Teen investigates cold-case murder in terrific page-turner.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
some
Two people are murdered; very short descriptions of bloody crime scenes. A girl is briefly abducted. A car chase ends in a death. Teens are threatened by adults brandishing guns. During a scuffle over a phone, a girl is punched in the head. A minor adult character was fired from his job for sexual harassment.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Tripp's drinking to try to deal with his emotional battles is a major storyline. Brynn finds him with a nearly empty bottle of whiskey. On one occasion he fills a flask with his father's Jim Beam Scotch whiskey before leaving for the day. Adults drink. Teens get drunk at a party and drink at a school event. Some boys smoke in the school stairwell, and one teen's clothes stink of cigarette smoke.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
Broken friendships can be mended and painful misunderstandings between family members can be healed.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Brynn has all the expected qualities of a fictional girl detective (smart, courageous, and persistent), but this story allows readers to see how Brynn successfully deals with trying, and sometimes failing, to do her sleuthing while working in an adult setting like Motive. Tripp is more often than not a bad role model. He drinks heavily, has a broken and unforgiving relationship with his father, has lied to the police. But he confronts these issues as story unfolds and finds strength of character to work on resolving them.
Diverse Representations
some
Brynn and Tripp are White. Brynn's friend Mason and her younger sister Ellie are queer. It's not an issue with any of the students at Saint Ambrose when Mason takes his new boyfriend Geoff (who reminds Brynn of Chidi from The Good Place) to the winter dance. The ethnicity of other characters, both major (Shane Delgado and Nadia Amin) and briefly mentioned (Ramon d'Arturo, Pavan Deshpande, Sanjay, and Spencer Okada) could be assumed from their names.
Brynn's work at Motive gives readers a bit of an inside look into how a nationally syndicated podcast is produced.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Karen M. McManus'Nothing More to Tell has an intrepid teen sleuth, an unsolved murder, a shocking false identity, and a slew of plausible suspects. After four years in Chicago, Brynn Gallagher has moved with her family back to Sturgis, Massachusetts, and she'll be finishing her senior year at Saint Ambrose, her former private school. But coming back isn't always easy for Brynn, as she sometimes finds it hard to reconnect, especially with her former best friend, Noah "Tripp" Talbot. When budding journalist Brynn gets an internship at the true-crime podcast Motive, she immediately pitches the producers a story idea. Four years ago, her English teacher had been found bludgeoned to death in the school's woods, and his killer has never been found. As the investigation into his death unfolds, it's not long before Brynn realizes that the murderer is almost certainly someone she knows. Two murders are briefly described (a head covered in blood), teens are threatened by adults brandishing guns, and there's occasional profanity ("f--k," "a--hole," "s--t," and "damn"). Tripp's abuse of alcohol and the reason behind his drinking is a major storyline. Brynn and Tripp are White, several characters are queer, one major character is presumed Latino, and another, Asian American.
Mild content, in page turning thriller full of twists and turns
This is a page turning mystery that I really enjoyed and read in a sitting. The content, includes mostly swearing and drinking. The violence is mild with only a few guns held.
There are many twists and turns in this mystery. There is a fair amount of language including the religious variety. Several main characters drink a lot of alcohol regularly. The content of conversation is often more mature which is why I rated it 14 and up. The ending is weaker than the rest of the book which is why I gave it 4 stars.
What's the Story?
NOTHING MORE TO TELL begins in a place Brynn Gallagher thought she'd never see again: Saint Ambrose High School. After four years away in Chicago, she and her family have returned to Sturgis, Massachusetts, and Brynn will be finishing her senior year at the private school. While she's welcomed back by some old friends, she gets a chilly reception from her former best friend, Tripp Talbot. Before she left Saint Ambrose, Tripp had publicly accused Brynn of stalking him, something she still finds terribly hurtful and inexplicable. Equally as puzzling to Brynn is discovering that scholarship student Tripp has become friends with the rich and entitled Shane Delgado and Charlotte Holbrooke. There's a bright spot in her return, as aspiring journalist Brynn is hired as an intern by the true-crime podcast Motive. Brynn immediately pitches a story idea to producers: an investigation into the unsolved murder of Saint Ambrose teacher William Larkin. Bludgeoned to death in the school's woods, his body had been found by Tripp, Shane, and Charlotte. And it was Tripp who provided alibis for both Shane and Charlotte. Could this, wonders Brynn, be the reason behind their unlikely friendship? As the investigation unfolds, Brynn goes undercover at Saint Ambrose for Motive,and her list of suspects is narrowed to just one.
Author Karen M. McManus takes a popular storyline (spunky teen solves murder) and gives it a sparkling refresh with complex characters and a plot certain to keep readers guessing. Nothing More to Tell will appeal both to readers looking for a light-on-the-blood-and-gore mystery and those looking for a can't-put-it-down read with characters who are dealing with tough issues like teen alcoholism, family dysfunction, and broken friendships.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the mending of relationships is handled in Nothing More to Tell. Have you ever had a falling out or misunderstanding with someone close to you? What happened? Were you able to mend the relationship?
Tripp has a serious problem with alcohol. Does your school or community have programs to help teens battling addiction? Do you think more can be done help?
Are you a fan of true-crime podcasts or TV shows? Which are your favorites?
Available on:
Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
Last updated:
July 27, 2022
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
