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For the MacAllister kids, summers always revolved around Camp Macaw, the business their parents have run for years.  Now that the elder MacAllisters have died, their children—now adults—are reuniting for the reading of their father's will and to figure out what to do with the prime property on which Camp Macaw sits.  With varying feelings about the camp, their parents, and each other, the five MacAllister siblings have different ideas about what to do with the land.  Prepared for some heavy debating, the kids are nevertheless shocked by the caveat their father gives in his will.  Before any of them can do anything with Camp Macaw they have to work together to solve a mystery.  

Twenty years ago, the bludgeoned body of 17-year-old Amanda Holmes was found in a rowboat at Camp Macaw.  The crime has never been solved.  Until it is, none of the MacAllisters can collect their inheritances.  

As the MacAllisters dig into their collective past, they will unearth long-kept secrets that will either bring them together or tear them apart forever.

I love a good secrets-from-the-past-haunting-the-present story, so the plot summary of I'll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie instantly caught my attention.  Unfortunately, the novel's execution doesn't quite live up to the promise of its tantalizing premise.  The mystery is compelling enough, but the characters are almost wholly unlikable and the plot is predictable enough that I guessed the culprit almost from the beginning.  Plus, the story is seriously depressing.  Overall, then, I didn't end up loving this one.  It ended up being just okay for me.

(Readalikes:  A hundred titles should be coming to mind, but I'm drawing a blank.  Help?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language, violence, depictions of illegal drug use, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of I'll Never Tell from the generous folks at Lake Union Publishing via those at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!