Never Tell: A Novel of Suspense (Ellie Hatcher Book 4)

This is the continuing story of Ellie Hatcher, NYPD Homicide Detective and her partner, Detective Rogan.This time around, the detectives are called to the home of a very wealthy resident, who states she found her daughter dead in the bathtub. The first responders, the Medical Examiner all say the teenager committed suicide as there is also a handwritten note next to her. Ellie also agrees nothing looks out of place and decides there is no reason homicide should get involved. Except.. the girl's mother is adamant that her daughter was murdered.I've been following Ellie Hatcher and Alafair Burke for awhile. Ellie is the type of female detective that I like. She's tough on the outside and has tons of issues to deal with. One of those issues is that her own father committed suicide, so this particular case has a lot of meaning for her. Her partner, Rogan, is brave enough to weather the storms that Hatcher produces with her sarcasm, wit, moods.If you like female law enforcement, will probably really like Ellie Hatcher. Solid 4 stars.

I love Burke’s books, especially the Ellie Hatcher series, and though I can’t quite put my finger on it, this one didn’t seem quite as good as those I’ve read before. Maybe it’s high expectations. It’s a good book, and has some terrific twists and turns, but the mystery ultimately felt a little too far fetched for me.

I had never read any of Burke's other books, so I'm not sure how similar this one is to the others. I read it on my Kindle Fire, and when I started it and saw that there were more than 50 chapters, I almost lost interest right away -- even though it was assigned reading for my book club! But once into the book, the chapters are brief, and you get reeled in to read more. The book was published this year, I think, so its references to modern society are right up to speed (use of social media to detect clues about a crime, etc). The one thing that was dissappointing was that while the author did a good job setting up the storyline, giving the back story, developing characters, BOOM, it rushed to conclude in the final few chapters. Hard to explain, just seemed like the author looked at his/her watch around chapter forty-nine and said Wow, I've got to wrap this thing up! But the overall story is compelling, and the suspense was drawn together nicely. I would recommend this to other suspense fans.

Just finished reading Alafair Burke's latest, Never Tell: A Novel of Suspense. I read about it on a webiste (I can't remember which one), and knowing I thought her last book was fantastic, I picked this one up immediately.Never Tell: A Novel of Suspense is part of a series about Ellie Hatcher, an NYPD detective. I didn't know this upon starting the book and realized quickly that I didn't need to read the previous books in the series to understand what was going on. I wish now that I had read the earlier books, because I loved the characters and really enjoy Alafair Burke's storytelling.The story is about a teenager NYPD detectives assume committed suicide. The girl's mother doesn't believe her daughter would ever kill herself and demands an investigation. Because the family is well connected, they are able to convince the NYPD to investigate and the story takes off from there. The book is very good and will keep you guessing until the end.

Ellie thought the death was a suicide but with prodding from the victim's mother; the case opened up into something more sinister and in the end, a mother's child was still dead. Never Tell is one of those books that you start to read and then can't let it go until you turned the last page. This was a fast-pace and intriguing ride that I did not want to get off. The author has a way with words that made you feel like you were a part of the team as they look for answers to the questions posed in front of them. The suspects were plenty and that kept me guessing as to which way this drama would lead, and boy was I surprised when the facts played out. This is an excellent read and I can't wait for the next book in this in this fabulous series.

I use a standard in my reviews of would I spend this amount of money and time on this book if I knew what I do about it before opening it. On this basis I give it three stars, leaning to the positive side but not walking or running that way. This is not a light novel, nor is there much humor or empathetic character. The life and death of well off New York eastsiders and the interactions with the police at a number of points constitute a complex plot. It opens on a scene of teen suicide and the denial by parents, moves to an elite prep school and the Hamptons, through psychiatrist and lawyer offices, around street kids and contemporary issues of drug testing and use, shelters, and gender and ends in a courtroom. It could be summatrized in the main character's and reader's con clusion, "Things ain't as simple as they seem." In all of this there are no obvious false steps, but there is no real sense of place. This New York could as easily beLos Angeles, Toronto, Chicago or New Orleans. The thirtish, former Miss Teen midwest contestant, rent controlled tenant with live in brother, move in with me boyfriend, "I don't want kids," despite all the talkiness of the novel, does little to reveal her soul, to make the reader "see." Instead we are told, and told, and told. Too much "He felt," "she thought,""she hoped." I'll read more of this author, hope she gives us a bit more action.

