Thoughts on : I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie

Posted by Kay on September 10, 2019 9:56 pm in 4 stars reads | 8 comments

I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie
Genre : Thriller
Stand alone

About the Book  :

What happened to Amanda Holmes?
*
Twenty years ago, she washed up on shore in a rowboat with a gash to the head after an overnight at Camp Macaw. No one was ever charged with a crime.
*
Now, the MacAllister children are all grown up. After their parents die suddenly, they return to Camp to read the will and decide what to do with the prime real estate it’s sitting on. Ryan, the oldest, wants to sell. Margo, the family’s center, hasn’t made up her mind. Mary has her own horse farm to run, and believes in leaving well-enough alone. Kate and Liddie—the twins—have opposing views. And Sean Booth, the family groundskeeper, just hopes he still has a home when all is said and done.
*
But then the will is read and they learn that it’s much more complicated than a simple vote. Until they unravel the mystery of what happened to Amanda, they can’t move forward. Any one of them could have done it, and all of them are hiding key pieces of the puzzle. Will they work together to solve the mystery, or will their suspicions and secrets finally tear the family apart?

My Thoughts :

I have a confession to make : ever since I read Catherine McKenzie’s first novel, Spin, when in came out almost 10 years ago, I’ve been collecting all of her books – yet I haven’t read them. Ever since then I’ve had a special affection for her, in part because we lived in the same city, and in part because she’s been really active on Goodreads, and I’ve followed her career with great interest.

So I felt it was more than time that I pick up one of her books and actually read it, right?

And I’m so glad I finally did, because I really enjoyed I’ll Never Tell. Even though I never went to summer camp – or maybe specifically because I’ve never been – it’s always been one of my favorite settings. The book alternates between past and present, and I really liked how the narration shifted between these two periods and between different voices. There was also little grid keeping track of everyone on the night Amanda was attacked, which filled in as we discovered more and more details. I thought it was a nice touch.

What really stood out to me were the relationships between all the siblings. All of their interactions felt complex and heavy with history. I could tell they were siblings not only because the author said so, but because of the way the interacted and reacted to each other. The complicated feelings they had for each other felt real. Plus, I thought all of the siblings were uniquely flawed yet (mostly) likable.

The mystery itself was good, too. As the story evolved, I constantly had to rethink what I thought was the truth. The pool of suspects is small and I was suspicious of each of them at one point or another. The mystery is well constructed , and the story gives you all the tools you need to figure out what’s going on, but I never felt the solution was too obvious.

All in all, I really enjoyed this one. Without a doubt it’s one of the best thrillers I’ve read this summer, and now I’m even more eager to read more from the author. Luckily for me, I have plenty of choices already on my shelves!