Please Tell Me




Kathy Stone, a young girl who went missing over a year ago and was presumed by most to be dead, turns up walking barefoot on the side of a dark road with bloodied soles one night. When discovered by a passing motorist, sheā€™s traumatized and mute, unable to tell anyone what happened in words or writing.

That was the opening, and it had my attention immediately!

Kathyā€™s mother, Claire, reaches out to Robin Hart, a former classmate and psychologist to help her daughter. During weeks of play therapy, Kathy draws alarming pictures and zeroes in on a Victorian dollhouse and assortment of six dolls, including one who she mimes violently harming the other dolls in a variety of disturbing ways. When her play mirrors several recent murders that occurred, Robin reaches out to Detective Nathaniel King.

Are the murders connected? Is there a serial killer on the loose?

Things get even more complicated when one of Kathyā€™s play scenarios seems to predict a murder that happens AFTER she returned. How did she know? Furthermore, who do the final two dolls ā€¦ a child and a woman ā€¦ represent? One thing is clear: Playtime is starting to get very real!

Iā€™ll be honest: I was prepared to dislike this book after the COVID pandemic was first mentioned in Chapter 2 (and then repeatedly throughout). The author had a purpose for it that played into the storyline, but it felt a little gimmicky. I also found Robinā€™s therapy technique of narrating Kathyā€™s actions back to her a bit bizarre to listen to, even if that is an actual practice. Those minor issues aside, I was surprised by how much I got sucked into this story!

Omer did a nice job creating the red herrings and sense of visceral unease that put my senses on high alert! He interspersed a few short chapters from the viewpoints of those involved in Kathyā€™s disappearance, while still somehow not giving the whole surprise away. Yes, the events leading up to the ending and the ending itself strayed a little close to Sillyville, as far as believability, but does anyone actually read thrillers for realism? I recommend not taking it too seriously and just have fun with it!

I know some reviewers who are familiar with this authorā€™s prior work complained that it didnā€™t feel like the same author wrote it, but since this is my first book by him, I wasnā€™t burdened by comparisons, so it worked well for me. Iā€™d read him again!

ā˜…ā˜…ā˜… Ā½ (rounded to 4)

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer, NetGalley and author Mike Omer for this DRC to honestly review. Itā€™s due for publication December 1, 2023.

 

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