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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Quick read, kept me guessing, not going to change your life but if you are looking for something entertaining and outside of the big named authors, this is well worth a look.
It wasn't bad, just not my favorite book. Felt like it took a long time to get anywhere.
Lately I have been wanting to delve into new book genres, and I thoroughly enjoy crime/thriller/horror movies and TV shows, so when I saw this creepy looking book at a rummage sale for a dollar, I had to pick it up.
Promise Not To Tell is an adult horror novel about the nefarious Potato Girl, the ghost of a young girl brutally murdered decades before, haunting the quaint town of New Canaan, Vermont. The tale has been the object of local fascination for generations, but now when a 13-year old girl is murdered in the same manner, the town is thrown into a state of panic. This novel mostly follows the perspective of 40 year old Kate Cypher who returns home to tend her sickly mother and is cast once more into the drama of her old town.
The characters were all flawlessly complex and imperfect. No character was highly likable, or undoubtedly moral. Each character had their secrets and motives, which is what captivated me. This book was a perfect introduction to the horror genre, a quick, intriguing 250-page read, but not a mind blowing, or especially surprising plot line.
7.4/10. THUMBS UP :)
Promise Not To Tell is an adult horror novel about the nefarious Potato Girl, the ghost of a young girl brutally murdered decades before, haunting the quaint town of New Canaan, Vermont. The tale has been the object of local fascination for generations, but now when a 13-year old girl is murdered in the same manner, the town is thrown into a state of panic. This novel mostly follows the perspective of 40 year old Kate Cypher who returns home to tend her sickly mother and is cast once more into the drama of her old town.
The characters were all flawlessly complex and imperfect. No character was highly likable, or undoubtedly moral. Each character had their secrets and motives, which is what captivated me. This book was a perfect introduction to the horror genre, a quick, intriguing 250-page read, but not a mind blowing, or especially surprising plot line.
7.4/10. THUMBS UP :)
If this had been my first introduction to Jennifer McMahon's writing, I would have totally loved this book. Having just read Dismantled though (which I would consider one of the best thrillers I have read this year), I think I was a little disappointed with this one.
School Nurse, Kate Cypher, has returned to her home in rural Vermont to care for her mom who has Alzheimer's. The night she arrives, a young girl in town is murdered in a horrific murder that eerily is the same as a murder that took place during Kate's childhood to one of her friends.
The book flashes forward and through the past of these two murders, one to a social outcast named Del who is nicknamed the "potato girl" and is mistreated by her friends and family. The other murder that has taken place to another young girl in a similar way. The mystery of these two murders ends up colliding together as Kate begins to pull the pieces of these two murders together.
It is definitely a ghost story, a mystery, and a coming-of-age story that is pulled all together. Much like McMahon's other books, it is a twisted story that pulls together with a nice twist at the end.
If you haven't read McMahon before, I would recommend this one, but I definitely enjoyed Dismantled a little bit more than this one!
School Nurse, Kate Cypher, has returned to her home in rural Vermont to care for her mom who has Alzheimer's. The night she arrives, a young girl in town is murdered in a horrific murder that eerily is the same as a murder that took place during Kate's childhood to one of her friends.
The book flashes forward and through the past of these two murders, one to a social outcast named Del who is nicknamed the "potato girl" and is mistreated by her friends and family. The other murder that has taken place to another young girl in a similar way. The mystery of these two murders ends up colliding together as Kate begins to pull the pieces of these two murders together.
It is definitely a ghost story, a mystery, and a coming-of-age story that is pulled all together. Much like McMahon's other books, it is a twisted story that pulls together with a nice twist at the end.
If you haven't read McMahon before, I would recommend this one, but I definitely enjoyed Dismantled a little bit more than this one!
I'd give it 3.5 if I could. A solid mystery. It kept me interested but turned sort of "supernatural" towards the end, which I don't like.
