Mike Omer's Please Tell Me perfectly blends suspense and needed relief from the tense build up. A great read!

Please Tell Me, Mike Omer

November 7, 2023, Thomas and Mercer, 369 pages

This novel fell into my lap. I decided to join the Council on Aging's newly launched book club and hadn't heard anything about their January pick Please Tell Me. I work full time for a local municipality and I always try to find ways to engage with my departments and local residents outside of conventional "work". This is a great way to do that and merge my two passions, government and reading.

Away we went with this title, which was borrowed from the Library. I love libraries and view them as essential services. They are the sole building in any municipality that every single person in the community has reason to enter, including businesses and non residents. Support public libraries!

Back to the book: Omer's suspenseful tale is a cop drama mystery with a twist: it's told from a more sympathetic and less cynical lens of a child psychologist. I appreciate Robin in this way as she is incredibly relatable, going through her own upheaval in life. We begin with a lost Kathy who is walking in the rain trying to make her way anywhere away from where she has been. She is found by a truck driver who attempts to help but it is clear that Kathy is not going to open up to anyone despite her desperate need to do just that. Then we immediately meet Robin in her element - a playroom working with a child client. The rules of her playroom are spun out there. The kid is in charge. They only do what the kid wants to do. The kid decides and leads the way. And there we go: these two characters are bound to meet and we gear up for the ride.

This is a quick-paced drama exploring the dynamic of family relationships, motherly guilt and narcissistic behaviors of those among us. There are some gory parts, but Omer does not overdo it, thankfully. I couldn't put it down and read this very quickly - I was also feeling the pressure of a deadline given the book club date is fast approaching. Aside from the names (Kathy and Robin don't really fit the 2023 publish date, you know?) I was really drawn in and enjoyed a quick crime thriller. Sometimes with suspense reads, we are so engaged and intrigued that the ending ultimately is a let down, anti-climatic, unbelievable, or too convenient for the author to tie things up. I'm happy to say that didn't happen here! I very much enjoyed the red herrings thrown in (I definitely fell for one), the interconnected nature of the characters, the not overly-done relationship building, and the real look into Robin - a psychologist hurting internally as well and just looking to do a little good in the world. Isn't that all of us?

Please Tell Me filled out the third spot in my #2024bookchallenge which is to read a book set in each U.S. state. Here we have Indiana! You can view Wyoming and Oklahoma book reviews here. Follow me on Instagram @sequillreviews for more content, engagement and #bookstack fun!

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