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India Press Store - Promise Not to Tell: A Novel
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List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $1.54
Your Save: $ 12.41 ( 89% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780061143311
ISBN: 0061143316
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2007-04-01
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: 2007-04-10
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: From S. Krishna's Books
Comment: Promise Not To Tell by Jennifer McMahon is the story of Kate Cypher, a nurse working in Seattle. She receives a call from some old friends back home who tell her that her mother, who suffers from dementia and Alzheimer's, is rapidly deteriorating. Kate goes home to confront the difficult situation with her mother, who does not want to go into a home. However, there are other issues waiting for Kate upon her return. 31 years earlier, Kate's best friend, Del Griswold, was murdered, and the killer was never found. Now there is another murder that is frighteningly similar to Del's - is it coincidence that it happened right after Kate's homecoming? And what really happened the day that Del was murdered?
I really enjoyed Promise Not To Tell. The pacing was quick, and at a concise 256 pages, there really was never a dull moment. The author foreshadowed well, increasing the reader's anticipation, but never gave too much away. It is frustrating when an author's use of foreshadowing actually ruins the book due to poor placement and revealing too much information (Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain is the best example I can think of for really irritating foreshadowing).
The book was definitely spooky and a little bit creepy, but it definitely wasn't too scary for those of you that have difficulty with horror novels (like me.) Besides the unfolding of the mystery, the element I honestly liked best about the book was its length. Too often, my main complaint about a novel is that about 100 pages could have been trimmed off without any significant impact on the plot or character development. While I don't mind long novels, I'm a big proponent of the idea that a book shouldn't be any longer than it really needs to be. McMahon seems to have had that same idea in mind when writing Promise Not to Tell.
I also think McMahon did a great job portraying school children. As much as many of us liked to romanticize our childhoods, the fact is, kids can be incredibly cruel. I think many of us, especially those of us who enjoy escaping into books as we've become older, have been at the receiving end of taunting and bullying. I think through the way the author writes Del and Kate, she really drives home the point of how cruel children have the capacity to be. It's very well written, but not horribly uncomfortable to read, which is a welcome surprise.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Comment: The author did a great job! I could not put it down. Each page gave a new clue so it keeps you hooked. I recommend this to everyone!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Comment: I just finished this little gem of a book and enjoyed it immensly. It has a little bit of everything and you will not be forgetting the main characters anytime soon...I highly recommend it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A bit of a disppointment
Comment: I was actually extremely disappointed in this book. The beginning of the book was so incredibly engrossing with its description of Del and Kate's friendship and experiences. I loved the descprition of the farm house and the root cellar and all the the creepy little kid things that Kate experienced while being friends with Del.
However, I disliked Kate as a person because she lied about EVERYTHING. As a grown woman, she continued to lie all the time, lying that she and Del were even friends to protect herself from being involved with the murder. She lived with Del's murder hovering over her, knowing that she knew so many details about Del...her tattoo and what it might signify. I was so disappointed in her...I understand her lying as a 10 year old girl because she was scared, but as a grown 41 year old woman, it just made me so angry to read.
Some parts of this book were so wonderful. The last 30 pages or so, were just so infuriating.
It is a very quick read, it is suspensful at times, but the end is definitely a let down.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Permanent Collection
Comment: Rather than reiterate the plot of this amazing mystery, this is why I recommend this book.
I was at the library looking for good reads and noticed
"Promise Not To Tell" set apart from the shelved books. I thought, I'll try.
Oh, what a marvelous book! I became so intrigued by Del, and the
myriad of characters in local Vermont color..........convinced that they were in part all real at some point in the author's life.
That is the gift of Jennifer McMahon's writing.
I will purchase this book new and it will become part of what I call my permanent collection. It was simply that exceptional.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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.
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