Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Avon (January 21, 2021)
From Goodreads.com: Not all secrets are meant to come out…
Twenty-five years ago, on Halloween night, eight-year-old Kelly Doherty went missing while out trick or treating with friends.
Her body was found three days later, floating face down, on the banks of the Creggan Reservoir by two of her young classmates.
It was a crime that rocked Derry to the core. Journalist Ingrid Devlin is investigating – but someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. As she digs further, Ingrid starts to realise that the Doherty family are not as they seem. But will she expose what really happened that night before it’s too late?
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My Rating: 1 star out of 5
As I sat here and finished this novel, I couldn't help but wonder to myself why I bothered. There were just so many problems with this one that it took me days to finish as I kept putting it down and reading something else and coming back to it. With a plot that moves at a snails pace, and characters that have nothing remotely likable about them (especially the main character), this is the first story of 2021 that I wish I had passed on.
Let me begin by telling you about the main character Ingrid. It isn't bad enough that she is sleeping with a married man (her boss nonetheless), but time in again in this novel she is threatened or has acts of vandalism committed against her things. And each time? She puts off telling the police. In fact, after the first instance, she not only doesn't tell the police, but she simply takes her car to her mechanic and has it fixed. The second instance? When it happens inside her home? She takes herself off to have sex, then spends the night in a hotel before deciding you know what? I do need to call the police and let them help.
The supporting cast of characters was no better, with the only one even being mildly interesting being the one who had been convicted of murder all those years ago (and honestly, the way he was described coupled with what the police considered evidence made the whole case against him ridiculous in my opinion as did the fact that he was released from prison after supposedly being given a life sentence).
As I mentioned above, the majority of this book seems to plod along. Told from multiple viewpoints (which somehow manage to make certain secondary characters even more unlikable) there never seems to be any real tension or moments that grip the reader and leave them wanting more. We just seem to be getting the same information over and over again until about 70% of the way in when things FINALLY get interesting. Only to end in the most predictable way imaginable.
Overall, while I may give this author a second chance down the road, it won't be right away.
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.
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Ask No Questions is available from Amazon.com
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