Don’t You Cry

Originally published July 2016

If you are planning to hit the beach or pool lounger anytime soon, I found something to keep you company.

Chicago area author Mary Kubica, whose previous work, “The Good Girl” and “Pretty Baby” was met with wild acclaim, has a third hit on her hands with “Don’t You Cry” — a roommate’s-gone-missing-but-maybe-that’s-OK mystery that starts slow but picks up steam to the point where you’ll zip right through the climatic ending.

Set in Chicago and a West Coast Michigan beach town, “Don’t You Cry” introduces readers first to Quinn, a twenty-something, just-out-of-college woman still trying to find herself while doing a tour of duty as a project assistant at a downtown law firm. She’s woken up to discover her roommate Esther isn’t home, but her bedroom window’s open. In November. Not exactly the time you are looking for fresh air.

On the other side of the lake is Alex Gallo, a bit younger at 18 but also trying to make his way, having turned down a college scholarship to stay home and take care of his alcoholic dad. His day-to-day routine take s a turn when a stranger shows up at the diner he works at and what once was a fairly mundane existence has now become ripe with opportunity, maybe even adventure.

Without giving too much away, the story follow both Quinn and Alex as they try to solve their personal mysteries — for Quinn, where (and who!) exactly is her roommate and is it possible someone wants her (Quinn) dead, and for Alex, who exactly is making an entrance into a sleepy tourist town when everyone else has left for the season except for the locals?

This is the kind of story you can imagine telling around the campfire, minus the escaped lunatic with a meat hook for a hand. It’s engaging, and once you hit the halfway point, the plot lines start to really fall in place and move at a fast pace, keeping you glued until the end.

*SPOILER ALERT* … I do have a couple of bones to pick with Kubica about the story’s outcome. Namely …

1. Why the one blue eye and one brown? I could have missed the explanation, but there are a few loose ends that seem to stay loose.
2. Where’s the resolution in Alex’s ending? Boo.
3. It’s too bad there couldn’t have been a chapter from Ben’s perspective, or Ingrid’s for that matter. I get the construct, but would have loved to know what they were thinking.
4. Did Dr. Giles have anything to do with anything?

Regardless, it’s a great story that is perfect for the beach bag or even the bleachers at soccer practice when school kicks into gear in another couple of months.