Review: Promise Not To Tell

Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon

· Paperback: 256 pages
· Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (April 10, 2007)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 0061143316
· ISBN-13: 978-0061143311

Kate’s on three weeks leave but her life is suddenly very busy. Hippies, painful memories, murder, forbidden love, school bullies, memory loss and a ghost.

A wonderful, intricately woven tale encompassing the theme coming of age played out on an underlying thread of mystery and supernatural suspense.

I found this an easy read, finishing the book in two sittings. The plot was well paced with lots of foreshadowing throughout leading to big payoffs later in the book. The logic is impeccable making it simple for the reader to suspend their belief and escape into the world created by the author.

41 year old Kate Cypher reluctantly returns home to the hippie commune of her childhood to decide the future of her mother who is fast descending into the hell of Alzheimer’s. On the night she returns, a young girl is murdered in the woods, eerily similar to 30 years before when Kate’s secret best friend, Deloise Griswald, was murdered.

Nearly everyone who lived in and around the New Hope commune in Vermont, back in 1971, still lives there in 2002 when the new murder victim is found in the woods, the home of the town’s legendry ghost, the Potato Girl.

Moving between the past and the present, McMahon leads us through the school bullying of Del, the tribulations of 10 year old Kate trying to fit in, life in a commune, and of Kate growing up and moving away to fail at a marriage and at having a family of her own. It’s only when Kate’s mum becomes a danger to herself does she return to Vermont and history comes back to haunt her.

The plot twists are excellent and not telegraphed although I figured out who the killer was before the end. I didn’t figure out all the reasons behind the killings so it was still an exciting climax when the whole picture was revealed.

The revelation’s of the town’s legend was particularly well done. Del becoming the Potato Girl, a ghost haunting the surrounding area, fed from tales of the superstitious middle-America, showing how fiction can grow to become larger than life. Kate’s sceptical outlook laid a perfect platform for the introduction of the supernatural elements.

With sub-plots a plenty, twists and turns (many unseen), most readers should enjoy this. I did.