In a departure from her Alice Vega detective series, Louisa Luna successfully creates a bingeable pandemic-era thriller with “Tell Me Who You Are.”
The narrative offers three points of view across two timelines that come together around a love-to-hate protagonist. “Tell Me Who You Are” centers its narrative on Dr. Caroline Strange’s unofficial investigation into kidnapped reporter Ellen Garcia and a mentally ill young man who believes he and the doctor share a connection.
Character Analysis
Main Characters
Dr. Caroline Strange
Nelson Schack a.k.a. Billy and Will
Ellen Garcia
Gordon Strong
Dr. Caroline Strange is a condescending, judgmental, secret-keeping psychiatrist in Brooklyn. She asks everyone to call her Dr. Caroline because she detests the association with Dr. Strange from the Marvel films. The married mother-of-two boys works in the ground floor of her Brownstone where she counsels bored and privileged patients while creating insulting alliterative names for them.
A meeting with a new patient upsets her idyllic life and kicks off the high-octane narrative. Soon, Dr. Caroline is circumventing the police investigation and pursuing leads on her patient and a kidnap victim as she moves from a person of interest to a suspect.
Under false pretenses, Nelson Schack schedules an appointment with Dr. Caroline to tell her he’s going to starve to death someone she knows. She presses him about his plans, but he grows impatient and leaves the session. Later, she’s contacted by Billy, who claims Nelson is an alter who the devil gifted him when he turned 12. The confession means Nelson and Billy are alternates in a man who may have Dissociative identity disorder (DID).
A pair of New York Police Department detectives show up to ask Dr. Caroline about a missing reporter a few hours after her abbreviated session with Nelson. They are inquiring about Ellen Garcia, who earned the psychiatrist’s ire by placing her second on a list of the worst doctors in Brooklyn.
Dr. Caroline sent a terse email to Garcias editor about her shoddy reporting, so the detectives believe she may be involved in the divorced mother’s kidnapping that occurred 72 hours prior. Ellen was kidnapped while taking out the recycling bins and awakens to find herself suffering from a concussion and locked in a small room with a full-length mirror.
Unlike the two other perspectives, Gordon Strong is presented in flashback from spring 1993. The middle-aged husband and father recently lost his job with beer manufacturer Kinzer in Glen Cove, Wis. He struggles with finding his purpose as employment prospects dry up and he descends into asocial alcoholic behaviors that frighten his family and ruin his friendships.
Strong’s unfortunate situation is tied into Dr. Caroline’s upbringing because she’s his daughter’s best friend. The two 13-year-olds talk on the phone and visit each other’s houses to listen to music and have sleepovers. Their closeness and their parents’ tenuous friendships further exacerbate Strong’s mental breakdown.
Plot Summary
Set across three perspectives in two times, “Tell Me Who You Are” opens with Dr. Caroline Strange preparing to meet with new patient Nelson Schack. She’s reviewed his new patient paperwork and is prepared for the introductory session in the downstairs office of her brownstone home.
Nelson arrives at the appointed time, and Dr. Caroline immediately clocks his attempt to shock and provoke her by stating that he plans to kill someone she knows by name via starvation. She refuses to play his game, which causes him to get frustrated and end the session early.
Making good on his talk with Dr. Caroline, Nelson has abducted journalist Ellen Garcia and stashed her in an abandoned building to slowly die from dehydration and hunger. The recently divorced mother of one writes for Brooklyn Bound, and two months ago she wrote a list of the 10 worst doctors in the borough.
Dr. Caroline found the article through a Google Alert and saw that she placed second based on only two sources. Consequently, the esteemed physician wrote a terse letter to Ellen’s editor making clear her concerns.
Her actions lead two NYPD officers to stop by her home for an interview 72 hours after Ellen went missing. They interview her because of the letter she sent to Ned Lee aka the Neditor about Ellen’s negative article. The doctor is on guard around the police and reluctantly shares information about Nelson’s visit and his threat.
