What She Thought She Saw by Dan Grylles

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🤯 What She Thought She Saw by Dan Grylles — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 Stars & My Brain Is Still Recovering)

🚨 Trigger Warnings

  • Domestic abuse

  • Gun violence

  • Mental illness / hallucinations

  • Infant death (SIDS)

  • Murder & manipulation

  • Substance use (marijuana, alcohol)

⚠️ SPOILER WARNING — THIS REVIEW CONTAINS FULL PLOT DETAILS ⚠️

If you haven’t read this yet… proceed with caution. Or honestly? Read it first and come back because WOW.

📚 First Thoughts (aka I Was Not Ready 😳)

So I went into this specifically looking for under-the-radar new releases… you know, the ones with barely any reviews. I told myself I was prepared for mediocrity.

I was not prepared for THIS.

This book absolutely pummeled me with twists. I’m talking Freida McFadden-level chaos, where every time you think you’ve got a handle on things, the rug gets yanked out from under you again. And again. And AGAIN.

And somehow… it all works.

🧠 Plot Summary (FULL SPOILERS — buckle up)

We follow Gwen Hansen, who moves to Los Angeles with her husband Roy, a police detective. Right away, things feel… off.

Gwen suffers from:

  • panic attacks

  • mysterious “stomach” issues

  • and what we later learn are hallucinations

She secretly sees a psychiatrist while pretending everything is fine.

👀 Things start getting weird FAST:

  • She sees people who may or may not be real

  • She thinks someone is breaking into her house

  • She suspects Roy is cheating

  • Her glamorous neighbor Dianne inserts herself way too deeply into Gwen’s life

Then… the chaos escalates.

🔫 The First Major Turning Point

Dianne calls Gwen in a panic about an intruder.

Gwen rushes over with a gun.

She shoots the “intruder.”

👉 It’s Vince (Dianne’s husband).

But instead of fallout…

Dianne helps stage the scene to make it look justified.

🚩🚩🚩 RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE 🚩🚩🚩

🕵️‍♀️ Paranoia Spiral Mode Activated

From here, Gwen’s grip on reality deteriorates:

  • She smells perfume on Roy → assumes affair

  • She gets “proof” via photos from Dianne

  • She believes she’s speaking regularly to her mother

Except…

💥 TWIST #1:

Her mother is dead.
Those conversations? Hallucinations… or worse.

🔥 The Second Shooting

Convinced Roy is cheating with a woman named Valerie, Gwen tracks her down.

She confronts Valerie with a gun.

Valerie reaches into her purse.

👉 Gwen shoots her.

Dead.

Except…

💥 TWIST #2:

Valerie was NOT a threat. She had a lighter.
And even worse…

💥 TWIST #3:

Roy wasn’t cheating.

He was undercover, working with the mob.
The “affair” was part of his job.

So Gwen just killed an informant.

🧩 The Truth Comes Crashing Down

Everything unravels in one brutal reveal:

  • Gwen’s father murdered her mother before Gwen killed him

  • Her baby Connie died of SIDS (the crying she hears isn’t real)

  • Her hallucinations are tied to trauma + medication

And the biggest bombshell:

💥 TWIST #4: Dianne is the villain.

  • She manipulated Gwen from the start

  • She pretended to be Gwen’s mother on the phone

  • She set up Vince’s shooting intentionally

  • She murdered Betty (a friend who worked at a hospital and threatened to expose Dianne)

  • She orchestrated EVERYTHING

This woman is a full-blown puppet master 😳

🏥 The Ending (and honestly… chef’s chaos)

Gwen ends up in a psychiatric facility.

Dianne? Living her best villain life… until—

💥 FINAL TWIST:

Gwen had planted a trap earlier.

She left a fake message posing as Dianne for a woman named Eileen Rivers (whose husband Dianne had an affair with).

Eileen shows up…

👉 Shoots Dianne dead.

Gwen, from the psych ward, realizes:

She got her revenge.

And just starts laughing.

✍️ Writing Style & Why It Works So Well

This could have been a mess. Easily.

But it’s not.

  • Unreliable narrator DONE RIGHT (huge win)

  • Hallucinations are explained, not cheap tricks

  • The 1970s setting feels immersive (music, culture, details 👌)

  • The pacing is addictive — I flew through this

Also, the use of internal monologue vs reality? So effective. You’re constantly questioning everything.

💭 Final Thoughts

This is one of those books where:

  • you question every character

  • you doubt every scene

  • and you STILL don’t see all the twists coming

I genuinely had moments where I just sat there like:

😳 “Wait… WHAT??”

If you love:

  • psychological thrillers

  • unreliable narrators

  • twist-heavy plots

👉 You need this.

📖 Recommended Reads (If You Loved This)

⭐ Final Rating: 5 Stars

Absolutely wild. Completely addictive.
And I will 100% be chasing this high again.

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