An Unthinkable Thing

Wow!! This book grabbed me with its premise and kept me eagerly turning the pages with its writing, twists, sweet main character, and its deliciously eerie feel. 

Canadian author Nicole Lundrigan pulls her readers into a mystery set in the summer of 1958 that is centred around 11-year-old Tommie Ware. Tommie was raised by his aunt Celia but when she is murdered, he is sent to live with his mother who is a live-in housekeeper at nearby Henneberry Estate, the lavish home of a prosperous family. But Tommie soon learns that money does not equal happiness and by the end of that summer, he is charged with the murder of the Henneberry family. 

The story alternates between Tommie's POV, newspaper articles, court transcripts and radio bits and the story is filled with red herrings to keep readers on their toes. Adding to the drama, Lundrigan includes themes of family, class, bullying and privilege and at the centre of this story is Tommie. Readers will be hard-pressed not to feel for this naïve boy who finds himself at the mercy of the adults around him and one nasty teenager.

This is how slow burn is done! Lundrigan keeps her readers riveted to a story filled with twists and a sinister vibe. This is a story about family dysfunction, privilege, the importance of community, and the dark side of power. Don't miss this unputdownable story which is in stores now!

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for my advanced copy provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Author: Nicole Lundrigan

Genre: Suspense, Canadian

Type and Source: Trade Paperback from publisher

Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada

First Published: April 12, 2022

Opening Lines: When I was a young boy, my aunt 

often told me a lie makes things worse. 

But she never explained that the truth can, too.

Book Description from GoodReads: A tragedy brings a young boy into the home of a "perfect" family--one whose dark secrets begin closing in, until a horrifying moment changes everything.

Tommie Ware’s life is turned upside down the summer of 1958, just after his eleventh birthday. When his beloved aunt—the woman who raised him—doesn’t return after her shift as a night nurse and is later found murdered, there is only one place left for Tommie to go: “home” to the mother who handed him over the day he was born.

All is not as it seems behind the hedgerow surrounding the lavish Henneberry estate where Tommie’s mother, Esther, works as live-in housekeeper. Her employers have agreed he can stay until she “sorts things out,” but as she's at the family’s beck and call around the clock, Tommie is mostly left on his own to navigate the grounds, the massive house, and the twisted family inside.

Soon he is enmeshed in the oppressive attentions of matriarch Muriel, who is often heavily medicated, and of fifteen-year-old, Martin, who treats Tommie sometimes like a kid brother, sometimes like a pawn in a confusing game. While Dr. Henneberry mostly ignores Tommie, he also seems eager for him to be gone. Then there’s the elderly neighbour, who may know more about the family's past than anyone else will say.

By summer's end, the secrets and games tighten around Tommie and his mother, until a horrific crime is discovered, and we are faced with an unthinkable question: could an eleven-year-old boy really have committed cold-blooded murder?