Don't I Know You?

by Karen Shepard

Multiple lacerations and stab wounds. No evidence of forced entry. The possibility of sexual assault. Crimes such as these are almost always committed by someone the victim knows well. In 1976 in New York City, Gina Engel was murdered in her front hall. The police believed the victim had known her attacker. But they had few suspects, and as time went on, the case remained unsolved. Yet the suspicions of those who knew Gina both intimately and from a distance continue to plague them. Gina's son, Steven, discovered the body and caught only a fleeting glimpse of the killer as he fled. If only , he wonders again and again. As Lily Chin prepares for her upcoming wedding, her life is irrevocably changed when a mysterious woman appears to inform her of her fiancé's secret life -- a life that may have included Gina Engel. And more than a decade later Louise Carpanetti, the woman who received a call from the dying Gina, finally acknowledges that her own emotionally disturbed son may have committed the gruesome murder. As long as the murderer's identity remains a mystery, all three must forever call into question the nature of the people closest to them. Don't I Know You? is an intricate and devastating psychological drama told in three separate but interconnected narratives. Together those narra-tives unfold into a mystery that absorbs and thrills, and lay out an examination of the human heart that is quietly dazzling in its emotional intelligence and elegant understatement. Shepard's vision of how a murder's effect reverberates outward inspires us to understand the limitations of intimate knowledge and the extraordinary capacities of the people we think we know best, even as it shows us how we repair those bonds and prepare ourselves to go on.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, New York, Contemporary

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Karen Shepard is a Chinese-American born and raised in New York City. She is the author of three novels, An Empire of Women, The Bad Boy's Wife, and, most recently, Don't I Know You? Her short fiction has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Bomb, Failbetter, Glimmertrain, Mississippi Review, and Southwest Review, among others. Her nonfiction has appeared in Self, USA Today, and The Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story, as well as other anthologies. She has received the William Goyen-Doris Roberts Fellowship for Fiction from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, won Honorable Mentions in Best American Short Stories 1995, 2002 and 2004, was a National Magazine Award Finalist in 2002, and was a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in 2002. She teaches writing and literature at Williams College in Williamstown, MA, where she lives with her husband, novelist Jim Shepard, their three children and their one very strange dog.

Reviews

[Carly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible waste of time. The plot went in several directions from multiple points of view and built up to a potentially amazing ending. However, the ending was one of the worst and most frustrating I've ever experienced. Nothing was revealed. It's like the author couldn't figure out how to tie everything together and just gave up, pretending that that strategy was extra artsy and cool. Not cool. Not even a little. I was furious - don't waste your time.

[Dystopian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really went back and forth over what to rate this book. The first half is so well written, and the last quarter. The language and imagery are wonderful.

So...why one star? Well, because it's just patched together. The whole thing deals with the murder, but you're left not knowing who did it, why Nikolai went and stole her diary, why the police charged the ex-husband (and if he was convicted or not)....etc., etc., etc.

Perhaps you're meant to just read it and enjoy the skill that is apparent in the writing, without wanting any conclusions or anything drawn together. I, unfortunately, couldn't look past all the hanging threads.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a fine hybrid of mystery and literary character-driven fiction. Three distinct narratives that connect through the neighborhood and through a handful of eccentric characters. Karen Shepard has a lovely crisp voice with great clarity - we see and feel what is happening - and she ties the story line together neatly, although without contrivance. Somewhere or someone tipped me off to the book, which was published in 2006, and I recommend highly for anyone who prefers a more subtle history with great character development.

[Nell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite confusing for most of the story. I would assume the last section was to tie the entire mystery together, but somehow did not do that.

[Abbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is awful. Everything is wrong with it. From the writing, to the characters, the plot, and the “twists”. I have no idea how this author managed to get this garbage published.

