Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Short Summary
Many have perhaps forgotten the story of the Knoteks (or never heard of it, since it happened in the early 2000s), but Gregg Olsen is certainly here to rectify that with his true crime hit book, If You Tell. In it, he follows the lives of Nikki, Sami and Tori Knotek, who have the misfortune of being daughters to an insanely evil and psychotic mother, Michelle, whose crimes made all the national headlines back in 2004.
Table of contents
Gregg Olsen Exposes a Morbid Tapestry
Despite what some movies and television shows would like us to think, terrible people who commit unspeakable crimes while living right under our noses aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. As a matter of fact, whenever such a person is discovered, they make national headlines for weeks, months, if not years after, as we wonder in dismay how it was possible for them to fool everyone. Though sometimes their stories disappear, with his true crime book If You Tell, Gregg Olsen has ensured the story of the Knoteks would be brought back to the forefront.
At this point, I would wager that a large number of people remember nothing about the Knotek case because they were too young at the time, or have never even had the chance to get acquainted with it. Their story took place in the heart of America and left the nation shocked by not only the cruelty, but also the sheer nature of their crimes.
More precisely, If You Tell focuses on Michelle‘s three daughters who were forced to live under her roof, enduring untold amounts of physical and psychological abuse. Their names are Nikki, Sami and Tori Knotek, and they grew up boiling in her cauldron of sadism, largely keeping their stories to themselves, at least until this book came along.
The book recounts in vivid detail the terrifying and harrowing experiences the three girls have had to endure while growing up in a house of horrors, while also reminding the world about the crimes committed by Michelle and David (her husband) Knotek, who by the way, were released back into society in 2022 and 2016 respectively. Perhaps they aim to start quiet new lives in a world which has moved on from their story, but it’s one that should never be forgotten.
Gregg Olsen traces the path walked by the three sisters from innocent, tortured victims to mighty and resilient survivors, how they ultimately ended up finding the strength to escape a situation which ended up leading to quite a few murders, and this, once again, right under the noses of trusting American folk who didn’t believe something like this was possible in their nation… or at least, they didn’t want to believe.
A Tale of Resilience in If You Tell
When it comes to writing true crime books, I think it takes a lot of class, talent and finesse to prevent oneself from devolving the book into a collection of shocking moments which bank on naturalism to elicit reactions from their readers. While imaginary crimes can be bad, real ones always seem to draw from a much darker and deeper well of suffering, and in writing about them, one needs to be careful not to fall into the well themselves.
In the case of If You Tell, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that Gregg Olsen knew how to trod the line between too much and not enough real horror. On one hand, he does give us the appropriate information for us to be able to know and picture everything about the crimes and the people involved in them. On the other, he never over-emphasizes this part of his book, often focusing back on the three sisters.
More than a tale of an insane mother and her terrible crime spree, this book is a story of human resilience, of the ability we have to overcome evil, even if never given a chance to do so. Despite growing up the way they did, none of the sisters turned out like their mother, and they all managed to develop feelings of compassion and morality while growing up in a world which had none.
While some of you might be a little tired of these tales of resilience (considering how many have popped up recently), I do think this one is very much worth reading for the depth of the psychological analysis offered by the author, as well as the precision with which he lays out the events shaping the three sisters’ psyches.
Additionally, I don’t think the world can ever be short of stories, especially true ones, which remind us of what we can accomplish and the impossible odds we tend to find ways of overcoming. We need real examples to inspire ourselves not to give up and keep on with our own struggles, especially when they begin to seem trivial in light of the ones we’re learning about.
The Psychology of Ignoring Evil
Moving past that, for those who are indeed interested in the study of the bad as much as the good, rest assured that If You Tell dives quite deep into Michelle‘s actions and Gregg Olsen draws everything he can from the decades of literature and studies about the case. However, he doesn’t overstep his bounds, and leaves it up to us to draw our own conclusions about the natures of the people he’s writing about.
There is one particularly surprising aspect (although, I suppose, I should have probably seen it coming) to the Knotek case which, I’m certain, surprised Olsen as much as it surprised me: the amount of people who knew something about it but said nothing at all, allowing the evil to keep on turning its gears for years and years on end.
This propensity of ours to remain individualists when it’s personally-convenient, of closing our eyes to what others do with their freedoms so long as it doesn’t impact us directly, is perhaps one of humanity’s greatest flaws. It’s an understandable one, and it’s not too difficult to see how a sense of personal preservation led to its development, but perhaps with all the security offered by modern society, it’s time to start letting it go.
Are the people who ignore the crimes, or signs of them, just as guilty as the ones perpetrating them? Witness accounts have made it rather clear people had ideas of what was happening on the godforsaken ranch, and in some cases, very clear ideas leaving no room for interpretation. How much suffering could have been spared had they spoken up about it? Could lives have been saved? Their inaction is explicable, but is it justifiable?
It’s up to each of us to find our own answers to these ages-old questions, and that is perhaps one of this book’s strongest qualities. Gregg Olsen doesn’t pass ultimate judgment, displaying the his facts and insights before us, urging us to do some thinking, an art increasingly lost in a world ruled by incessant bombardments of short-form entertainment. I’ll always praise authors, and individuals in general, who push us to think for ourselves.
| PAGES | PUBLISHER | PUB. DATE | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 429 | Thomas & Mercer | December 1 2019 | 978-1542005234 |
The Final Verdict
If You Tell by Gregg Olsen is a powerful work of true crime, bringing to the forefront a story which remains current but was forgotten for a while (the survivors and perpetrators are still alive and living free), putting the emphasis on the inspiring stories of the victims as much as the rotten inner worlds of their assailants. Additionally, it pushes the reader towards some deeper reflections about human nature and our reactions as witnesses of evil.
If you’re interested in true crime, are searching for information about the Knotek case, or simply like the idea of reading a true story of human resilience and ultimate comeuppance (which perhaps may have been light, all things considered), then I strongly recommend you give this book a read, you won’t be disappointed!
