WE THOUGHT WE KNEW YOU BY M. WILLIAM PHELPS

1/9/2021

M. William Phelps is a master when it comes to the true crime genre and I'm always looking forward to his next release. This book certainly held my attention while reminding me why I enjoy this genre so much. I highly recommend it.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: December 29, 2020
Genre: True Crime
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 336 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

In this chilling true-crime thriller by New York Times bestselling journalist M. William Phelps, a woman’s mysterious death in upstate New York plunges her family into a nightmare of backstabbing and vengeance . . .

In July 2015, Mary Yoder returned home from the chiropractic center that she operated with her husband, Bill, complaining that she felt unwell. Mary, health-conscious and vibrant, was suddenly vomiting, sweating, and weak. Doctors in the ER and ICU were baffled as to the cause of her rapidly progressing illness. Her loved ones—including Bill and their children, Adam, Tamryn, and Liana—gathered in shock to say goodbye.

In the weeks that followed Mary’s death, the grief-stricken family received startling news from the medical examiner: Mary had been deliberately poisoned. The lethal substance was colchicine, a

chemical used to treat gout but extremely toxic if not taken as prescribed. Mary did not have gout. Another bombshell followed when the local sheriff’s office received a claim that Adam Yoder had poisoned his mother. But Adam was not the only person of interest in the case.

Pretty and popular Kaitlyn Conley, Adam’s ex-girlfriend, worked at the Yoders’ clinic. She’d even been at Mary’s bedside during those last terrible hours. Still, some spoke of her talent for manipulation and a history of bizarre, rage-fueled behavior against anyone who dared to reject her.

Had Kaitlyn and Adam conspired to kill Mary Yoder, or was the killer someone else entirely?

In another twist, accusations were hurled at Bill Yoder himself, ricocheting blame in still another direction . . .

Renowned investigative journalist M. William Phelps details this incredible story piece by piece, revealing a heartless plan of revenge—a scheme that would tear a family apart, divide a community, and result in two gripping, high-profile trials.

PURCHASE A COPY

AMAZON PRINT | AMAZON KINDLE | LISTEN WITH AUDIBLE

READ MY BOOK REVIEW

My Rating: 5 Stars
Genre True Crime

There is no doubt about it; M. William Phelps is one of my FAVORITE true crime authors. Phelps has a knack for not only drawing his readers into the tumultuous and sometimes stomach-churning crime novels, but for also giving every single detail of the case that’s important. As he mentions in this one, we all form out own opinions. However, our opinions don’t negate the facts. What he does is present every single piece of the murder puzzle (for lack of a better word) so we can actually SEE and ACKNOWLEDGE all the pieces that lead to the figuring out the true culprit. It’s hugely impressive. Whenever I read a true crime novel, I always think to myself “this has GOT to be one of the hardest genres to write in because these authors have to dig into thousands of pages of testimonies, statements, and everything else in order to put together a picture of the murder or crime.” It’s intense! Bravo to Phelps for not only doing this work (that couldn’t have been easy anyway) but presenting it to us in a way that it makes SENSE. This my friends, is an exceptional novel and I look forward to many of his books in the future. I’ve read just about every one of his books and I am a huge fan!

Now I’ll get into the things I think really worked for this book (what I loved) and some of the things that could have been done better or changes (my dislikes).

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞

📝 Phelps presents all the facts surrounding the case in a way that readers can see BOTH sides (i.e. what’s happening within the family and what’s going on with the perpetrator). I think the way he presents the facts are fascinating, easy to follow, and perfect for this type of book.

📝 Phelps PROVES the case. He lays everything out while also giving us the court room transcripts (or pieces of them I should say) making everything come full circle. He doesn’t miss a single important thing that needs to be in a book like this.

📝 Phelps uses care and discusses the victim as she SHOULD BE. This isn’t just a story about the crime. It’s a story about the woman who lost her life and how it changed everyone. I hate when the focus of a true crime novel deviates from the person who was killed and that doesn’t happen here.

📝 The book is compulsively readable. It’s so intriguing and you WANT to know the answers so bad that you continue reading despite the time. I love a book that can take over and this one did that! When my son gets a little older, I’m going to have him read these books because I KNOW he’ll find them to be awesome!

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞

📝 Sometimes with true crime novels you can tell that the author is taking sides and its pretty clear in this one that Phelps took the side of the victim’s family. While I DO COMPLETELY AGREE that they had nothing to do with it I think its important for an author of true crime to remain impartial throughout the story. This wasn’t the case here.

📝 Some of the information was redundant. If the author or publisher could clean up the story a but and get rid of the redundancies (we don’t need to hear about the exact same fights 4 or 5 times) then readers may be keen to listen to what’s going on rather than rolling their eyes.

𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗧 𝗨𝗣

If you’re a true crime junkie like me then you need to read a book by M. William Phelps (this one included). He writes about fascinating cases and presents everything to his reader in a timely fashion. While some of the stuff was a little redundant, I realize that since I’ve read so many of his novels that I look through it. Some readers may not feel the same but that’s me! I highly recommend this one!

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