Novel that reads like a thriller

Struggling artist Layla finds herself at the wake of her recently deceased father. She has been estranged from her father for most of her life. Together with the mysterious death of her mother when she was only two years old, Layla could have been called an orphan way before her father passed away. But here she is and her half sister Bette is waiting for her, together with her mother and her son. Even though they barely know each other, they invite Layla to their home, where her father has left her something. Something Bette wasn’t willing to reveal over the phone. Knowing that her father was a convicted criminal, Layla feels quite disturbed about this. What could it be?
Bette doesn’t seem all that well and when she announces that she’s going on a roadtrip to get art supplies for her son almost on the other side of the country, Layla decides it is time to start to protect her sister. She travels with Bette to Phoenix, but nothing is what it seems. Are they being followed? Is Bette’s health deteriorating? Will they survive their roadtrip?

I Mean You No Harm is a novel that reads like a thriller. Page by page the reader follows Layla on her journey to figure out what happened to her mother and what kind of mess her sister Bette is in. Every page reveals a new clue, but not enough to be able to guess what is going on. It has caused me to finish this book way more quickly than I was planning to! I couldn’t read it in one go, due to a job requiring attendence and my body needing sleep, but when I found time to read, I did so. Non stop.

Now that I have finished the book and know what happened to Layla’s mother, I do not necessarily feel satisfied. Or perhaps I should say that the novel didn’t exactly blow me away. I liked reading it, discovering every little bit together with Layla, but I didn’t love it. I wasn’t moved by it. And I am afraid I will not remember it in a couple of weeks. Which is a shame, because the story itself does have potential. Perhaps if the book had been bigger and there had been room to shed a little light on the other characters besides Layla, the story would get a little more depth, a little more intensity, a little more impact.

So who is author Beth Castrodale? Castrodale used to be a reporter, until her love for books led her to a career switch. She first worked as an editor. Before I Mean You No Harm Castrodale has written short stories, essays and three novels: Gold River, Marion Hatley and In This Ground.

All in all, I did like reading I Mean You No Harm and would happily recommend it as a nice get-away novel. Do you have some time to kill or want to get your mind off something, do pick this novel. It will work like magic!