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February 8, 2025

Novel Lives

Book Publicity, Book Reviews, And Author Interviews

Five Reasons To Read I Know What You Did By Cayce Osborne

I Know What You Did By Cayce Osborne- Summary

Goodreads summary of I Know What You Did By Cayce Osborne (review below):

When a bestselling novel fictionalizes the death of her childhood best friend—and accuses her of the murder—Petal Woznewski must figure out who wrote it and why. Truth and fiction collide in this captivating debut novel by Cayce Osborne.

Petal Woznewski is content with her quiet, introverted life in New York City: she has her junk food, her movies, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Gus. That peace is shattered when her name appears on the dedication page of an anonymously written thriller with a cryptic note: “I know what you did, Petal Woznewski. And now everyone else will, too.”

As she reads, Petal realizes the story is rooted in a secret she buried thirty years earlier when she was fourteen. A secret involving the tragic death of her friend, Megan. A secret that only one other person knows—their old friend, Jenny. Armed with a copy of the book and her own suspicions, Petal returns to her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. There, she discovers more questions than answers. Jenny has disappeared, and Petal’s old high school crush, Ben, doesn’t know anything about the book—at least not anything he’s telling.

As sinister clues pile up and the thriller’s plot detours dangerously from the facts, Petal has no choice but to confront her past and solve the mystery of who wrote it—before her very real life ends as tragically as the novel.

I Know What You Did By Cayce Osborne- Review

Five Reasons you MUST read I Know What You Did by Cayce Osborne:

I Read I Know What You Did In HOURS

Let me repeat that. I read Cayce Osborne’s I Know What You Did in hours. Not in a day but in HOURS. I Know What You Did is so fascinating, well-written, and nail-biting that I could not stop listening. It was impossible. I had a jones for this book. Seriously, every time I had to pause it? All I could think about was getting back to it.

The Snark Level… And Writing Quality Is High

Trust and believe… or don’t. Cayce Osborne doesn’t think you should

“Believe me I don’t normally read books about teenage girls…” Anyone who says trust me or believe me cannot be trusted or believed. And you can trust me on that.

Truly, though, I could pull quotes all the live long day that make this dark thriller snarky and fun.

Substitute gynecologists are the worst… “Maybe because I have a 14 year-old daughter of my own <re: reading a YA book>” May the patron saint of teenage girls protect her.

But that isn’t all Cayce Osborne can write. Hell no. Her overall writing, from the snarky to the dark, to the thrilling, is written like a perfectly cooked souffle.

Sometimes the stories we tell ourselves become more real than the truth.

Summary Review

Thank you to Dreamscape Audio and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced audio of I Know What You Did by Cayce Osborne, which releases on July 18th.

Cayce Osborne Wrote Two Books In One… And It Works

Since I Know What You Did is based on the release of a YA novel that hits the bestseller list and is based on an incident years in the past, we get to hear Cayce Osborne’s brilliant writing in not just an adult psychological thriller but the shift to extensive excerpts of a YA Thriller. And she makes those shifts seamlessly. Moreover, the structure of when the excerpts begin, and end collide to make it feel like a larger roller-coaster ride rather than feeling forced.

Write What You Know

Cayce Osborne sticks with what the characters know in both the YA Thriller and the current timeline. The author of the YA Thriller writes what they know and/or perceive to know about the long-ago incident. In the current timeline, Petal’s narratives and actions are based on what she knows. Whether that is based on her memories of that night or in the moment, she stays with what she knows. This keeps the reader in suspense during both parts of the book. You know what the YA Thriller and Petal know, and sometimes you know more than they know. But, the actions of Petal match her knowledge of the current situation. While the YA Thriller sticks with what the author knows and their intentions. This causes a vice grip on you as you read.

Let’s Talk About The Narrator, Hillary Huber

It is no secret that I absolutely adore Hillary Huber (see the interview and top ten narrator list– both linked). She is perfect, and I do mean the perfect narrator for I Know What You Did. She has a gift for dark snark, multiple characters, and thrillers. She can bring across dark humor without it ever being silly or taking away from the psychological thriller part of the plot. Hillary Huber can switch from dark humor to terrifying at the drop of a dime. Moreover, she can even combine the two to blow the story off the page. In narrating I Know What You Did, this remains the case. BRAVA!


There are many more reasons to read Cayce Osborne’s I Know What You Did. From the darkness of childhood trauma to the walls we put up as adults and the fascinating mystery, I Know What You Did is a summer must-read. Tell me if you plan to read it, or when you have, come back to this review and let me know what you think!

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