Promise Not To Tell

I finished Jennifer McMahon's Promise Not To Tell last night.  It had all of my favorites, except naked grown men.  I love a secretive past along with a haunting of a child.  This was an easy read packed full of mysteries and secrets of little girls.  The past of school nurse Kate collides with another little girl when Kate is forced to return home after years away to care for her mother's declining health.  A little girl, Opal reminds Kate of a past she has tried to forget and leave behind.  Opal looks like a childhood friend of Kate that was murdered years before in the woods next to the hippie commune where Kate lived.

Kate's childhood friend was found dead in the woods, stripped of her clothing and of a tattoo that only Kate and the boy that gave the tattoo knew about.  The murder happened after a severe day of bulling the suspect.  Kids threw rocks at the little girl, called her names and tried to basically do anything to make her feel like crap.  The girl took it with a laugh and was not bothered until she found out that Kate had told her secret of the tattoo on her chest.  Feeling betrayed the little girl runs off as fast as she can.  Later she is found dead. The case is never solved and the killer still roams free.

Flash to current day at the hippie commune where Kate grew up. Kate's mother has Alzheimer mixed in with a little ghostly possession that Kate determines to be her long dead childhood friend that everyone made fun of.  Another little girl is found dead on the night of Kate's return. This forces Kate to confront the past she had ran away from long ago.  She revisits childhood friends in search of the truth as to what happened to her best friends years before.  She learns more about her friend than she ever knew, and slowly begins to learn about the new kid in her life, Opal.

Everything comes together smoothly for a read that is hard to put down.  Just when you think you know the answers, something else comes up.  Kate ends up being the hero along with the ghost of her dead friend.  I do not want to give too much away plus it is hard to fill in all the details when there are so many small things that add up in the ending.

The characters are all special in their own way.  They are very believable with their own pasts, flaws and personalities that shine through while reading.  Everything just fits each person and setting.  Seamless flow from past to present.  I can not wait to read another from McMahon.  Only question is should I go with Island of Lost Girls or maybe Dismantled?