Book reviewed by Chris J Kenworthy, for Armadillo magazine.
‘I Know You Did It’ is a story about Ruby, a teenager who has just moved into a new home and is starting at a new school. She’s shown around her new school by Georgia, and her friend Amber. Everything is going well on her first day as she settles into her new school. That is, until she finds an anonymous, threatening note on her school locker saying “I Know You Did It.”
We learn that a terrible event had happened when Ruby was younger – the death of another toddler – and she’s felt responsible ever since. Ruby has felt guilty all these years, but she thought she had been the only one who knew. Now though, it transpires that someone else at her new school also knows.
Rumours soon spread around the school like wildfire, and we find Ruby at the centre of attention. It could not have been a worse start to her life at a new school. It is breaking news for the school newspaper, and trends on the school’s social media accounts.
Soon, Ruby becomes the victim of bullying as well, and although we see her being resilient to the onslaught of abuse, emotionally the bullying takes its toll on her, and as a reader we begin to feel empathy for her plight.
As a narrative, ‘I Know You Did It’ reads in the first person, so we are seeing the story through Ruby’s eyes and from her perspective. It is like we, as the readers, are reading her personal diary, and discovering her innermost thoughts and feelings as her new bullies – one by one – also wind up dead. Ruby becomes the prime suspect as she is framed for their murders, and it is up to Ruby to solve the puzzle before it is too late.
In ‘I Know You Did It,’ author Sue Wallman has woven together a brilliant page-turner that keeps its readers guessing at every point. While some scenes may be of a sensitive nature to younger readers, it is a gripping story for teenagers, and is well worth a read.
Stowmarket Reporter 