"I know what she's thinking: she can throw me to the monsters, and then she can get away. Even a little kid knows what adults will do to escape danger." 

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole was a mind-boggling read. The protagonist has dissociative identity disorder and the story is being told through the points of view of the different "headmates". Cole's writing style in this one is very slow paced but from the very beginning I was intrigued. Cole's writing is very descriptive and I didn't realize I was in dual timelines until I was deep down the rabbit hole of this one. Reading this one was disorienting because you're in the characters' head the whole time and the genre bending makes you question what is real, what is imagined and what could possibly be a memory. In the beginning, I was a little confused but after a while the voices of each headmate became more distinct. This is one you really have to be in the right head space to read and stay committed to until the very end. The peeling back of memories and making sense of what it's like to live with DID requires the slow unraveling that shapes Cole's writing in this one. I haven't read anything quite like this one before and it really forced me to stretch my attention and imagination. I threw some noise canceling headphones on and listened to sounds of nature in order to tune out the world and fully pay attention to every detail. It really made my reading experience so much more immersive.

If you are looking for a mystery that will bend your brain in the strangest ways, then give this one a try. I recommend this one for readers who enjoy or are interested in:
🧠 Dissociative Identity Disorder & Neuodiversity
🧠 Trauma, Memory & Coping Mechanisms
🧠 Queerness & Homophobia
🧠 Privilege & public persona
🧠 Slow burn whodunit mysteries set in NYC
🧠 Unreliable narrators & multiple POV's
🧠 Suicidal ideations/ attempts & protective factors
🧠 Stories set during COVID pandemic & its affect on mental health
🧠 The righteousness of anger

Thanks to @williammorrowbooks and @cocoachapters for the gifted copy and opportunity to be on tour for this one.