If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

This is a true crime story, yet Olsen bookends the narrative with Nikki, Sami, and Tori’s current-day relationships. Analyze why he chooses to do this and how this choice changes our understanding of the book as a whole.

Cycles of abuse are abundant throughout If You Tell. Analyze Shelly’s abusive relationship to one of the following characters: Lara, Dave, Nikki, Sami, Tori, Kathy, or Ron. How does Shelly create an abusive cycle with this character? How does she manipulate them? Are they able to break the cycle of abuse, and if so, how?

Shelly isolates her family and victims from the outside world. As Tori notes when visiting Sami in Seattle, “The world outside of Raymond was a more beautiful—and happy—place than Tori had ever thought possible” (351). Write an essay analyzing how Shelly isolates her daughters. What is the role of isolation in her relationship to her children, and what does this isolation look like (physical, emotional, social)?

Shelly is often described as a “hunter” throughout the book. What is the significance of Olsen’s use of hunting imagery and diction? 

One of Shelly’s methods of control is drugging her victims to better brainwash them. Write an essay comparing and contrasting the ways in which Kathy and Ron are brainwashed by Shelly and how this brainwashing contributes to their eventual murders.

Write an essay analyzing the role of sisterhood in If You Tell. How is sisterhood defined in this book, and what is its significance?

Dave buries his head in the sand when confronted with Shelly’s violence, resorting to wishful, romantic thinking. Why does he do this, and what consequences does his ambivalence have for his family?

In the final section of the book, Olsen moves back in time to Shane’s death. Why does he choose to tell the story of Shane’s death after Dave confesses? Why keep his death a mystery until the very end of the book?