Book Review / Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon

Forty-one-year-old school nurse Kate Cypher has returned home to rural Vermont to care for her mother who's afflicted with Alzheimer's. On the night she arrives, a young girl is murdered—a horrific crime that eerily mirrors another from Kate's childhood. Three decades earlier, her dirt-poor friend Del—shunned and derided by classmates as "Potato Girl"—was brutally slain. Del's killer was never found, while the victim has since achieved immortality in local legends and ghost stories. Now, as this new murder investigation draws Kate irresistibly in, her past and present collide in terrifying, unexpected ways. Because nothing is quite what it seems . . . and the grim specters of her youth are far from forgotten.

More than just a murder mystery, Jennifer McMahon's extraordinary debut novel, Promise Not to Tell, is a story of friendship and family, devotion and betrayal—tautly written, deeply insightful, beautifully evocative, and utterly unforgettable.

Published:     10th April 2007
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library

MY REVIEW

I hereby declare that Jennifer McMahon has been added to my list of favourite authors of all time - and I have only read one of her books so far!!!!  I just could not put this one down.  Initially, when picking this book up I thought it was going to be a thriller, a whodoneit or maybe a chase to catch the killer.  Yes, this is a thriller but it is so much more than that.

This story is split between the past and the present.  You have Kate, the main character who is returning home to care for her ill mother.  On her return, a girl is murdered.  You would think this is disturbing enough but this is not the first time Kate has experienced a death.  In the past, three decades earlier, we see her story when she was a child where she makes friends with the 'potato girl'.  With those two stories running alongside each other, I very much had the sense of something else going on.  Maybe something paranormal?

I adored this book.  If I had to catagorise this I would call it a haunting suspense with quite a few plot twists to keep you on your toes.  Very creepy but addicting!!!  Can't wait to read more from this author.