(49)I'll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie

Saturday, July 13, 2019





The McAllister Children have all returned to their summer home, Camp Macaw.   None of them have spent any time at the camp since their parents died.  They have gathered at the camp for the reading of the will.   Each of them has their own motives for being there, for wanting to sell the camp.  And each of them is thrown for a loop when the will is read.   The siblings have to come to terms with an incident from all those years ago.  A friend and fellow camp counselor was murdered one summer.  The police never found the murderer, but their father had his suspicions.  Before they leave Camp Macaw at the end of the weekend they have to decide if their brother, Ryan, is guilty of killing Amanda.   If the siblings vote Ryan "guilty" then his share of the camp reverts to Sean Booth, the groundskeeper.    It will be a long weekend of memories, both good and bad. And at the end of the weekend, one of them will be revealed as a murderer.  Will it be Ryan or someone else?

Nothing says summer like summer camp.  I'll Never Tell puts a fresh spin on a classic camp story.   I wouldn't say that the McAllister children are really close.  Like most siblings, they are connected because of their bloodlines.  Not because they genuinely like each other.  I didn't really like the way their father was manipulating them and the situation from the grave.  He didn't seem like a real "warm, fuzzy" kind of guy, which could explain all of the current personalities.  As a reader, it was hard to like some of them, too.  Ryan, for example, was a tough character to like.   I couldn't quite figure out Sean Booth.   The author goes back and forth between past and present. I understood "past" Sean better than I understood the "present" Sean.  I often wondered if he was the person who murdered Amanda. -- CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS -   I was surprised and pleased with the way things turned out.  And I always love being surprised.

Bottom Line - Remember of all of those horror movies in the 80's that were set at summer camps?  I got a real "80's horror movie" vibe from I'll Never Tell, and I thought it was great!   I haven't always liked Catherine McKenzie's books, but I sure did enjoy I'll Never Tell and I am sure that you will, too!


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