DON'T YOU CRY by Mary Kubica

Synopsis:

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew. 

Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.  

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under Pearl's spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us in the end.

My Thoughts:

Ever since I read THE GOOD GIRL (and I only did so because people would not stop raving about it!), I have been hooked on both psychological thrillers and Mary Kubica. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read DON'T YOU CRY ahead of publication and I couldn't wait to read what she had come up with this time. I deliberately did not read the synopsis ahead of time. I wanted to be surprised at every twist and turn! There is something to be said for reading this way (reading with absolutely no prior knowledge of the book). I found myself shocked and surprised, and Kubica kept me guessing until the very end.

There were both things that I did like and things that I didn't like about DON'T YOU CRY. I love how Kubica wrote the parts of the book that were told from Esther's roommate Quinn's perspective. These chapters kept me on my toes, and painted such an interesting portrait of Esther. While Quinn's initial thoughts were that Esther was a great person who would never hurt or betray Quinn, she changed her tune as the book went on. Artfully done! I didn't know which version of Esther I believed in more. The parts of the book told from Alex's perspective were less interesting. I found those sections slow-moving, and they did not further the overall plot as much as I would have liked. I loved the conclusion, and how Kubica built up the suspense until the very end.

Even though THE GOOD GIRL remains my favourite novel by Mary Kubica, I loved DON'T YOU CRY as well and would recommend it as a great read to anyone who enjoys suspense novels or psychological thrillers. It is well worth adding this one to your beach bag this summer but pack the sunscreen- you won't want to leave the beach until the last riveting page has been read.

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.