Member Reviews
This was a intriguing story, intricately woven together, retelling events of the weeks leading up to their daughter's disappearance from both parents' shady perspectives. Her dad has given it all up to stay at home and coach her musical talents, pushing her to be the very best she can while her mum works all the hours god sends in the law firm she aspires to be made partner. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this advance read copy.
I really enjoyed Philippa East's previous books Safe and Sound and Little White Lies.
I was intrigued by the description of I'll Never Tell and thought it was an interesting story. Whilst it was well written and had lots of twists and turns, I didn't particularly like any of the characters so I wasn't as invested in the book as I was with her previous 2.
This is the new novel by Philippa East and it is as good as I expected. This is a psychological thriller fill of secrets and lots of twists that you don't expect .. and what an ending!!!
A bit of a slow burn. Never the less it’s well written, tense and a good thriller. I did nearly give up at first but so glad I didn’t
Julia and Paul want the best for their daughter, Christie, but when she disappears what caused this. Told from multiple pov to explain why People are the way they are. I enjoyed this but felt a bit deflated by the ending.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc one change for my honest review.
Keep your family close and your secrets closer….
To the outside world, the Goodlights are perfect.
Julia is a lawyer, Paul a stay-at-home dad who has dedicated his life to helping their daughter Chrissie achieve her dreams as a talented violinist.
But on the night of a prestigious music competition, which has the power to change everything for Chrissie and her family, Chrissie goes missing.
She puts on the performance of a lifetime, then completely disappears. Suddenly every single crack, every single secret that the family is hiding risks being exposed.
Because the Goodlights aren’t perfect. Not even close.
Wow this book is tense! Tense enough to give you a migraine. East has a way of writing that flows so well, but is paced to give a really slow drip drip of information. It’s clear from just the day to day activities of the Goodlights that something is ‘off’ and my brain was skittering all over the place to work it out, rather like Bambi on the ice. She pulls off this clever trick, by letting the Goodlights speak for themselves. Their inner talk and actions allow the evidence to pile up; something is badly wrong, but the author withholds just enough that we don’t know what is that is. As I read on, my brain was coming up with more and more questions. What’s with Julia’s parents and their strange attitude towards women’s behaviour? Why is Paul so obsessed with his stepdaughter’s career and so rigid with her regime? Is it the result of a thwarted desire in his own life and will Chrissie snap under the pressure? What’s with the strange background conversations between Julia’s mother and Paul? I’m not surprised at all when Chrissie goes missing, the only surprise is that she didn’t go sooner.
I found Paul’s attitude with Chrissie really disturbing. I understand wanting the best for your child, but this is creepy. Not only does he control her potential career and keep her practicing, he looks after her diet, her free time and leaves her with no privacy - even policing her phone, by checking the screen when a message comes in, to demanding to look through all her messages and emails. Does he have her on such a short lease to prevent something happening, or is he reacting to something that’s happened before? There’s a strange dynamic between Chrissie’s grandmother and Paul. I was disturbed by her attitude towards her daughter and granddaughter and her suggestion that certain behaviours are in the blood and there’s something tainted in their DNA. It’s almost as if they appreciate Paul more than their own flesh and blood. At times she speaks to him as if he’s a member of staff. There are pictures hidden in Julia’s childhood bedroom of a time at university when she appears free and perhaps part of a hippy group, implying experimentation with drugs and promiscuity. Celina is concerned that ‘tainted blood’ has passed to Chrissie and tells Paul ‘I can smell it on her’ giving an unpleasant image of an animal in heat. Was she the instigator of the rigid regime Paul imposed on his stepdaughter or was she merely the gatekeeper? Patriarchies often depend on women to uphold their hierarchy. I felt uncomfortable all the way through this novel, but in retrospect I think this was down to my own experience in an abusive relationship. There’s now something in me that is repulsed by males like Paul exerting power over the women in their family, exerting coercive control and gaslighting those they are supposed to love most. This tells me that the author’s depiction is successful, or it wouldn’t have made me feel this way.
