Promises and Other Lies by Sue Whiting

Title: Promises and Other Lies

Author: Sue Whiting

Genre: Contemporary/Mystery

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 1^st September 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 304

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: A gripping middle-grade mystery from Australian author Sue Whiting, in which a small coastal town is torn apart by more than just a bushfire.

One year on from a devastating bushfire, the small coastal town of Wangaroo Bay is still reeling. Fletch’s family lost their home, and his best friend Immie lost her beloved dad, a volunteer firefighter. Throughout it all, Fletch and Immie have had each other …

Immie’s grandparents push for the Bayfire investigation to be reopened, but Fletch’s mum, dad and elder brother Cooper want to put the past behind them. And when a local, one of their own, is charged with arson, emotions flare, sides are taken, and promises – and secrets – are at stake.

The fire has already destroyed Wangaroo Bay, now its aftermath threatens to destroy Fletch and Immie and their families too.

~*~

Arson. Bushfires. Family. Crime. A year ago, Wangaroo Bay was devastated by a massive bushfire that destroyed the town and resulted in the death of Immie Robson’s father, Jack. The town was torn apart by the bushfire and what happened next, even though the past year has shown the community spirit as they support the people who lost their homes and Immie’s family through their grief. For the past year, Immie has had her best friend Fletch to help her through it all. Through school., through everything.

But there are still unanswered questions, triggered by a podcast and Immie’s grandparents, Ama and Akong pushing for the fire investigation to be reopened – but at what cost? Why are they so eager to reopen old wounds that will harm the entire town? Especially as Fletch’s parents and brother Cooper are eager to put the past behind them and move on. Secrets are bubbling along, with whispers that arson caused the fire. Nobody knew how the fire started, or who started it. Yet now, a year later, a local has been arrested for the fire and emotions flare throughout Wangaroo Bay, splitting loyalties and dividing the town.

Friends are pushed apart, and Immie finds herself more alone than ever before. Even with Aunty Bree and her son, Coby, living in the caravan behind Immie’s grandparents’ house. Immie feels torn between family loyalty and supporting Fletch as the story unfolds, but everyone is ready to mark the local who has been arrested as the villain. Ready to judge and make sure that person is blamed. But as Immie, Fletch and Aunty Bree dig into things, there are inconsistencies that convince them the direction the town is looking in could be wrong. Some things don’t fit, and it feels like everyone is just looking for someone to blame. They want justice, but is it worth going after the easy or convenient target?

The collective trauma of the town reverberates off the page, and shows how trauma, tragedy, and a desire for justice can impact a community and individuals. It also explores the lengths one person will go to so they can frame someone just to get what they want. To make sure they’re not caught. Everyone in this novel has secrets, makes promises, and lies for different reasons. They all want to protect family and friends, and slowly, things will come out. Things will explode and come to a head as the novel moves along, where the past and present start to collide through the different perspectives used in the novel to build the tension and deliver the clues to the mystery at the heart of the novel.

It’s a little darker than some middle grade, as it deals with crime and grief, so might even nudge into that early young adult readership. It’s got raw emotions that ebb and flow for the characters. Big emotions that thirteen-year-olds like Immie and Fletch shouldn’t have to be dealing with. Yet they are dealing with it. It has affected both of them, and Immie is finding her rock from the past year is being pushed away from her based on assumptions and rumours. The events that preceded the novel have affected everyone, and they mirror the 2019-2020 bushfires that preceded COVID.  It brings together the anxieties of this time and the ongoing anxieties we have in Australia about bushfires as the book navigates issues around the environment and climate change, cultural diversity and being part of a community during hard times. And in some ways, it is a story about healing and acceptance, about moving on and finding out the truth. Every aspect of this book will speak to readers aged ten and older at different levels and in different ways that will create different meaning for all individual readers. Middle grade crime and mystery seems to be growing in popularity, and I’m really enjoying these stories. They’re intriguing, and give a different perspective on crime and mystery than we may usually get. Where we see how it affects the kids involved or whose families are linked to the mystery or crime. This is a book that captures the rawness of grief and the aftermath of crime and arson. As well as the lengths some people might go to so they can alter how a community sees the people within it. This is a very intriguing book that I think readers of crime and mystery will devour and come to understand the intricacies of suspecting people or assuming things without all the facts.