of writing really relatable characters. Robin is such a heroin, not perfect, she’s got her own baggage (like a messy divorce and a tough relationship with her mom), but she’s so dedicated to helping Kathy, by not pushing and allowing the child to feel safe. The therapy scenes were so fascinating. I learned a lot about how therapists work with kids, and it felt authentic.   It made me root for her even more. Kathy’s mom, Claire, oh man!  Her flashbacks to the abduction had me tearing up. This is a parent's nightmare. 

The suspense in this book was incredible. I kept thinking I had the bad guy figured out, but then there’d be another twist, and I’d be like, “Nope! Wrong again!” The way Omer ties everything together at the end? Total shocker. I didn’t see it coming. I love when a book can surprise me like that. 

The COVID references were a bit heavy-handed but I agree that COVID changed everything and kids during COVID really suffered. 

This is definitely not a light read, so if you’re sensitive to child trauma, psychological trauma, blood and gore maybe check the trigger warnings first.

If you love thrillers that make your heart race pick this one up.