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

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

1 " no one can help a troubled person who doesn’t think they need it. "

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

2 " I loved my mother because I didn’t know I had a choice. I had to love her. "

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

3 " Dying, she thought, is the only way out of what is happening to me. "

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

4 " She’d done exactly what she’d wanted to do. Making people unhappy was her way of having fun. "

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

5 " that 10 percent of a nightmare is still a nightmare. "

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

6 " From the inside, a violent home looks starkly different than it does to outsiders. Children who grow up with cold, narcissistic, or sadistic parents don’t know that a caretaker with the potential for extreme cruelty is not the norm. Even when they see a contrast in the families of friends, they’ve already been robbed of the ability to challenge parental authority. Instead of seeking help, they hunker down and adapt. "

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

7 " she would abuse me, then the very next day hug me or tell me how I was her baby and she loved me blah, blah. I think it worked like any abusive relationship . . . a person feels trapped, nowhere to go . . . they are abused and then the abuser reins them back in with kindness and the person being abused settles, not quite thinking about the next time they are beat etc. just relieved the abuse is over (for now). My mother was a ticking time bomb . . . "

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

8 " Victims who want to get help recognize how difficult it would be to convince authorities of the sadist’s behavior. They know that if they try but fail, the punishment will be severe. So, they often decide to just wait it out and hope they can eventually flee. "

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

9 " Her perpetual despondency preserved forever in black and white. "

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

10 " I think it worked like any abusive relationship . . . a person feels trapped, nowhere to go . . . they are abused and then the abuser reins them back in with kindness and the person being abused settles, not quite thinking about the next time they are beat etc. just relieved the abuse is over (for now). "

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

11 " A bent toward sadism forms during certain associations in early adolescence, coupled with a callous temperament that needs control and lacks remorse. Even so, more than one-third of sadists report discovering their perverted propensities well into adulthood; they enjoy the sense of authority that arises from having their way with a vulnerable and submissive human being, and their fantasies grow increasingly more sophisticated and perverse. Because they seek stimulation, they become quite inventive in the types of cruelties they inflict on others. The usual nurturing that accompanies parenthood means nothing to them. "

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

12 " She later said that she had only told the police “like ten percent of the bad stuff.” Investigators, however, understood that 10 percent of a nightmare is still a nightmare. "

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

13 " Randy had an inkling that something else was afoot. Shelly’s father appeared too eager to pass his daughter off to another man. "

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

14 " Red hair framed a face with a freckled nose, and her blue eyes had thick lashes like the undulating fringe of a sea anemone. But to Lara, the kind of beauty Shelly possessed was like that of nightshade berries. They appear to be delicious but are actually dangerous. "

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

15 " It didn’t take too much longer for Randy to decide that he couldn’t take it anymore—no matter how much he loved Nikki, he couldn’t ignore that his marriage, which had started on tenuous grounds, was now falling apart. "

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

16 " Humor was the curtain she put around everything. "

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

17 " Killing someone is something you never get over,” he said. “Not even for a second. It’s always there. "

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

18 " Although he knew their relationship had been toxic, he couldn’t stop loving her. "

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

19 " Their parents had killed multiple people. They’d done the most cruel and vile things anyone could do to another person. And so much of it had happened right before their eyes. "

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

20 " We need to figure out what’s best,” she said. “Do you think you can give us some time, maybe wait this out? You’ll be eighteen in four years. "

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