Book Review: Promise Not To Tell

Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon

Part mystery-thriller and part ghost story, McMahon's well-paced debut alternates smoothly between past and present. In the fall of 2002, 41-year-old Kate Cypher, a divorced Seattle school nurse, returns to New Hope, the decaying Vermont hippie commune where she grew up, to visit her elderly mother, Jean, who's suffering from Alzheimer's. Kate has avoided New Hope since the grizzly, unsolved murder of her fifth-grade friend, Del Griswold, 31 years earlier. Kate fears she betrayed Del, a free-spirited farm girl. Did her betrayal cause Del's death? Who killed Del? Another local girl is murdered in a similar manner at the time of Kate's return. Could the killer be loose again? Meanwhile, Jean appears to be possessed with Del's spirit and may have the answers to these questions. As Kate investigates, she learns stunning truths about many events and people from her youth. But McMahon's real coup is her touching characterization of the brave and desperate Del. It is through that portrait that McMahon drives home the cruelty of childhood bullying.

Wow, wow, WOW! I loved this book, I could not put it down. The opening scene is rather grisly and made me question if the book would be too scary for me, but the rest of the book is nowhere near as gory as the prologue would suggest. This is an amazing ghost story and murder mystery, and the subplot of the cruelty of school children is very moving.

The real star in this story is the murdered child, Del "the Potato Girl"...by far one of the most bizarre, fascinating, and heart-breaking characters I've come across in a long time. Some of the scenes of her childhood reminded me of the character Jenny in Forrest Gump.

There are parts of this book that are very hard to read: the teasing and taunting at school hit close to home, as we've all either witnessed or regretted being part of similar scenes. The subplot about child abuse is unsettling but very much a part of the plot.

This is a short read, it only took me a couple of hours two nights, well worth the time. I can't wait to read Jennifer McMahon's next book! If you like a good chilling ghost story whodunit, definitely read this!