Throughout the novel my brain was drifting back to Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’s response Wide Sargasso Sea and the anti-heroine Bertha Mason. Bertha (whose name is actually Antoinette) is Mr Rochester’s first wife, doomed to a life locked in an attic, because of her unnatural passions and hereditary madness. She works as a contrast to the still and quiet Jane, who was constantly told to rein in her passionate nature when she was a child. Bertha’s fate could have been Jane’s. However, in her book Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys gives Bertha a back story where Rochester marries then rejects the wife who was too passionate in the bedroom and enjoyed his advances - the inference being that a wife should meekly accept sexual advances, but not relish them. I felt this throughout East’s novel, a misogynistic double standard is at play. When we delve into Julia’s inner world we can see how insidious emotional abuse is, because these ideas are running through her head constantly. She doubts her own instincts and worries that her disappearance is a consequence of her failure to ‘behave’ in the way she’s been taught. Paul and Julia don’t fully communicate either, operating in completely different spheres with him at home and her at work. Law is such a demanding career and Julia works constantly, almost like it’s a penance, rarely interacting with Paul or Chrissie and never involved in her daughter’s strict regime. It’s almost as if she’s abdicated all responsibility for her to Paul, but is that choice or a mistaken belief that he’ll do a better job than her? There’s also the shadowy figure of Francis, someone she doesn’t want near her family and seems to fear. This really is a toxic mix, a family who seem shielded from scrutiny by their money and once you delve beyond appearances, are a million miles away from an ordinary family. Will Chrissie be found and is her disappearance down to a malign outside influence as they all suspect? Or is there something deeply wrong at the heart of this family?
I am new to Philippa East's work, so did not know what to expect and went in with little to no expectations. The main story line was quite slow paced until the peak of the storyline and for that reason i did struggle to invest myself within the book.
Regardless, i really enjoyed the writing style and how the story was organised (looking into the past and bringing the reader back into the present day). However, for me this book was too slow and didnt not really reach a climax like i hoped it would.
*Thanks to HQ and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review*
The secrets of a wealthy couple's life are exposed as their musically talented teenager daughter goes missing on the night of a music competition. In part it's a thriller, but it's more of a family drama about the weirdly complicated relationships between house-husband Paul and his daughter, his in laws and his wife. I struggled to warm to anyone in this story - not the husband with a chip on his shoulder, not the entitled parents. Their actions don't make a great deal of sense and the pace was pretty slow throughout. The story was okay, but I wouldn't rush to read anything else by this author as it just failed to grip me.
In my opinion this book was quite good, I thought it could have been better as it was quite slow. I have read a few books by this author and enjoyed them all, but unfortunately I was rather disappointed with this one. I’ll still be keeping my eye out for more in the future.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in a exchange for a honest review.
A fantastic tale of families secrets and tensions and how previous generations can lead to knock on impacts in future people’s lives. Tense and taut and really well written. A strong 4/5.
★★ 2.5 stars
A missing teenager...a family with secrets...
This family drama-psychological thriller started out interesting when teenager Chrissie goes missing after a concert in London. Mum Julia is a lawyer and dad Paul is a stay-at-home dad and this rich suburban family lives in an affluent part of Oxford with Chrissie going to a private academy for school. At 16 years old, Chrissie is incredibly gifted having started playing the violin when she was barely at school.
Paul had dreams of becoming a musical virtuoso but his family came from modest beginnings and therefore didn't have the means. He encourages Chrissie to pursue of what he thought were her dreams too...playing, practising and performing...and hopefully gaining a place at an exclusive boarding school academy for musicians. He spends hours upon hours practising with her in her practise room, set up solely for that purpose. And over the ensuing eight months, Chrissie performs and achieves the next step to becoming Young Musician of the Year.
So when they head to London for her to perform in the finals for this prestigious event, the last thing Paul and Julia expect is for Chrissie to disappear. But after an impromptu fire alarm, there is no sign of their daughter and so they head back to Oxford in the hope she has returned home.
But upon arrival, despite Chrissie's bedroom light on, they find her empty room in disarray with her pohne smashed on the floor...and no sign of Chrissie.
As the story flips between "before" and "after" the event, we find her parents' lives are also littered with secrets (some of which make no sense) and a deluge of lies and deception. Little by little, these secrets begin to break the surface as Paul and Julia are put under intense pressure in the wake of Chrissie's disappearance.
The story started off well but then it just meandered off into...I'm not quite sure. The story was weird, as were the family, and I found it all just a little bit confusing. The family is seriously dysfunctional but their level of dysfunctionality was not overly riveting and I found myself longing for it to end. And when it did...I still found there were unanswered questions.
I'LL NEVER TELL is an average read that started off well but lost its pace and spark. In the end I found it was a little waste of my time because I felt nothing was really resolved.
I'm sure it will appeal to readers who enjoy stories of complex family dramas with a slow building tension throughout.
I would like to thank #PhilippaEast, #Netgalley and #HQStories for an ARC of #IllNeverTell in exchange for an honest review.
This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.
The Goodlights seem the perfect family. Julia is a successful lawyer. Paul is a stay-at-home Dad, devoting his life to their sixteen year old daughter Chrissie who plays the violin & is a talented musician. Paul accompanies her on the piano. They live in a nice area of Oxford & seem to have no worries. Chrissie is taking part in the Young Musician of the Year & after another audition disappears. Julia & Paul are devastated- what has happened to her & why.
