I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie

What happened to Amanda Holmes?

Twenty years ago, she was found bludgeoned in a rowboat at the MacAllister family’s Camp Macaw. No one was ever charged with the crime.

Now, after their parents’ sudden deaths, the MacAllister siblings return to camp to read the will and decide what to do with the prime real estate the camp occupies. Ryan needs to sell. Margaux hasn’t made up her mind. Mary believes in leaving well enough alone. Kate and Liddie—the twins—have opposing views. And Sean Booth, the groundskeeper, just hopes he still has a home when all is said and done.

But it’s more complicated than a simple vote. The will stipulates that until they unravel the mystery of what happened to Amanda, they can’t settle the estate. Any one of them could have done it, and each one is holding a piece of the puzzle. Will they work together to finally discover the truth, or will their secrets finally tear the family apart?

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I think one of my favourite things to read about is when someone wealthy passing away and their family is left to deal with dividing the estate, in which the deceased has added in some special clause to throw the family through a loop. I love reading about the drama and how the family reacts.

This is what happens in I’ll Never Tell, but there is also so much more! 20 years ago, Amanda was found left for dead at summer camp. The case was never solved and everyone has their own thoughts on who is the prime suspect. In current day, siblings Ryan, Margaux, Mary, Kate and Liddie, meet at their family’s summer camp to go over their father’s will.

This was such an unique read because you got to read hour by hour what Amanda was doing the night before she was found and seeing where everyone was at that time. Today, the siblings are going crazy because they believe one of them is guilty. Turns out they are all guilty of keeping secrets, which of course get unveiled.

My only negative and the reason I’m not giving this a 5, is because with the four female siblings, I found them to be very confusing and hard to tell apart. There was a few times where I had to go back to the beginning chapters to see which female they were talking about. I probably missed some of the background of the characters because I thought Mary was Kate or visa versa.

4 calculators out of a potential 5. I’ve read Catherine McKenzie’s previous novel, The Good Liar, but I’ll Never Tell just blows it out of the water. I would highly recommend this one and especially during the summertime!

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