An interesting twist on three boarding school friends and the haunting past they all tried to leave behind. Something sinister rears its ugly head causing old wounds to resurface.

Well written mystery.

Three boarding school friends, Beth, Sally, and Carol, make a promise as adolescents. Now adults, the first two have lost touch with Carol; the secret that they promised not to tell threatens to be exposed and Beth’s family is endangered.

Moving back and forth from past to present, the story is told from four different points of view; that of the three friends and the private investigator hired to help Beth and Sally find Carol. The investigator appears to have secrets of his own.

There are lots of surprises in this well written psychological suspense novel.

Sometimes the promises that we make in our teenage years, become shackles and chains as we age. Anyone who has ever wrestled with loyalty, friendship, and rash promises, amidst all the regular complications of life will immediately relate to The Promise. Beth, Sally, and Carol meet as young girls in boarding school and immediately become best friends. However, a promise made between them binds them together and drives them apart at the same time. Check out this great story of the power of friends to heal our darkest wounds,

It was their darkest secret. Three schoolgirls made a promise – to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave.

Three best friends at boarding school, Beth, Sally and Carol share a terrible secret and make a promise to each other to never tell. Thirty years later, it is at threat of being revealed. The book flits between Beth and Carol’s stories, as well as the perspective of Matthew the private investigator.

I gave this book a solid 3/5 stars as it was an entertaining read. However, my initial engagement waned as time went on- the ending felt a bit rushed and less believable. It was more of a suspense rather than psychological thriller. This was the first book I’ve read by Teresa Driscoll and I would be interested to look out her other titles. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an advance copy. I have shared this review on Goodreads.

My Rating: Three Stars
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pub. Date: Feb. 7, 2019

On a personal note, my husband had open heart surgery on Feb. 8th and remains in the hospital from complications. He is not out of the woods yet, but he is one the mend. Thank you for all your support.

I hope you understand why this review only has a star rating. I miss reviewing but at the moment I am too preoccupied.

Sally, Beth, and Carol met when they were enrolled at The Convent, Order of St. Colman in Sussex. The three girls were inseparable. They helped each other with school courses, family issues, romantic desires, and supported each other in any way possible. So what could possibly happen to the three friends after graduation? Sally received information that the convent was going to be demolished for new construction, because there was no longer any funding to run the convent. However, there was a promise that each of the girls made to each other many years ago at the convent. This promise could be revealed if the construction continues. Sally and Beth need to reach Carol and let her know about the demolition. After they Facebook messaged her, terrorizing messages started appearing. Will they be able to reach Carol? Why has she basically vanished? Sally hires a private investigator to find Carol. He is only able to find Carol’s mother. The women want Carol’s mother to call her, so they can speak to her. The call is uneventful, with a Carol promising to get in touch with them. However, this doesn’t come to fruition. Even Carol’s husband is worried about her. He reaches out to Sally and Beth, but according to him, Carol doesn’t want anything to do with them any longer. Why is Carol evading them? What is this promise that neither Sally or Beth will divulge? This book is really a great psychological thriller. The plot was definitely contrived of multiple sub-themes of what each of the women were going through in their lives. The author kept the reader intrigued throughout the entire book. The ending was such a surprise. It was not at all what I expected. It was even better than what I expected. The character development was superb. The reader could definitely relate to each of the characters throughout the book. I enjoyed the writers writing style. The only complaint I have about the book is that I feel the book could’ve been a little shorter. I feel that just as much of the plot could have been accomplished in a shorter book. In some places, it seemed to drag. All in all, you will not be disappointed with this book. I highly recommend it.

