I’ll Never Tell - Phillips East - Blog Tour

  

Oh my goodness! The tension oozes from every page here, that sense of knowing that something is very wrong but you just can’t put your finger on it. And so you just carry on reading and reading for you can’t put this book down until you know exactly what’s happening.

‘I’ll Never Tell’ is a psychological thriller from that mistress of the genre, Philippa East and I think her books get better and better. What could be more unnerving than the suggestion of unruffled domesticity that is clearly out of sync somewhere along the line but it’s all bubbling underneath the surface. Is Paul’s devotion a tad too devoted? Was it just me who found his relationship with Chrissie a bit creepy? Is Julia’s workaholicism too much? I mean there’s working late and there’s working late! Is that why Chrissie disappeared? If you want any answers you won’t get them from me! You’ll have to read the story.

There are red herrings as you surmise the details of Chrissie’s disappearance. People you suspect. But this is a psychological thriller. Nothing is as it seems. The story is told from Paul and Julia’s perspectives so we never get Chrissie’s directly. And whilst Paul’s narrative is in the third person, Julia’s is in the first person, an interesting device, which had me thinking - flawed narrator? I found it hard to like either Julia or Paul, perhaps I did to begin with but it didn’t last and maybe I wasn’t supposed to like them? But then you reach the ending and you start to understand.

For fans of the genre this won’t disappoint. There are those experienced psychological thriller readers who may surmise the ending.  Indeed, the clues are there. And there are those who will be open mouthed at the revelations.

It’s taut, efficient writing. Well paced with some effective characterisations. A plot, that in many ways, is hard to second-guess and a gradual escalation of the pressure Paul and Julia find themselves under as the book reaches its conclusion. I felt physically drained by the time I finished the book!

My thanks to HQ stories at HarperCollins for a copy of the book and a place upon the blog tour.