The narrative switches between Paul & Julia & over the weeks before the audition. This made for some confusion & certainly shattered the idea of the perfect family. I disliked Julia intensely, although when looking at her family one could understand a bit more of how she ended up the way she was. Paul I found difficult to really get a handle on.
This was an enjoyable read , For me it was a 3.5 rounded up to a 4. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book,
Didn't love this one, just felt abit... meh.
Storyline was OK, nothing too exciting and a slight twist at the end but again, didn't make me gasp. Felt like I didn't really care qhat happened throughout the whole book.
Thanks to Netgally for the ARC!
This is an intense thriller based around a wealthy family, whose teenage daughter goes missing.
16 year old Chirssie is a talented and dedicated violinist and her life centres around her music. Her stepfather Paul, also a music lover, devotes his time to her talent, accompanying her on the piano and organising a strict practice regime. However, when Chrissie reaches the finals of a prestigious youth music compeition she runs away and her parents frantically try to work out where she has gone, and why..
This is a clever story, that goes abck and forth in time, revealing the story from the viewpoint of Chrissie, Paul and her mother and keeps us guessing! I couldn't putb this down until the end and then it all seemed so obvious (even though it wasnt!)
This family drama/ psychological tale follows a rich suburban family, the Goodlights, Julia who is a lawyer, and Paul, a stay-at-home dad. They have a gifted daughter called Chrissie. I found I’ll Never Tell compelling, well-written and riveting with themes that include abuse, secrets and bullying. Really immersive and very highly recommended.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from HQ via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.
I have previously enjoyed books by this author and this was also an enthralling read.
Julia and Paul are an outwardly perfect couple, living in their large house with their teenage daughter Chrissie.. Chrissie is a promising young musician and a Julia is a high flying lawyer. To the outside world, they look like the perfect family. But they aren’t. They all have their secrets. And these secrets will start to be revealed when Chrissie disappears….
This story had a number of twists and turns that kept me on my toes. Would recommend.
This was an exciting read about a family full of secrets and neither of them saying how they really feel. When their daughter goes missing after a music competition it’s a race against time to find out if she has simply run away or if something more sinister has taken place. I spent this whole book not trusting anyone the whole way through and kept changing my mind over what was happening.
Oh my word what a book. The story of a family with some many untold tales. I‘ll never tell was a book I couldn’t put down. The story kept me guessing. Lots of twists and turns in the story line and not the ending I thought.
I felt like I was living in the book with the characters.
Keep your family close, and your secrets closer...
To the outside world, the Goodlights are perfect.
Julia is a lawyer, Paul a stay-at-home dad who has dedicated his life to helping their daughter Chrissie achieve her dreams as a talented violinist.
But on the night of a prestigious music competition, which has the power to change everything for Chrissie and her family, Chrissie goes missing.
She puts on the performance of a lifetime, then completely disappears. Suddenly every single crack, every single secret that the family is hiding risks being exposed.
Because the Goodlights aren’t perfect. Not even close.
This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.
I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.
‘Keep Your Family Close … and Your Secrets Closer’ - cover tagline.
My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘I’ll Never Tell’ by Philippa East.
This family drama focuses on the Goodlights, who from the outside appear to be the perfect family. Yet as readers of domestic noir/psychological thrillers know that it is very likely that things are different once the curtain is lifted.
Julia is a high flying lawyer, while Paul is a stay-at-home father, who has dedicated his life to helping their daughter Chrissie achieve her dreams as a violinist. Then on the night of a prestigious music competition Chrissie goes missing. Did she run away or was she abducted?
It soon becomes clear that the family is deeply dysfunctional. Judith is completely driven by her legal career, has a troubled past, and is holding back a major secret. Meanwhile, Paul is filling all of Chrissie’s time with violin practice. Poor kid.
Judith is also covertly monitoring Chrissie’s online activity as well as reading her personal diary. In this day and age I am sure this happens. Yet Judith is writing summary reports every fortnight to Chrissie’s grandfather. That certainly doesn’t seem right. That sense of wrongness increases when in Judith is in the presence of her father.
The story is told through the perspectives of Judith and Paul moving from the Now to various weeks in the past. Each is plainly indicated on the chapter heading. The shifting between various weeks was a little confusing at times, though I did manage to keep up with the various revelations and piece them together.
Overall, ‘I’ll Never Tell’ proved an engaging read. I felt that Philippa East kept her narrative on track, avoiding the kind of melodramatic elements that some domestic dramas/psychological thrillers can fall into. I definitely will be reading more of her novels.