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A review by mbkarapcik
Things You Won't Say by Sarah Pekkanen
3.0
Pekkanen’s latest novel is about a typical, suburban family where the husband/father is a respected policeman in an undisclosed area in and around Maryland and Washington, DC. After a harrowing incident injures his partner for whom he feels terrible guilt, he ends up shooting a teenage Hispanic boy who possibly pointed a gun at the officers when they were contending with another dangerous situation. But what really happened? Did Officer Mike accidentally shoot the young man? Did he do it on purpose in a cloud of undiagnosed PTSD? And was the young man really in possession of a gun, locked, loaded and ready to shoot?
The author, whose past includes crime journalism in Baltimore, tackles a crime similar to the controversial shootings which resulted in campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter. So we bear eye witness to a typical, white, middle-class family enduring trials like PTSD, doubt, race relations, the media, marital problems and family dynamics for which Pekkanen is an expert. Whether the crime was committed in self-defense or anger really isn’t the main theme of the story but how the characters interact with each other and pick up the pieces in the aftermath.
Pekkanen handled the story subtly without pressing the issues but presenting it honestly from the perspective of the officer’s wife. Jamie’s a stay-at-home mom just trying to make ends meet and raise her kids without them driving her crazy. In the meantime, she deals with her husband’s previous girlfriend who shares custody of their teenage son and is saucy, sassy and the polar opposite of Jamie. She also has a younger sister Lou who is kind of a lost soul and relies on Jamie for stability. What was missing was the alternate perspective of the mom who loses her son.
This topic was depressing yet interesting, but the story was just okay. Although I really like her books, this one wasn’t a favorite. The main character Jamie dealt with too much melodrama from her kids while the real crime drama played out beside it. I felt like it was laid upon too thick with the air conditioner breaking down during a stretch of impossibly hot weather, the dog running away, and the whiny kids creating another colossal mess – all simultaneously and daily. Kind of ridiculous and this is coming from a stay-at-home mom who works part-time.
I liked Christie’s subplot where she traded in her hair salon job for one as a decoy for a private detective. Even though her job plays a part in the outcome of the story, it really wasn’t tied up that well. Actually, I really enjoyed this particular story and would have liked more details about it because it was quite engaging, and I wanted to know more.
Jamie’s stepson and Mike and Christie’s son Henry carried on another storyline that seemed too abrupt in its importance. In order for his story to be executed with success, his character needed more personality and purpose. So much more could have been done with a teenager and juxtaposing him with the gunshot victim who was about the same age.
One storyline I could not stand was the one with Jamie’s younger sister Lou who I found boring and insipid. She just seemed like a very lost soul and sad sack who couldn’t get her life together. I didn’t enjoy the passages with her work at the zoo and her beloved elephant. Maybe because I’m not that much of an animal lover and usually turn off any nature programs involving animals. Even though I do like cats, dogs and horses, I was not engaged in any of the actions of Tabby the elephant. Lou was too simple for the book and not an interesting enough character. I even wondered if she may be on the autism spectrum or another similar disorder because of key characteristics like her lack of social skills, her discomfort and awkwardness around people, and her inability to connect with her ex-boyfriend who was just as dull. Also, she was unbelievably absorbed with her work. Having a child with autism, if Lou had a similar diagnosis, it would have been more interesting to read about her personal struggles, instead of concentrating on the elephant. And her struggles with remembering her mother reached a very dull climax that didn’t move me at all. I think the reader was supposed to relate her relationship with her mother which wasn’t really outlined to the elephant giving birth.
From reading her other novels which I’ve greatly enjoyed, I noticed she generally has about three main characters. Jamie and Christie engaged my interest but Lou did not. Another character who would have been an excellent person to focus on was the victim’s mother who dealt with different struggles than the other characters due to her lifestyle and environment. Her story rivaled any of the others as being the most interesting and a good dichotomy to that of Jamie’s and Christie’s struggles in being mothers and part of a family.
The author, whose past includes crime journalism in Baltimore, tackles a crime similar to the controversial shootings which resulted in campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter. So we bear eye witness to a typical, white, middle-class family enduring trials like PTSD, doubt, race relations, the media, marital problems and family dynamics for which Pekkanen is an expert. Whether the crime was committed in self-defense or anger really isn’t the main theme of the story but how the characters interact with each other and pick up the pieces in the aftermath.
Pekkanen handled the story subtly without pressing the issues but presenting it honestly from the perspective of the officer’s wife. Jamie’s a stay-at-home mom just trying to make ends meet and raise her kids without them driving her crazy. In the meantime, she deals with her husband’s previous girlfriend who shares custody of their teenage son and is saucy, sassy and the polar opposite of Jamie. She also has a younger sister Lou who is kind of a lost soul and relies on Jamie for stability. What was missing was the alternate perspective of the mom who loses her son.
This topic was depressing yet interesting, but the story was just okay. Although I really like her books, this one wasn’t a favorite. The main character Jamie dealt with too much melodrama from her kids while the real crime drama played out beside it. I felt like it was laid upon too thick with the air conditioner breaking down during a stretch of impossibly hot weather, the dog running away, and the whiny kids creating another colossal mess – all simultaneously and daily. Kind of ridiculous and this is coming from a stay-at-home mom who works part-time.
I liked Christie’s subplot where she traded in her hair salon job for one as a decoy for a private detective. Even though her job plays a part in the outcome of the story, it really wasn’t tied up that well. Actually, I really enjoyed this particular story and would have liked more details about it because it was quite engaging, and I wanted to know more.
Jamie’s stepson and Mike and Christie’s son Henry carried on another storyline that seemed too abrupt in its importance. In order for his story to be executed with success, his character needed more personality and purpose. So much more could have been done with a teenager and juxtaposing him with the gunshot victim who was about the same age.
One storyline I could not stand was the one with Jamie’s younger sister Lou who I found boring and insipid. She just seemed like a very lost soul and sad sack who couldn’t get her life together. I didn’t enjoy the passages with her work at the zoo and her beloved elephant. Maybe because I’m not that much of an animal lover and usually turn off any nature programs involving animals. Even though I do like cats, dogs and horses, I was not engaged in any of the actions of Tabby the elephant. Lou was too simple for the book and not an interesting enough character. I even wondered if she may be on the autism spectrum or another similar disorder because of key characteristics like her lack of social skills, her discomfort and awkwardness around people, and her inability to connect with her ex-boyfriend who was just as dull. Also, she was unbelievably absorbed with her work. Having a child with autism, if Lou had a similar diagnosis, it would have been more interesting to read about her personal struggles, instead of concentrating on the elephant. And her struggles with remembering her mother reached a very dull climax that didn’t move me at all. I think the reader was supposed to relate her relationship with her mother which wasn’t really outlined to the elephant giving birth.
From reading her other novels which I’ve greatly enjoyed, I noticed she generally has about three main characters. Jamie and Christie engaged my interest but Lou did not. Another character who would have been an excellent person to focus on was the victim’s mother who dealt with different struggles than the other characters due to her lifestyle and environment. Her story rivaled any of the others as being the most interesting and a good dichotomy to that of Jamie’s and Christie’s struggles in being mothers and part of a family.