Podcasts are omnipresent these days, with about a zillion different themes for their topics, none more popular than true crime. In his new novel, Tell Me What You Did, Colorado author Carter Wilson takes a different spin on both the podcast and thriller worlds to build an intriguing work of fiction that I couldn’t put down.

Carter Wilson

Poe Webb, the book’s main character, is the host of a podcast called “Tell Me What You Did.” Guests call in and anonymously tell some dark secret they want to unburden themselves of, and while Poe has lines that she won’t cross (like no harm to animals), there are boundless secrets floating around, hers included. Callers must follow a list of strict rules, and they do so understanding that Poe can’t protect them beyond providing anonymity on her show. People love to share and they enjoy the heady taste of fame—or infamy in this case—even more, lending the podcast plenty of juicy material.

Then someone calls in with a rather bland story to start. They can’t all be winners, but this guy has a little something extra up his sleeve.

He claims to be the man that killed Poe’s mother when Poe was just a child. But that’s impossible, for reasons only Poe knows.

The caller wants to come on her show again, this time with mind-blowing information. When Poe declines, a game begins, one that will endanger everyone close to her. The caller is everywhere, watching her every move and messaging her constantly with his demands. While a follow-up with him would make for a great episode, Poe fears that her own secrets will be brought to light, a risk she can’t afford. This makes bringing in help a tricky situation, as every person Poe brings into her confidence is a person that much closer to finding out what Poe did many years ago.

Shorter chapters and constant raising of the stakes make this a quick read. Every time the reader thinks they have their finger on what’s really going on, something else happens to rip that idea away. The story bounces around between a heated, live conversation between Poe and the caller, her memories and her current world, where she’s frantically trying to figure out not only whether this man really murdered her mother, but what she should do about it. Because if he murdered her mother, she has some explaining to do, starting with her having killed the wrong guy. (This is not a spoiler—it’s announced on the back of the book.)

Poe’s secret is that she walked in on her mother’s murder as it occurred, and years later hunted down the man she thought had done it so she could kill him face-to-face and watch him die. Only this new guy knows things he shouldn’t know, like exactly what the killer said to Poe as he left her mother’s house, something she’s never told a living soul.

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The intensity is kept up throughout the majority of the book, with well-placed and enticing hints and revelations. Truth is fluid in Tell Me What You Did and information is meted out at just the right times. The caller stalking Poe seems to know everything she’s doing and when exactly he can break into her home. He’s also quite familiar with the only two people she has let into her life, and he’s got no problem making sure she knows he’s willing to harm them if Poe doesn’t give him what he wants: another interview, this time with him questioning her, and it must be broadcast live.

The intricate plot slows briefly in the middle, but that wasn’t enough to pull me out of the story and make me stop seeking answers to the questions that had sucked me in.

Poe is a flawed character and the villain is evil without being so over-the-top as to become cartoonish. I found a background character intriguing, and thought how I’d like to read her story, only to find that her story has already been written by Wilson. Alice is the main character of his book Mister Tender’s Girl, now on my list to read. Alice makes a couple of short but memorable appearances in Tell Me What You Did, acting almost as a mentor for Poe as someone who has been in similar circumstances.

An element of the book I liked was the questioning of moral lines. There are circumstances that would make people question their own morals, and Wilson does a good job creating one of those situations, raising the question of whether suppressing one moral issue makes it easier to make similar choices in the future.

Wilson is himself a podcaster, giving him insight into how it all works (his podcast, Making It Up, is about writing, not murder). He’s a resident of Erie, Colorado, and has released nine other books previously. Tell Me What You Did was the February 2025 Barnes & Noble National Monthly Pick, and rightly so.

This is a solid, well-paced read about the lengths people will go to cover up their darkest decisions, peppered with a heavy dose of revenge. Tell Me What You Did draws us in, making us question our own moral lines, alongside Poe’s.