Layla is a young artist who recently lost her office job and someone who doesn't have much in the way of family anymore. After her mother, Sarah, parted ways with Vic when she was only 2 years old, Layla came to be raised by her grandparents, especially since her mother died not long after and it was ruled a suicide. It's odd reconnecting with Bette, now a security guard with a 12 year old Autistic son named Jake, but Bette seems far from the wild teenager Layla last saw many years ago. Bette seems very stable and mature now, and has help caring for Jake with Marla, her now-deceased mother's sister. When Bette says she must make a long drive to Phoenix, AZ from their hometown of Reedstown, OH to exchange Vic's golf clubs for some high-end digital art equipment for Jake, who is a budding artist, Layla agrees to go with her. A road trip could be just the chance to reconnect with Bette, especially since Bette seems a little off, although she shrugs it off as the flu.
In truth, Layla could use the distraction. She has a stalker of sorts back at home, someone who has been sending her weird packages, such as printouts of her painting that was recently in a gallery showing, only with odd modifications to them. The mystery man or woman has also sent some strangely personal items as well, and really, Layla is just happy to get away for a bit. One of the main reasons she even came to Vic's funeral was the hope that she could find a man her mom sketched during her downtime as a waitress all those years ago, a man she called "The Wolf" in her diaries. Layla believes The Wolf actually killed her mother, despite the suicide ruling, and she hopes she can pick Bette's brain, since she saw no one that resembled The Wolf at the funeral and her mother was a skilled artist, just like Layla.
Suffice it to say that a road trip by two daughters of a fairly notorious gangster, at least in his heyday, to just go pick some stuff up could never be just that, and over the course of the next couple of days, Bette and Layla will reveal things to one another that they never expected and life will take a dangerous turn for the both of them.
I Mean You No Harm is more of a family drama than the typical mystery/thriller novel I'd read, but it definitely has its creepy moments, what with Layla's stalker, the mystery of her mom's death, and Vic's former business associates. There are some nail biting moments and it has a satisfying end, so overall, I did enjoy it. This is definitely not your typical road trip adventure, but it's a good story and it definitely has its share of surprises.