Is it ever okay to break a promise? Especially if it was one you made as a child, 30 years ago?
Secrets can kill and they can steal. Steal years of enjoyment in a person’s life if they are allowed to. Depending on the secret, guilt or regret play a huge part in the lives of those who hold themselves to the promise they made whether it was yesterday, last year or decades ago.
Three young girls, Sally, Beth and Carol are roomed together at boarding school and become close and the best of friends. Until one night things changed and brought a darkness to their friendship and the next year Carol leaves school and her friends behind. Beth and Sally remain close but attempts to bring Carol back into their close friendship is marred by the distance she keeps from them. Things are not the same and the events of one night haunt the girls, some affected more then others.
Now it is many years later, 2016. The boarding school is closing and having one last party and Beth and Sally are compelled to go back to the school and bring Carol with her usual remoteness, shows no urgency or desire to go back to that school.
This book goes from areas in the past, to the present 2016 and is narrated by various characters and you can’t help but be affected but feel for the characters by the damage done to them by keeping secrets.
I was really excited for this book. The last book I read of Teresa Driscoll’s “the Friend” was a five star for me and this was such a great plot. But the book fell flat for me. I found it to be a bit choppy as well as slow and dragging without a lot of build up to the big secret, the root of the promise. It also felt to me that the ending was rushed. The story followed slowly but then at the end when it seemed that the story was over, there were secrets and twists thrown in there all at once that upset the flow of the book for me. I found parts a little implausible concerning Melody’s involvement in the present, for example and I didn’t think that the one element of the secret needed to be shared as much as it was.
This is my favourite genre of novel, psychological thriller/mystery but now that there are so many out of that type, I think us, as the readers, have a higher expectation. Unfortunately while an enjoyable enough read to get 3 stars, this wasn’t one of the better ones for me.
Thank you to net galley and the publishers for allowing me read this book by sending me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Fab book with so many twists and turns which I never saw coming. Loved the girls relationship and Adam and Matthew. Complex,sad and a thoroughly good read.

I think I’ve been reading too many psychological thrillers lately. It might be clouding my views of other books. Take for instance Teresa Driscoll’s new book The Promise, I had such high expectations for this because of her first book I am Watching You, but this new one was a serious let down.

Beth, Sally and Carol were best friends in an English boarding school. Through flashbacks, we are shown a glimmer of something bad that happened in the girl’s past, and they’ve all agreed to keep it secret.

Back in present time, Beth and Sally are still best friends, yet Carol is withdrawn from her friends. Last anyone has heard of her, she was in France with her new husband, Ned.

When Beth and Sally are told their former boarding school is closing and the building is to be demolished, flashbacks of their secret and the promise all those years ago come to light. Slowly other secrets and facts start to unravel around the three women.

Let me go back to one word I just mentioned, slowly. This book moved at a bloody snails pace. I had to keep putting this book down and going to another book because I was so unbelievably bored. It wasn’t until I noticed 50 percent of the way into this book, that Driscoll finally let’s us know what the secret it. Without spoiling it, it isn’t much of a secret.

Unpopular opinion, but this slow burn was not worth the wait. By the time the big reveal happened, I was not only bored, I decided I wasn’t interested anymore. On top of that, the last 30 percent of this book get’s massively insane. It was like Driscoll threw a plate of spaghetti at the wall hoping it would stick, let me just say, it didn’t! It was chaotic and hard to follow. Then Driscoll tried to tie it all together with a neat bow. It was a bloody mess.

To Teresa Driscoll’s benefit, the characters and writing is what made me keep reading this book. If you’re someone who enjoys a thriller here or there, this book could be for you, it will give you the tiny thrill you’re looking for. Any experience, maybe even obsessed reader of this genre, you’re going to find this to be a massive let down. You might as well skip this one, you’re really not missing anything with The Promise.

Thank you NetGalley, Teresa Driscoll, and Thomas & Mercer for my copy of The Promise in exchange for an honest review.

Driscoll is great at leading you on. Unfortunately, she needs an editor. The Promise to not reveal a secret between three girls made while in high school comes back to haunt the girls as a reunion nears. In mysteries, setting is often important. However, in this work it becomes too redundant. It is a story of relationships. Driscoll is effective in introducing false leads, but the leads went nowhere. Found the Promise was too easily guessed.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this Kindle edition.

I enjoyed Teresa Driscoll's book, The Promise and found the story to have many unique elements. The characters and setting were well developed and helped to draw you into the novel. I enjoyed the various voices used to tell the story and the way it revealed past incidents in tiny bits. The story contained many twists and turns mostly near the conclusion of the story. Although a few of the twists were hinted at in earlier parts of the book, I think that one or more of them could have been revealed earlier, thus making them more important parts of the story telling.

Overall I found The Promise to be a great read and will look for Teresa Driscoll's future novels.

