Not very original - Three girls with a deep, dark secret that they promised to take to the grave. Good build up. I expected something more intense in the end.

Teresa Driscoll is the master of psychological thrillers (or so I had heard). This is the first book by her that I chose to read and it gave me chills down the spine, literally!
Three teenage girls develop a close-knit friendship in a convent and go through a shocking incident that changes their lives forever. The hold a promise close to their heart and years later, stand a chance to revisit what they did, on the occasion of the convent being torn down. Beth, Sally, Carol and their lives, with the loved ones around them turn topsy-turvy.
The suspense is very real, the emotional turmoils understandable, few of the events are bone-chilling, there's a bit of romance thrown in too - everything that you need to create a psychological thriller.
Definitely recommended, Teresa's writing will keep you hooked till the end.

Well written and interesting plot. I found the characters likable and although it was a bit slow in parts I couldn't put the novel down

Great thriller that kept me turning the pages, a great story with intriguing characters that kept me guessing. Highly recommend to others!

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

While it isn't my favourite book from this author, this read was still gripping from start to finish. I had guessed the secret before the reveal, but it was still written brilliantly. The ending wasn't what I had expected, a bit too tidy for me; but overall still a book I would recommend reading.

Loved the intro, really dragged you in. However, I read psychological thrillers back to back these days and it’s hard to find an angle I haven’t seen from already. When the big wow moment came I didn’t really feel it. An okay read, especially if you’re new to the genre!

Three friends; three inseparable young girls and a big, terrible secret; a secret so big and so terrible that together they have sworn never to tell a soul.

Sal, Beth and Carole first meet at boarding school and become firm friends. We learn that as adults, Sal and Beth have remained friends, living close enough to support each other through the trials and tribulations of life. Carole, however, has moved on, living abroad with her husband and losing contact with those back home.

And then there's the secret. Beth's flashbacks reveal glimpses of a girl with blue lips and lots of blood.

Who? What? Where? How? So many questions...and the answers when they come are shocking!

Told through chapters separated by time and perspective, the story unfolds gradually, revealing, piece by piece the tragic events of that night, and the dreadful weight of their actions that the friends have carried since.

The Promise was a good read. I really engaged with the characters, and the twist(s) were truly shocking, perhaps because they were so believable.

I give this book 4 stars.

So many twists that I did not see coming! The Promise by Teresa Driscoll was a fast read and hard to put down. Driscoll crafts characters and relationships that are so real and relatable that they make readers examine their own relationships (at least in my case). In particular, Driscoll questions how far would readers go for a friend? This novel, a thriller to the very end, was so much more; it was about marriage and relationships and self-reflection. I look forward to reading more books by Driscoll.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author.
Although gripping and involving at times, I was a bit disappointed by this story. The denouement and 'big reveal' felt like a bit of a flop after the buildup, which had a a good amount of suspense.

Three girls make a promise to never tell anyone about what they did. Years later they have drifted apart, but they must never tell anyone about what they did when they were girls. Someone is trying to make sure that the secret stays buried, at all costs.

A story about the deep friendships that are created as children, but that can go astray as we age and develop new relationships as we get older. A tale of love and loss, trust and betrayal. Heartbreaking at times and heart stopping at other points along the way!

This book was okay. It took a while to grab my interest and stay focused. I like dual timeline books and the fact that each of the chapters were narrated by the characters was a plus. I felt like the ending was a little too rushed.

Thank you to the author and Thomas & Mercer for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

The Promise by Teresa Driscoll is a slow paced psychological thriller. The chapters alternate between the past and present with different POV’s.

The Promise follows Beth, Sally, and Carol as they meet at a Catholic boarding school and become best friends. Something bad takes place when the girls are fourteen and they each make a promise to never reveal what happened and the parts they played in this traumatic event. This memory and holding in the secret of what happened tortures the girls throughout their lives. When they are 38, their old boarding school grounds are going to be torn apart, with the chance of their secret being revealed. This was a pretty intense ride. While the ending fell a little flat for me, it was still a decent read that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I wanted to know the story behind the story of three girls aged 14, making a promise to take the truth to the grave. Certainly, some of the tale was a psychological thriller, but for me, the story was more of a sad tale about what happens when you keep secrets and attempt to cover up the truth.

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

The premise of this story was very good and drew me in at once. Three friends, Beth, Sally and Carol, make a promise to keep a secret til death. What did they do? What did they see? These are the questions that quickly came to my mind. The execution of the story, however, was slow. 'The Promise' was tragic but not what I expected it to be. I thought the secret was more grave than it was revealed to be. The reveal did not come until very late in the book and was anticlimatic. Carol's current story line was more intriguing and I do not think that three grown women would react as they did here. This was my first book by this author and would want to read more of her offerings.
--- I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. ---

I really enjoyed this book and would read more from this author. May have been first but won't he the last.

The Promise by Teresa Driscoll

9781503905078

309 Pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release Date: February 7, 2019

Fiction (Adult), Mystery & Thriller, Friendships, Domestic Violence, Kidnapping

Beth, Sally, and Carol meet at a boarding school and immediately become life-long friends. But as it sometimes happens, friends drift apart. Beth and Sally try to find Carol when they find out their old school is being demolished and may uncover buried secrets. Beth hires Matthew Hill to find Carol’s mother in order to find Carol.

The book is written in third person point of view by Beth, Carol, and Matthew. The characters are well developed, and the story is well paced. I enjoyed this author’s writing style. It is deceptive and leaves you wondering what will happen next.

What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this

This reminded me of other novels where a group of girls make a tragic mistake and need to keep their secret hidden... unfortunately, this didn’t have the same impact and was lacking the character development to make it a good read.