All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

The insight into Vietnamese refugee life in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta was interesting and compelling but sadly the story line did not keep me engaged.

Ky Tran, a young Vietnamese-Australian journalist returns home following the death of her brother, Denny, in a local restaurant. Everyone present at the scene claim to have seen nothing.

Ky feels the police are not doing enough to discover what happened to her brother and beings interviewing the patrons that were present.

Her investigation leads to Ky examining her own memories, background and relationships.

It is more than a mystery story. In fact, the mystery of Ky’s brother’s death often falls into the background and secondary to the struggles of family relationships, fitting into a new world and the setting making it slow reading. 

It is reasonably well written but needs to be tighter and the characters need to be more relatable

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the book in return for an honest review

My rating 2*