Don't I Know You?

fascinating whodunit

In 1976 twelve years old Steven Engels comes home to his family¿s Upper West Side apartment only to discover the corpse of his single mother Gina who is stabbed to death. Stunned not just by his mom¿s violent death, but finding her silently laying there, none of his family members or even his mom¿s boyfriend Phil know what to do with the grieving preadolescent. One year later, the case remains unsolved with Phil still considered a person of interest. Meanwhile a stranger visits schoolteacher Lily Chin to warn her about her fiancé Nickolai Belov. The woman claims to have been Nickolai's former lover and provides Lily the whereabouts of Gina's journal hidden by Nickolai. --- Over a decade later, the Engels homicide remains unsolved and considered by NYPD as a cold case. Meanwhile seventy-three years old Louise Carpanetti knows she is dying, but the cancer is not what worries her. Instead she fears what will become of her childlike fiftyish son Michael when she learns from the news that a break in the Engles murder has occurred. Now she ponders how Michael was involved and what should she tell the police, if anything. --- This fascinating whodunit is told in three parts over a dozen or so years apart. What is interesting is how far reaching the Engels¿ homicide is as many individuals besides Steven are affected even indirectly. Readers will be hooked by the ensemble cast who have been impacted though only the son and the two women ((think of five degrees of separation) provide insight. This is a stunning insightful mystery, --- Harriet Klausner

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

What the heck happened?

I share the other reviewers opinions of this book. I have no idea what happened at the end. The book kept my interest but I was irritated by the ending. I thought the characters were well written and they all had ties, but overall there wasn't much cohesion to the book. And like everyone said, who killed Gina? I am not rereading the thing to try and figure it out because I don't think there's anything there. Reading this was sort of like driving on a road and you're not really sure where its going but you hope its going to come out where you want... but in the end it just peters out into a dead end.

What happened?

I liked this book but after reading the last page I am stumped. I don't know who killed Gina. I have to start reading all over again. I think there should have been a synopsis given at the end ....like answers to the crossword puzzle you can't figure out.

title should be 'Still don't know who did it'

Book was interesting until the end. Did I miss something (?), because I still don't know who did it.

Worst Mystery Ever

I have been reading mystery novels for 35 yrs. There wasn't any real closure in this book. Just who murdered her? The ex-husband, the retarded neighbor or boyfriedn Matthew?

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No text was provided for this review.