[Gilberto]

Shepard’s purpose in writing her book, Don’t I know you?, is to make the reader to really pay close attention to details especially at the end of the book. Don’t I know you? Is a piece where mystery is the main theme. This book is an example of overcoming a problem from someone who lost his family. It’s really inspirational for young people. It makes the reader to reread the book because there are many facts that are not clear at all. It’s a book for fans of mystery and ambiguous books.
Don’t I know you? is really well written. However is hard to understand because the reader has to pay attention to details or reread the chapter in order to comprehend. The author also gives specific details to the reader. For example when the main character sees that some guys are killing her mom, he describes the environment as "Outside, it was getting darker. Inside too. He was crying"(Shepard). This means that the night was coming and he was shock at the same time. This example is just one of many where the author describes everything that is going on with the character and the environment.
This book in some way was really captivating. The mystery in this book is unlike any other mystery told in other mystery books. The reader would be confused while reading that book. This is book makes many people to have the necessity to read it two times to understand it. This book is a good example of inspiration because this kid saw her mom being killed and he tried to overcome the problem. This book is really dramatic and ambiguous.
The greatest strength of the book is that the author gives the most insignificant detail. “She was on her side. Her bottom leg was straight. Her top one was bent. One arm was stretched above her”(Shepard 3). In this quote she try to give specific detail about the characters. The greatest weakness of the book is that sometimes it’s not clear at all what the character are doing or what their emotions are. For example after her mother was killed he was talking with the detective where the narrator says that “Steven insides felt like he had a fever, but when he touched his cheek, his skin was cool. It was like he was touching someone else’s head”(Shepard 15).
I would recommend this book to people who really pay close attention to details and really understand mystery. I would also recommend the book to people who like mystery. To understand the book the reader need to be careful with every single detail. This book is a really good mystery. It really helped me to understand that the most insignificant detail can make the difference.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting murder mystery written first from the perspective of the murder victim's 12 year old son, then wrapped around other lives in the neighborhood.

Gina Engel was brutally murdered in her New York City apartment in the summer of 1976. Her son, Stephen, coming home from a day playing with friends, finds his mother's body lying in the hallway of their home. Could the murderer have been Gina's current boyfriend, Phil; Stephen's abscent father; an ex-boyfriend? It's determined only that it was someone that Gina knew. Stephen caught only a glimpse of a man in green Adidas tennis shoes leaving through an open window. The story stays with Stephen throughtout the first week of the investigation and up until the time when his father comes to take him to San Diego and a whole new life.
Next, two years later with the murder still unsolved, we meet Lily Chin. Lily is engaged to Nick, a wealthy landowner. A strange woman brings it to Lily's attention that her fiance' may have a secret life that was once tangled up with Gina Engel's. Is he a dangerous man or the man that Lily thinks she knows?
Fast forward ten years to the fall of 1988. Louise Carpanetti and her son, Michael, live in the same building that Gina was killed in years ago. Michael is a slow, emotionally-disturbed man who used to water Gina's plants when she was away and had a relationship with her son, Stephen. Louise had recieved a phone call from Gina as she had lain dying. She has always had suspicions that she has kept to herself about her own son. Is it time to come forward?

I thought this book was done quite well, but was left a little disappointed with the ending. All three voices were done well and we got to know the people involved intimately, but the very last chapter that held the answer was too short and lacked the depth of the rest of the novel. I felt that it ended very abruptly.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, but a lot packed into a small book: characters who do/don't know each other, their lives intertwined over several years of living on the same block in New York City. In three long sections and one short one the truth is gradually revealed about the murder of Gina, a young single mother. Told from three points of view: Gina's young son, a Chinese American preschool teacher, and a neighbor lady who thinks her son committed the murder. Each one of them gets only part of it right, but most of it wrong. I would read this again.

[Terri Epp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book describing the crime scene and her son's reactions and thoughts about her death but then the book seems to fall apart. It seems very disjointed as she introduces people who knew the victim and their interconnectedness. It is through a vague quote in the book that is repeated at the end that you figure out who the killer was but no motive or reason. Very disappointing ending.

[Elisabeth Marnik · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book until the end. Then I wanted to throw it across a room. I have an idea of what might have happened but I like a but more closure. That being said in real life closure may never come so in reality maybe the ending was brilliant. Either way not the best book I've read so far this year but I did enjoy most of it.

[Shay Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of writing a review of any kind intimidates me. Don't I know You? won me over with its characterisation. Breathtaking in its sensitivity and depth, I continue to wonder what rock I've been living under all this time. Thankfully, Shepard provides an answer - life's uncertainty and randomness. Read the last sentence yesterday, restarted the first again today.

[Hawthorn Mineart · Rating 4 out of 5]

It a very quick read, (I finished it in an afternoon) but not a throw-away mass-market thriller. It's gripping and when you finally figure out whodunnit (probably) you walk away both satisfied and disturbed.

[Susan Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting! Written in an unusual way in that each section is told from the point of view of a different character at a different point in time. Very clever and somewhat complex. Did not for a moment figure it out!