The Promise is a solid read that delves into the long term psychological impact of guilt. Three best friends make a promise that ultimately changes the course of their lives. Beth, Sally and Carol are attached at the hip when the three of them meet at boarding school. After an incident at school leads to their suspension, Carol is never the same. What happened to Carol? And what type of promise did these three friends make that haunts them still today?

This is a story that has a lot of suspenseful build up until about the 70% mark. Then all of its secrets and reveals come spilling out. The story makes sense and all is wrapped up neatly at the end. However, I found the plot to drag on in parts and was able to predict all of the outcomes. This deflated its punch for me. I suspect I would've enjoyed it much more had I not foreseen the ending.

It is a fast and easy read for those who enjoy thrillers. I will have to read her earlier books as I really liked her writing style. Thank you to publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this twisty, fast-moving novel from Teresa Driscoll very much.

The book centers around Beth, who with her friends Sally and Carol, have received the news that the boarding school they once attended and contains a huge secret only the girls know, will be torn down soon.

While Sally and Carol have stayed in touch, Carol has distanced herself from the other women, and Sally and Beth are frantic to track down their friend before the mystery becomes public. With the help of private detective, the race against the clock begins.

The book contained several interesting side plots, and it wove back and forth between the girls at boarding school and the women they have now become. I enjoyed the way the writing almost had a slight gothic tone but was still modern.

I enjoyed the book immensely, and would be happy to try some of Ms. Driscoll's other books.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley.com for my advanced copy.

This is my first book by this author and I’m looking forward to reading more. The story is about 3 friends who make a promise to keep a secret.

Every time I thought I had an inkling of what was coming next, I was proved wrong. It’s definitely a book which makes you think about how your choices shape who you are today.

Thanks to the publisher for advanced ebook. All opinions are my own.

I have always enjoyed thrillers that are about best friends with secrets. There is more mystery, suspense, and thrill. This one was no exception. It had me hooked from the first page.

Something happens between three best friends during boarding school. They keep it a secret until it can't be a secret any longer. It was fun trying to figure out what the actual secret was. I was wrong every time. By the time the secret was revealed, several other big moments were exposed that I did not see coming.

I enjoyed every character. They each had unique flaws that you kept wondering if they were not as friendly as they seemed.

This was a great book. I highly recommend it. I will be reading more from this author very soon!

This is my second book by this author and I was very excited based on how much I enjoyed her first novel. My interest was piqued from the beginning. This had all the classics of a psychological thriller. It was good, great to read, easy to get through, if not just a little slow in parts. It had enough twists and turns to keep you occupied until the end. I will definitely continue to read her novels.

Three girls keep a secret from many years ago at school. Told in the past and present by all three. This was a good read, enjoyable and well written

The Promise had a lot of promise but it just didn't quite impress me enough. There are quite a few Catholic boarding school mysteries being published right now and this one didn't stand out for me. It was a slow burn and the majority of the action started to take place too late in the book to hold my interest. I did find the writing to be fluent and easy to read and the concept was there but I was hoping for more build-up in the first 50% of the novel. I felt like The actual "twist" was pretty obvious and not as earth shattering as I had hoped. Overall, I will continue to seek out Teresa Driscoll's work because I think her body of work is great, this one just wasn't for me.

Not what I expected.

The aspects of this book I enjoyed were the smooth, very readable prose and the way the plot came together at the end and left no threads untied. I also didn't have to suspend my disbelief very often, which is good in a thriller.

The aspects I didn't enjoy were the slow pacing, the overly described features of people, objects and places which had no impact on the plot, the filler and the anticlimactic ending. The slog through all the filler wasn't really worth the unsatisfying conclusion. Most of the characters behaved and spoke so similarly that I wouldn't have been able to distinguish them if I hadn't been reminded of their names.

Over all, because the prose was enjoyable and the plotting was well done, I would like to read more from this author. The talent is clearly there, I was just expecting a more intense read, as promised by the blurb.

Three friends vow to keep secret a devastating tragedy that occurred while at boarding school. The novel is told from each of the girl's perspectives in alternating format. I was initially intrigued and rapidly read the first third of the book, but then started getting strong hints of what the big reveal was going to be at the end. So from there, while I was still interested, I was losing a bit of interest as the end seemed to move slowly. I also didn't think the big reveal was all that shocking. It is a good book and worth a read, just not as amazing as other psychological thrillers out there today.