About The Book
A DNA ancestry test opens up a Pandora’s Box of secrets.
When Elsa Watson takes a DNA ancestry test out of idle curiosity she little imagines the devastating consequences she is about to unleash.
Two families become reluctantly entwined as inconvenient truths and long suppressed memories resurface.
A #whodunnit with a difference, Don’t Ask visits the glam rock Seventies, Britpop, Operation Yewtree and #metoo within its alternating past and present chapter structure.
My Review
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. Despite this book not falling into my usual choice of genre it appealed to me because of the genealogy and DNA link. I have been tracing my ancestry for years and had often thought about doing one of the tests that are available. This book has made me think that I may not like what I find in my past.
Two families who initially have nothing in common appear to have a major link when Elsa uses a DNA a tracing kit that she received as a freebie. She is astonished, extremely upset and then elated over what she finds out. But she becomes obsessed and unhinged, not realising the damage that she is causing to her family and the family that she finds.
Covering the decades and with different narrators the details surrounding Elsa and Toora’s families is revealed. Some of it was expected but a lot was a surprise to me and more complex than I expected it to be. It was fascinating to read the details concerning the band and their fans. And the way different people coped.
It is rare for me to have such strong feelings regarding characters. Most of them in this novel were unlikeable, I think the only ones I really liked were Judy, Toora, Angie and Jean. Another my thoughts changed dramatically towards the end when I saw a different side to them.
A subject matter that always seems to be in the media now, it felt like an honest portrayal of the more dubious side to fame.
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