“I think something might have happened to me Saturday night. Something bad.”
Private Investigator Dani Ripper’s client list is nuttier than the Looney Tunes conga line, but she diligently solves one crazy case after another, waiting for a game-changer.
Enter Riley Freeman, 17-year-old honor student.
Saturday afternoon Riley quietly placed a little strawberry sticker on her private area and pretended it was a tattoo. She didn’t tell anyone about it. That night she went to a slumber party that featured drinking and boys. Riley fell asleep, woke up the next day with no reason to think anything happened…
…Until Monday, at school, when a classmate called her Strawberry.
Coincidence or crime? Dani agrees to investigate. And the roller coaster ride begins.
'Promise You Won't Tell?' had a good premise. It had a lot of potential to be a good story. And it was, mostly. There was humor, a smidge of intrigue, and an interesting line up of characters and side stories. However, I feel like the author fell a little short on the believability and the delivery of the potential the story had to offer.
Dani Ripper, Private Eye, was witty in a often times juvenile way. Her offbeat style of sarcasm made it harder to believe the times she tried to be serious. Her partner is portrayed as a spoiled, overly smart, boy but he's not really fleshed out as a character that you can attach to. And her nonexistent secretary with fantastical excuses shows up to save the day? That's enough to wrap your head around until the clients are introduced. The one that matters though is Riley Freeman. A student at a local prep high school Riley thinks that maybe something inappropriate might have happened last weekend while she was staying at a friends home. But she's not certain.
This is where the believability exits the storyline. Some of the things that Dani and her cohorts do to try to solve this case are so unbelievable that it is almost laughable. The level of self confidence that Dani has in herself and the extent to which things go the way she believes they will is just a tad beyond outrageous. I think my biggest disappointment, though not as far stretched from a possible truth as the rest of the story, was the ending.
You might had decided that I didn't like this book. But I did rate it 3 stars. The truth is I wanted to rate it higher. I did enjoy reading it. It was a light, fast, interesting read. Sarcasm doesn't phase me, I tend to use it a lot myself. Outrageous story lines and crazy off the wall happenings are normal for me. Perhaps not to the extent that Dani experienced but I have my own level of genteel insanity to deal with daily. The entire story just never 'clicked' for me. It was interesting. It was good. But there was just too much over the top. I would definitely say it is not a story for just anyone. But as a quick lazy day read it definitely fits.
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