Book Review: What Mother Won't Tell Me by Ivar Leon Menger

Juno is raised on an unpopulated remote island with her brother Boy by her father and mother. Her parents protect them obsessively from anyone outside the island. They live their lives in perpetual fear of outsiders, whom they call strangers. It seems certain elements are searching for her father to take revenge. They have devised seven commandments that the kids have to live according to for their safety. But as Juno becomes sixteen, she resents her parents and her solitary life. She wants to get away from the island and learn about the outside world. When one stranger spots her, their lives fall like dominoes, and she finds reasons to suspect all she knew about her entire life were lies.

What Mother Won't Tell Me is a psychological thriller that was originally written in German by Ivar Leon Menger. The book, I feel, will be more appealing to readers in the young adult category as it addresses many issues faced by teenagers. The plot reads like a modern fairy tale, with many familiar and stereotypical fairy tale tropes making frequent appearances in it. Its upcoming translation into English is done by Jamie Bulloch. I received an advance review copy from the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, through Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback.

The story is narrated in the first person from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Juno. We follow her uneventful but paranoid life on the island under the strict supervision of her parents and her interactions with Boy, her twelve-year-old brother. We sensed a certain 'not-ok-ness' in her situation from the word go. The mock drills, where the kids are fed with placebos when they are compromised, or the weekly arrival of the old postman when the kids have to stay in hiding—everything reeks of hidden secrets. The book does a great job of portraying the confusion and angst of teenage Juno, which makes her eager to explore her life on the island, her past life, and the world outside.

The narration is fast-paced and thrilling, and the author never holds back any punches, delivering many hard ones to the reader regularly. To his credit, many of them landed fair and square. He has used the darkness of the theme and the setting of the lonely island to narrate a claustrophobic story. I loved his parallels with fairy tales, especially Thumbelina, which is referenced many times in the plot. The lonely princess and the brave prince to the rescue themes are effectively used in the narrative and even subverted a few times.

My only gripe with the writer is that he chose to show his hands quite early in the game. When he did that, I expected that he had kept a secret trump card up his sleeve and that he planned to deal while I least expected it. Alas, the wait for that final reveal turned out to be a red herring, and the story, nevertheless a strong and satisfying one, ended without any spectacle. What My Mother Won't Tell turned out to be a reasonably well-told suspense thriller that also delves into teenage psychology. The translator also needs a pat on the back for expertly doing his job when the plot uses multiple languages, including English.