Promise Not To Tell - Jennifer McMahon

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

Kate Cypher's back in her home town to care for her sick mother but when there's news of a young girl's murder, all she can think about is Del, her best friend who was murdered when they were children. Murdered in the exact same way as the girl.

Kate's determined to dig up old secrets about her home town and realises there's more going on than she ever suspected.

My Review

I was a little sceptical upon picking this up because it had crime and mystery written all over it. I'm not a fan of mysteries and I never have been but I decided I would give this book a go regardless. Now, having read it in only five sittings, I am so glad I did.

Promise Not To Tell stars off with a prologue in the third person, following Opal, a young girl telling ghost stories around a campfire with her friends. In my opinion this was the perfect way to introduce Del, The Potato Girl, who had become her own ghost story thirty years after her murder. It threw me into this small town and the people who lived there. I have a hatred for prologues because I think they're unnecessary and not as arty as people think but this time it was used as an excellent tool. Why can't all prologues be like this?

When Kate took over the narrative in first person I had so many questions about Del and about who killed her that I turned pages and pages, eager for any scrap of information. It's safe to say I got sucked into this book at chapter one.

I don't have much else to say other than I was obsessed with this book for the short number of days I was reading it. If I wasn't reading it, I wanted to or was thinking about it. And for a girl who doesn't like mysteries, I think that's a win for McMahon and says a lot about her skill. The whole thing was so masterfully done and kept me guessing right until the end.

The only possible critique I can give is that it took a few chapters to want to follow Kate, the protagonist. To say she was likeable would be a push but after a while I certainly wanted to follow her story. But to make up for this, I was fascinated by Del and that kept me reading at the beginning.

Evaluation

Overall 9/10

Would I recommend it? Yes. I was totally surprised by the complexity of this book.

Would I look up the author? Yes. There are a lot of similar stories based on murders and such that I may or may not get round to reading considering this isn't my favourite genre.

Promise Not To Tell was masterfully crafted and kept me guessing right until the end.

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com