24.11.12

Book Review: Never Tell by Alafair Burke

When high school student Julia Whitmire is found dead in the bathtub of her family's Greenwich Village townhouse, her left wrist slashed  and a suicide note resting on her bed, Ellie Hatcher and her partner J.J. Rogan, initially write the case off as a suicide. Julia's parents insist that their daughter would never take her own life, but Ellie knows all too well that family members can be the last to accept the truth.
But when Julia's mother appeals to her with the evidence- including the hand-written suicide note she believes her daughter would never have composed- Ellie is confronted with the possibility of a troubled young girl's murder. 
This is the second book that I have read by Alafair Burke and it was just as good as the first. I particularly like how she presents you with the crime scene and the bare facts only; it feels like you almost go along collecting the clues with the detectives.
It appears that Julia Whitmire has slit her wrists in the bath, Detective Ellie Hatcher and her partner Rogan see it as a clear-cut suicide but Julia's mother is adamant that her daughter would not have taken her own life and would never have written the suicide note left behind.
The Whitmires have a lot of money and this means power, Ellie and Rogan have to investigate even though it goes against their instincts. They begin to discover that Julia may not have been as sweet and innocent as her parents believed but does this mean that she was murdered?
Alafair Burke writes with quite a fast pace and you are given a lot of information to take in and analyse. If you can keep up with it then it does add to the reading experience. You are only given a little bit of time to think about something before Burke is hitting you with something else. 
Never Tell is a good, solid thriller. I really enjoyed how the author set the story up, she has you intrigued from the very beginning to end and I look forward to reading more from Alafair Burke in the future.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4/5

Many thanks to Avon for sending me a copy of the book, Never Tell is out now.

5 comments:

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

Not an author I've heard of before, but it does sound like a good read :)

Dot said...

Nikki-ann- It is a good one, I love a good thriller at this time of year!

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a good read. I've never read a book for Burke before, but it sounds like I'm in for a treat.
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Dot said...

Ah that's really nice of you, thank you!

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