Tell Me What You Did

This intriguing if shaky thriller from Wilson (The Father She Went to Find) centers on a true crime podcaster consumed by guilt. Thirty-year-old Poe Webb of Manchester, N.H., hosts the wildly popular podcast Tell Me What You Did, in which she encourages anonymous callers to share details of the disturbing—and often criminal—things they’ve done. Part of Poe’s motivation for starting the show is rooted in her private guilt for getting away with murdering the man who killed her mother 17 years earlier. When someone named Ian Hindley calls into the podcast claiming to know details about Poe’s life in New York City and her mother’s death, she fears she’s about to be exposed. Then Ian identifies himself as the man who killed her mother, and Poe must reassess everything she thinks she knows about that tragedy. Wilson toggles between transcripts of Ian and Poe’s conversation, scenes of the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between them, and flashbacks to Poe’s time in New York. Despite the strong setup, Wilson struggles to sustain the rush of the first few chapters, with Ian deploying the same lukewarm scare tactics again and again until the satisfying-enough finale rolls around. This doesn’t fully live up to its potential. Agent: Pamela Ahearn, Ahearn Agency. (Jan.)