This one is pretty darn close to too tense to read before bed. I don’t remember how I found out about Ivar Leon Menger’s What Mother Won’t Tell Me. That’s usually a pretty good sign that I found it in a bookstore. Those are still places to linger while trying to find something a bit different. This one is a page turner, but also one that I’m not quite sure how to classify. It may be horror but the “monsters” are all humans. I almost don’t want to describe the plot because it is so exquisitely suspenseful. When I’m reading to get sleepy, I often find myself trying to grasp pieces of a story that are floating away like dandelion fluff, unable to put them back together. Then I know it’s time to close my eyes and re-read a paragraph or two tomorrow. That never happened with this one.
I think I can say this much without giving it away: Juno lives on an isolated island in a lake with her parents and younger brother. The parents warn them of the murderous strangers who are seeking them—the father was a states’ witness against a powerful criminal family—so the children must never be seen on the island. If anyone happens to come, they must hide and remain quiet until they leave. They have to practice drills in case this ever happens. It gets pretty creepy, from nearly the first page. I would also advise against reading the back cover copy, since it will give some of it away. I tend not to read the copy until after I read a book—you just never know what they might let slip.
This is a story about perseverance and discovery. Discovery that is full of tension. It’s a reminder of how precarious childhood is. There are plenty of twists in the story and chapters generally end with information that creates a tension that the next chapter will only partially resolve. The end result is a story that pulls you along and is pretty chilling. I’m not sure if I’d call this horror or not. If there’s a good case for a thriller being a separate genre, this could be useful as evidence. Even if it’s not horror, it is likely to appeal to many who read in that genre. There’s nothing speculative about it. Perhaps that’s why the story scares in the way that it does—this could happen. What happens? Like mother, I won’t tell you either.