Tell the Truth Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta- Book Review

I have been sitting here thinking about how I describe the book Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil and the first word that came to mind was- Wow! This had to be one of wildest mystery rides I have been on since starting to read mysteries a few years ago.

The book begins with an explosion of a school bus with HS students between England and France. A suspended cop Bish, rushes to the scene because his daughter was on the bus when it happened. Also on the bus was a 17 year old Arabic girl, who also happens to be the daughter of one of the most notorious bombers in history. After being locked in a cupboard, the 17 year old girl has run from the scene and has become the number one suspect in the bombing.

It is up to Bish to figure out what is happening and to figure out why this bus, what is the role of the 17 year old girl, and navigate both race issues and country issues. The other fun aspect to the story is Bish is also the man that helped arrest the girl's mother.

In order to solve everything, he must go back to the girl's mother and the rest of the family. He may find out things about his own daughter in the process.

This is a big book. Not long necessarily, but filled to the brim with issues to tackle wrapped up in this bombing mystery. The great thing is the mystery navigates all of these things well and sticks to a reality based story. There were no turns that seemed unreal and all felt natural.

I loved the way the book addressed race too. Bish must gain the trust of people who don't trust him, don't necessarily tell him the truth, nor do ever turn toward helping him. Bish is almost always the enemy and the outsider simply because of the fact he is a police officer, even though he is connected to them in other ways. The family he needs to rely on will lie right to his face simply due to trust. Navigating who is telling the truth and who wasn't was part of the fun. No one was a caricature.

I really enjoyed this one, but note it is one that cannot be read quickly or is a semi pay attention mode. You have to follow this story as much as you can and get to know each character. It was lots of fun.

I gave this one 4 stars.

I want to thank NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the advanced copy. I received it in exchange for an honest review. I also had the final copy which I purchased myself and jumped between the two.