Gordon Strong’s point of view pulls the readers back to the summer of 1993 in Glen Grove, Wis. He lost his job with beer distributor Kinzer and is growing increasingly angry and disillusioned as he cannot find a new job. Each of his chapters displays his growing paranoia, alcoholism, and fits of violence.
We soon learn that Gordon was teenage Caroline’s next door neighbor and the father of her best friend. Gawky, socially awkward Caroline has spent many nights sleeping over at the Strong house.
Thirteen-year-old Caroline plays a pivotal role in Gordon’s decline into alcohol-fueled madness. His break with reality leads to an act of violence that defines the rest of Caroline’s life.
Dr. Caroline decides to investigate Nelson on her own without police involvement. She visits the address he listed on his patient form, a building now for rent. The address of 117 Forty-First St. matches her birthday and age: Jan. 17 and 41 years old.
Ellen continues to suffer in her confinement but opens her eyes to see a single slice of white bread and a bottle of Ethos water with a sticker order for Caroline. The name causes Ellen to consider Dr. Caroline part of her kidnapping.
Dr. Caroline remains puzzled by Nelson’s visit and receives a voicemail from another mysterious patient. A man named Billy Harbin calls her about setting up a time to talk about Nelson. So, Dr. Caroline rushes to meet him at the Lafayette Memorial off Ninth Street in Prospect Park.
Once there, Dr. Caroline realizes Billy and Nelson are the same person. She doesn’t believe in dissociative identity disorder as a diagnosis and wonders to herself “what the hell kind of Sybil shit is this?”
Billy confides to Dr. Caroline that the devil appeared to him one night when he was 12 and presented him with a friend in the form of Nelson. The two switch control over Billy’s body by playing the Red Rover game. Dr. Caroline tries to shift the conversation to what Nelson has done to Ellen, but he runs away and she loses him on a bus.
With this knowledge, Dr. Caroline continues to investigate on her own while seeing the patients she secretly resents and gives unkind monikers. She’s interviewed by the detectives twice more at the station but leaves at the start of her second visit.
Dr. Caroline conducts some online sleuthing and contacts Billy’s former co-workers claiming to be a worried aunt when messaging them on social media and a concerned physician when speaking with a journalist.
Her morally ambiguous investigation uncovers Nelson/Billy’s true identity as Will Pearleater. The lone survivor of a murder/suicide perpetrated by his father when he was 12. He now goes by the name of Will Wall and works various landscaping and construction jobs.
One of Will’s friends calls Dr. Caroline and tells her that he’s now working as a security guard at a storage rental business. She goes to the location and reluctantly takes a call from her husband briefly explaining her plan to confront Will and save Ellen.
Dr. Caroline spots Will entering the building and follows him. She approaches him with the idea that he doesn’t have DID but is rather overwhelmed with his life. After pretending to cry, he quickly pepper sprays her eyes and strikes her face three times, easily overpowering her. Then, he carries her upstairs to the small room where Ellen is being kept.
The two women soon realize they aren’t each other’s enemies and are attempting to escape when the two NYPD officers show up. Dr. Caroline’s husband shared her information with them.
Dr. Caroline, Ellen and Will are treated for their injuries at the scene. Will is taken into custody and faces up to 20 years in Attica.
“Tell Me Who You Are” ends with Ellen writing a piece on Dr. Caroline and the female detective for The New York Times Magazine. Both the writer and its subjects are satisfied with the article.
Final Thoughts
Luna deftly maneuvers the plot while ensuring everything centers are Dr. Caroline and her pompous judgments about her patients, the police, and even her own family.
“Tell Me Who You Are” makes for a quick, fun weekend read to provide an entertaining, snarky distraction. It’s pacy, funny, but lacks much in the way of staying power.
Recommended for readers in a slump or craving something high octane and bingeable.
Rating
My star rating is 4/5 stars.
Book Details
Title: “Tell Me Who You Are”
Author: Louisa Luna
Year of Publication: 2024
Number of Pages: 337
Check out the review of “No One Needs to Know” by Lindsay Cameron for another thriller set among the moneyed in New York.