I loved the storyline and the characters. It’s was an intriguing “who dunnit?” with tons of twists and turns. I’m great at figuring out who did it... but this book had me guessing till the end and still surprised me. The very best kind of murder/suspenseful mystery story with a little bit of love thrown in.

Somehow I have found myself reading Alafair Burke's series of Ellie Hatcher novels out of sequence, this I think is the fourth in the series (bit confused because the American books appear to have different titles) but only my second. Never mind, I didn’t need to have the whole back story to enjoy this book, and enjoy it I did.Never Tell is the story of what initially appears to be the suicide of a privileged New York teenager, but of course isn't (let's face it probably wouldn’t have made much of story for our two intrepid NYPD detectives if it was!); and its in the murdered girl's bathroom where the twists and turns start as Ellie Hatcher and her partner Rogan unravel the tangled worlds of the privileged and the destitute of the Big Apple. Fast-paced, and of course like all good books it veers to the side of pretty implausible but only just, but this is one that challenges you to get ahead of the detectives to work out who done what, to who and more importantly why (no plot spoilers but by the end of the book some of those you thought were guilty aren't and some of the goodies aren't very good).So why the four stars and not five? Because it is just a bit too fast paced and with that it's a bit thin (probably rushed to meet a publishing deadline) but it's still worth a punt if you want an easy detective read one with old fashioned twists and turns.

I really liked this book. I can see why it is always in the Kindle charts from Amazon !! A great story with lots of twists and turns. I thought I'd guessed who was the baddie but no, I got it wrong !!I liked the author's dedication to her mother-in-law at the beginning and all the readers she named at the end left me breathless !!!There were a few tiny mistakes but ones I overlooked since it was a tale so well told that kept me interested enough to not mind.I was a little disappointed by Ellie, the police detective at the end with a decision she took. I didn't agree with her but I won't say anymore than that.It turns out that this was the 3rd book in a series featuring Ellie but that didn't matter as this easily stood alone and only a couple of passing references were made of prior cases which maybe feature in the other 2 preceding books.This begins with a schoolgirl found dead in a bath who had possibly killed herself but perhaps she didn't. Ellie is sure she has and isn't particularly interested in taking the investigation any further but her partner insists and soon they're caught up in allsorts of intrigue regarding the kids at the private school they attended along with appearances by some kids that live rough.I'll be getting the other books in the series for sure. Loved the cover of this book too. It reminds me of one by Sophie Hannah I like.

This was the first book of Alafair Burke I had read, so was unfamiliar with the style of writing and if the main characters were in previous stories. At the start of the book I couldn't get into the main characters Ellis & Rogan detectives assigned to a suicide / murder case. I just couldn't get the dynamics between them I felt I needed more background of their working relationship. The story developed with many twists and turns differently to how I expected it would and once I got into the story I really enjoyed it.Well deserving of the 4 stars I would definitely read another of this author's books.

As with many of the books I've read on my Kindle in the last twelve months, I bought this because it was cheap. In the past I've stumbled on a few books which have been either free or very cheap and I have really enjoyed and have introduced me to authors I would never have found in normal circumstances.I read this in an afternoon and finished it because I had the time. The story was fairly plausible and not badly written, character development could have done with some work, however it had the requisite twists and turns expected of this genre of novel. I did find that it was one of those books where I wasn't actually that concerned with what happened in the end.I won't be buying any more books by the same author but I must state that with most things in life, this is just my opinion, some people will rate it, I didn't really. I read a lot and it wasn't a favourite.

I normally enjoy Alafair Burke and I would certainly read her again. This one though is a poor effort with very little excitement, a complicated plot and an unsatisfactory ending. In fact I couldnt believe it when I turned the page and it was acknowledgements. It was almost as if someone had torn out the climax. Also the characters were not particuylarly likeable including the heroine who on this occasion seemed a bit slow in thought. One to miss really.