Summary of If You Tell by Gregg Olsen: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

by Donna Johnson

DISCLAIMERThis book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.In this summarized book, you will • Chapter astute outline of the main contents.• Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis.• Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original bookThis book provides a detailed summary of the true crime book If You A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bonds of Sisterhood by Gregg Olson. Gregg Olson divides his book into parts, which divide the life of Shelly Knotek by the events that happened during different times in her life. At its core, If You Tell is the chilling true story of how three Knotek sisters, as well as their cousin-turned-brother Shane, dealt and lived with the abusive Shelly, and Dave, the passive husband who carried out his wife’s commands. Throughout their young lives, the sisters and Shane faced severe physical, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of their mother. After the abuse took place, Shelly would become a loving mother, and claim that she was helping her children. A tactic of Shelly’s was to act like a loving, caring mother so that her children would put up with the abuse in order to “earn” some happy moments with Shelly.

If You Tell is the retelling of grotesque events, and also delves into Shelly’s childhood, showing that Shelly was always an abusive, vile person, without any remorse or responsibility for her actions. Finally, If You A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood shows how Shelly Knotek faced justice for the crimes she committed. In a happy ending, Olsen shows how the abuse they faced throughout their lives brought the sisters closer and strengthened their bond.

Gregg Olson recounts the events in detail, never shying away from the bad or grotesque actions of Shelly Knotek. That is what makes it all the more satisfying when Shelly finally has to face justice at the end. The reader is left with a sense of justice, and with empathy for the sisters.

50 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2022

About the author

Donna M. Johnson grew up calling the once hugely popular tent preacher David Terrell "Daddy." She left his ministry for good at the age of seventeen and has not returned. She has written about religion for the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman. She was awarded a writing residency by the Ragdale Foundation (Lake Forest, IL) in Spring 2009 and won the Mayborn Creative Nonfiction Prize for this manuscript in progress in 2007. She lives in Austin with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.