Book Review: If You Knew Me by S.P. Miskowski
Title: If You Knew Me
Author: S.P Miskowski
Release date: September 23, 2025
*Huge thank you to S.P. for sending me an advanced digital copy of this one!*
Fandom.
Six letters that when put together in that way form a work that seems to hold so much more weight than it should. I should know. As – perhaps – the world’s most prominent fan of Canadian author Andrew Pyper, I’ve seen the stereotypical idea of how people view fandom with almost every single Pyper post I make. And I get it. Stephen King’s Misery set the table for what horrible rabid fandom can look like and with the rise in stalking and obsession that has seemingly ramped up over the last decade (which I presume is directly related to the proliferation of social media), I understand why people post Annie Wilkes memes/gifs or send them via DM’s when I post stuff.
And that perfectly highlights the double-edged sword of fandom. There’s an expectation now that people go too far, that people grow obsessed and with unchecked mental health issues often associated with extreme fandom, not only does it become an expectation, but it also becomes an ‘I told you so’ mentality after the fact.
Case in point is ‘If You Knew Me.’ This book is a powerful examination of what unchecked mental health issues multiplied by obsessive fandom looks like. It reminded me a lot of the movie ‘The Fan,’ which starred Robert de Niro and Wesley Snipes. If you’ve not seen it, I highly recommend you do.
In that movie, it’s a fan obsessed with a sports star. In this book, it’s a fan obsessed with a former TV star. And with the way this one unfolds, Miskowski does a phenomenal job of unsettling us readers.
What I liked: The book follows Parker, a recently unemployed woman who longs to be a writer, but hasn’t found that story yet. While housesitting at her aunt’s place, who formerly owned a large online magazine company, she finds a story pitch that was sent in and unopened. Inside, she finds Ann Mason’s story, detailing something she did as a teen, something awful, but she only told one other person – the former lead in a short-lived detective show that she loves.
From there, Parker travels to Ann’s place in Arizona in the hopes of interviewing her. Once there, Ann’s left and Parker begins to find cracks in Ann’s story.
Miskowski deftly interweaves Ann’s dictated storyline with Parker’s interviewing of those around Ann – a neighbour, a former employer – and it works far more efficiently than a lot of mixed media/epistolary style books have for me. It allows the reader to effectively see the chaos inside Ann’s head, while also connecting with Parker.
The first half of the book smoothly rolls along. But the second half. The second half is a full sprint towards an ending that seems foretold but unexpected. I kind of knew what would be coming, but all the while Miskowski kept things so schizophrenic on Ann’s side, that I just didn’t know for sure, wasn’t 100% in what I thought I knew and that amplified the tension.
The ending/epilogue was also a really great use of mixed media but also a snarky look at online commenting and internet trolls.
What I didn’t like: There were two things of note for me. The first was that it took me a minute to get into the epistolary aspect of the novel. I often struggle with storytelling in this style and it took a bit for my brain to get on board.
The second was that there’s a bit later on about Parker’s grandma that is necessary to the story and Parker’s narrative, but for me at least, it seemed to take some steam off the train that was thundering down the track.
Why you should buy this: I for one can’t wait to see this book all over Tik Tok. I can’t imagine this won’t be in every second video about what psychological thrillers had the poster up all night finishing it. This is a book that could be categorized very easily as ‘propulsive.’ It never lets up, never allows you to take a breather to figure out all the chess pieces that are moving in the background and the fact that Miskowski describes a half dozen episodes so fully of a fake TV show shows the depth and detail that go into everyone of her novels.
This one is a taut, nerve-wracking thriller that absolutely blew me away and reinforces why Miskowski is a living legend. Get on this one, you’ll not be disappointed.
