Here Lies Daniel Tate

When it comes to unreliable narrators, there are few books that manage to do this well. The only stories that could do this that I can think of are ones where it would be fun to imagine if we didn't trust the narrator (ex. The theory where the Harry Potter series ends with Harry waking up in his cupboard, and it all was a dream). Here Lies Daniel Tate, however, is a book that manages to do this concept well. We meet a boy who is running away from a neglectful/abusive mother, and who then tries to con his way into a halfway house. While there, he comes up with the idea that he could pretend to be Daniel Tate, a boy who went missing six years ago. Initially chosen because this boy matches our narrator in age and looks, ‘Daniel' soon finds he got more than he bargained for, as the family seems to love him and give him an opulent life he never would have had. However, Daniel soon realizes that this family is hiding a real secret of their own: what happened to the real Daniel Tate.

This is one book that does the unreliable narrator well. As a reader, we are never quite sure what is coming out of “Daniel Tate's” mouth, including how the story ends. This can make for a fantastic book that leaves you thinking about the lies that we tell others, and even the lies we tell ourselves.

I also, overall, liked the cast of characters in the family. They all have their own problems, and it is interesting to see how they have dealt with their grief. We have those who seem to have become successful, like Patrick the lawyer, to those who were still trying to find themselves in life, like Lexi and Nicholas. They all are written well, with dialogue that suits them and their characters. I also felt a certain amount of sympathy for Daniel and his actions. While I certainly do not condone what he is doing, I'd be lying if I said I would not be at least tempted to make the same decisions. This is the first time he has ever had money or a family that seems to care for him, so I can understand why he would want to stay and see this con through to the end.

There were a few things that I did not like about this book. One would be that I remember the people and the characters, rather than the names themselves. When it comes to the family, I tended to remember that one brother was an older high school student, and another was a lawyer, while a sister was a college student. Yet, I could not really remember their names. Perhaps this is because I am bad with names and I read this book in two days, but that also could show that we tend to revel in the situation Daniel finds himself in, rather than the people that surround him.

Another issue is the romance of the novel. Daniel has a “girlfriend” named Ren. You'll notice that I put girlfriend in quotes. This is because her and Daniel's relationship barely comes up in the book. Also, she is such a non-character, it makes me shake my head as to why it was included. It was probably a case of a forced YA romance demanded by the publisher. I wish it had been left out since it adds nothing to the mystery and often distracts from the text as a whole.

Also, there is a reveal I did not care for at the end of the novel. I won't say anything for spoiler's sake, except to put it here: There is a case of family incest in this book, that leads to the reveal of how someone died. This is something that I felt could have been left out, as the story could have gone any number of directions and still had the death occur. It just felt like the author was piling on needlessly to another messed-up element of the family.

Overall, though, I read this book in two days, so it's clearly doing something right. In light of that, I gave this book a four out of five. If you haven't read this book yet, then I suggest you give it a try.