Kind of cheesy, and the pacing is odd for a thriller novel, spends too much time flipping back and forth in with irrelevant stories and then wraps up the mystery in less than a page at the very end. Pretty unsatisfying.
Full of off-putting plot holes and ultimately didn't feel like a very satisfying read.
I haven't read a book by Jennifer McMahon, that I didn't love and read in one or two sitting. Promise not to tell is no different.
I liked it, but I wish I'd realized it was supernatural when I first started it. I don't mind supernatural elements per se, but I was expecting a straight-up mystery.
This was one of those impulse buys - picked up based on a passing comment on a mailing list. I was hoping for a creepier book - one that would make me think twice about turning out the light, but in the end I found a book that I devoured in two nights and was an interesting story with sympathetic characters that made me more interested than the murder mystery part of the story.
The story revolves around Kate Cypher, a forty something woman, who grudgingly returns home to take care of her her aging mother, her alzheimer's reaching the point where she is unable to live by herself and is starting to put herself and others at risk. The night Kate arrives, a young girl is murdered in the woods behind their home. The death of the girl is reminiscent of the thirty year old unsolved murder of Del Griswold. The book switches from past to present as Kate remembers the events leading up to and her own guilt over the the death of Del. There is a link between the two murders and as Kate begins to try to unravel the mystery behind her friend's death when she was ten and the copycat murder of another girl thirty years later - of course odd things are bound to happen as all of this takes place.
There's a good bit of suspense and second guessing as the story progresses - is there a ghost, could Kate's addled mother be reliving the past, could Kate be involved? I think the true strength of the book was the story line of the two young girls in the 70s. Kate arrives in town with her mother, moving into the local hippie commune. Kate is desperate to fit in with the other kids, but finds it difficult - there's something innately evil about cliques of adolescents isn't there? On the neighbouring farm lives Del- the butt of the teasing and derision of all the other kids. Kate finds herself drawn to the odd and wild girl - although she is afraid of anyone finding out that she is friends with "the Potato Girl" . As a reader, I couldn't help but like Del - she was a tough kid, full of swagger and bravado, but she wouldn't let anyone grind her down - which made her death, and Kate's actions that much more haunting. Kate, both past and present, was also a character I couldn't help but empathize with. As much as I wanted to know who had killed the girls (past and present), I was more interested in reading more of Del and Kate.
I would recommend this one - more as a character study, coming of age kind of story rather than as a ghost story.
The story revolves around Kate Cypher, a forty something woman, who grudgingly returns home to take care of her her aging mother, her alzheimer's reaching the point where she is unable to live by herself and is starting to put herself and others at risk. The night Kate arrives, a young girl is murdered in the woods behind their home. The death of the girl is reminiscent of the thirty year old unsolved murder of Del Griswold. The book switches from past to present as Kate remembers the events leading up to and her own guilt over the the death of Del. There is a link between the two murders and as Kate begins to try to unravel the mystery behind her friend's death when she was ten and the copycat murder of another girl thirty years later - of course odd things are bound to happen as all of this takes place.
There's a good bit of suspense and second guessing as the story progresses - is there a ghost, could Kate's addled mother be reliving the past, could Kate be involved? I think the true strength of the book was the story line of the two young girls in the 70s. Kate arrives in town with her mother, moving into the local hippie commune. Kate is desperate to fit in with the other kids, but finds it difficult - there's something innately evil about cliques of adolescents isn't there? On the neighbouring farm lives Del- the butt of the teasing and derision of all the other kids. Kate finds herself drawn to the odd and wild girl - although she is afraid of anyone finding out that she is friends with "the Potato Girl" . As a reader, I couldn't help but like Del - she was a tough kid, full of swagger and bravado, but she wouldn't let anyone grind her down - which made her death, and Kate's actions that much more haunting. Kate, both past and present, was also a character I couldn't help but empathize with. As much as I wanted to know who had killed the girls (past and present), I was more interested in reading more of Del and Kate.
I would recommend this one - more as a character study, coming of age kind of story rather than as a ghost story.