[Kristy McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intricately-written mystery, and study of relationships/family. I liked the change in POV as the story progressed. Bits and pieces of plot overlapped, from different perspectives, adding to the challenge of figuring out whodunnit.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. Multiple points of view, jumps of a decade or so, and yet nicely cohesive. Part of me thinks it will stand up well to a re-read, and part of me doesn't want to risk disappointment.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok if you don't mind your endings NOT tidily wrapped up.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatively easy read although I did go back and read different parts to keep track of the timeline and character interactions. Nicely tied together all the stories perspectives.

[Keshia Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The least likely people are capable of the most unexpected things.”

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so baffled by the negative reviews of this book! No, things are not spelled out and tied up in a tidy bow like most mysteries; Ms. Shepard’s writing style is more sophisticated than that. Instead, she drops rather subtle clues all the way through the book, from cover to the last chapter. In fact, by the end of the book it’s apparent who the killer is if you’ve paid attention to the details throughout (I was surprised to read so many reviews that didn’t think the killer was revealed by the end!).

I loved this book. I loved the subtlety of it, the wide cast of doubt scattered throughout, the uncertainty. It was an accurate capture of life: from Steven being in shock and watching people watch him, feeling completely outside of the world; to Lily being entranced in the danger of her relationship, unable to release herself from something bad for her that feels so good; to Louise coming to terms with being a mother who is aware she’s failed her son. The cast of characters felt real to me, their movements through their shock, turmoil, or grief felt lived-through by the author in the wholeness and authenticity she was able to depict. This world was shown, not told, succinctly and intentionally.

I wish I could find more books like this, I’d devour them.

[Wilma Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, contrary to the last couple of books that got three stars when I meant 2.5, this got three when I meant 3.5. “Don’t I Know You” is a mystery with some modest (very modest) suspense. At first it seems to be about a boy whose mother is murdered and how he handles it and how he perceives who it might be and what he does — or doesn’t do — about it. Then, the story flips forward a year and a half in time and focuses on a whole new, seemingly unrelated character. As that part of the tale moves along, you begin to see threads of connection. And then, there’s a third part, focusing on another character. It’s an interesting tactic the author uses — switching focus but tying the threads together in unexpected ways. Keeps the reader on her toes.
There’s a lot of good stuff in here story wise and the writing is smooth, and it’s definitely provocative how she changes the reader’s idea of suspect from one part to the next. I’m not sure I was satisfied by the ending, but I also think had she ended it differently, it might have lost something. An intriguing story, for sure.

[C.M. Chafin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not particularly enjoy this book. The writing was fine, you could definitely tell the switch between narrators, but I was more interested in the stories not being told to completion than the story itself. And then the ending; there wasn't really a lead-up to it? Nice twist, I suppose, but no reasoning is given or anything...it just happened. Like at the beginning of the last chapter. I guess it was supposed to represent violence for violence's sake? There wasn't really enough leading up. All of the main story was very confusing and I'm just sitting here like is Phil a molester? Did Lily eventually get killed by her abusive husband Nikolai? And why did Matthew kill Gina? Definitely left with more questions than actual plot.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

You think these individual’s stories are somehow linked together at the end to reveal what has happened. Unfortunately, even though they are somewhat linked there are also characters that are not. In my opinion l, it never truly links the stories together. The author could have reached the same conclusion with one person’s story. The rest of the book is irrelevant information and was a waste of time reading it.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t figure out where this book was going because it went several ways at once. And then the ending ...what a let down. Nothing came together to make sense. This book was a waste of my time, don’t waste yours!

[Jenni · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made no sense. I generally enjoy mysteries that loop around and show you various characters and events that seem unrelated and eventually the author weaves them together. That did not happen in this book.

[Falina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this, but I found the ending disappointing. It didn't have that satisfying "pop" I was hoping for. Without a neat ending, the book ended up feeling amorphous.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was lovely, the characters interesting but the ending both confusing and disappointing.

[Bookaddict · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who killed Gina?!?! 🤷🏽‍♀️😩😔🤔

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be what I would call a jumble. The story and especially the characters were hard to keep track of and hard to differentiate their voices. The book is a quick read but not worth the time in my opinion.

[Hanan Ryberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

En besvikelse. Målande beskrivningar av personer och miljöer men händelsefattig och handlingen är svag.