YOUth Review: The Promise by Katherina Diamond

The Promise is a thriller, young adult genre written by Katherina Diamond. The story starts with a young woman being strangled to death in her own house. Two detectives, Imogen Grey and Adrian Miles, start investigating. After another young woman dies, they find the horrifying truth that the killer likes to sleep with his victims before killing them. To stop the killer, Imogen volunteers to act as a bait. She would post pictures of herself and upload them to the dating app that the two other women used before dying. As all of this is happening, a new boy, Connor, moves from the Unites States to England with his abusive father. The house they moved into was Jacob’s, Connor’s dad, old house. In the backyard of his house, there was a treehouse that Connor would go to to escape his father’s anger. From there Connor could see into his neighbour’s house. The girl who lived there caught his eye, and he would often go up there and watch her. One day, he saw something he shouldn’t have seen. After many unfortunate events happen, Connor stumbles onto something that helps the police catch the killer.

After finishing reading this book I felt a sense of awe and I felt I wanted more. Once I grabbed the book, I couldn’t put it down as I didn’t want to stop reading. I wanted to find out who was the killer, and why he killed in such a disturbing way. I had an idea at the beginning on who the killer was, and to my surprise, it was someone who I didn’t even suspect for a moment. It wasn't until the end when I connected all the dots and it finally hit me. This book quite literally had me on my toes.

The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. The final POV of Connor was so quick and it left many questions that were not answered in the book. I feel more attracted to the POV of Connor more than the main character, Imogen. The last chapter seemed rushed and unrealistic considering the circumstances. In the nicest way possible, the ending ruined the whole book. It was such an unsatisfying ending. Overall though, the book was very entertaining and I enjoyed it.

Written by Tania P.