Never Tell

Summary (from the publisher): Sixteen-year-old Julia Whitmire appeared to have everything: a famous father, a luxurious Manhattan town house, a coveted spot at the elite Casden prep school. When she is found dead in her bathtub, a handwritten suicide note left on her bed, her parents insist that their daughter would never take her own life.

But Julia's enviable world was more complicated than it seemed. The pressure to excel at Casden was enormous. Abuse of prescription antidepressants and ADHD medication ran rampant among students; an unlabeled bottle of pills in Julia's purse suggests she had succumbed to the trend. And a search of Julia's computer reveals that in the days leading up to her death she was engaged in a dangerous game of cyberbullying against an unlikely victim.

NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced the case is a suicide, but she knows from personal experience that a loving family can be the last to accept the truth. When the Whitmires use their power to force a criminal investigation, Ellie's resistance causes trouble for her both at work and in her personal life. As she is pressured to pursue a case she doesn't believe in, she is pulled into Julia's inner circle--an eclectic mix of overly precocious teenagers from Manhattan's most privileged families as well as street kids from Greenwich Village. But when the target of Julia's harassment continues to receive death threats, Ellie is forced to acknowledge that Julia may have learned the hard way that some secrets should never be told.

Review:  I received a free copy from HarperCollins. 

Never Tell is the fourth in the Ellie Hatcher series, and while I did feel like I may have learned more about Detective Ellie Hatcher herself if I had read the first three books, it in no way impeded my ability to understand the plot of this novel. Never Tell follows the steps of Ellie Hatcher as she investigates the apparent suicide of high schooler Julia Whitmire. What at first glance appears to be an easily explained teen suicide becomes a cover up of drug abuse, poor parenting, rape victims, and a mother desperate to protect her daughter. I was surprised by how little Julia featured in the story, which winds up being more about her best friend Ramona and her family. 

This book reads exactly like a TV episode of Law & Order or CSI. A case that seems straightforward ends up having a plot twist, the detectives' lives are peripheral to the storyline, and it doesn't matter if you've watched the whole season or just tuned in for one isolated episode. I don't usually watch those type of TV shows so this wasn't my favorite read. Additionally, the conclusion of the investigation (which I won't reveal for those who haven't read it) gets preposterously involved and convuluted and seems too far fetched to be believable. 

The case itself was fairly compelling, but my greatest disappointment was Detective Ellie Hatcher's characterization. While Burke attempts to add depth to Ellie's character, it falls flat for me. I wasn't interested in Ellie's relationship with Max, and adding it a pseudo-conflict between the couple did not hold my interest, which lied with the main investigation that the novel was centered around. 

Stars: 3