This was an average read. Felt like a very typical mystery or thriller. I finished this book quickly but it didn't feel like a book when I finished I wanted to say to everyone "you have to read this". I thought the characters were money hungry and just not likable. I wasn't surprised by anything in the plot. Easy weekend read but not a top fave.

Thanks, NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Solid 3.5 stars for me on this one. The mystery was there, it's fast paced, it keeps you guessing. I didn't LOVE the ending, but that doesn't mean I won't recommend to a friend.

i read about 25% of this book and I had already figured out the huge plot twist. I liked the characters but I didn't like the plot was so predictable.

This Review was first published on: http://marelithalkink.blogspot.co.za/...

Don't Tell Anyone is one of those books that you can actually tell everyone about. Most readers enjoy a good Whodunnit every now and then. Don't Tell Anyone is a decent mystery with a twist or two in the tail.

Grace is devastated after the brutal stabbing of her only child, Tara. Her "almost picture perfect life if you take in account where she comes from" was already shattered three years ago when her husband, Archie, walked out on them for a younger, blonder, version. After Tara's death, she basically stopped living. She went through the motions of the trial and when Tara's boyfriend, Jordan Dukes, is convicted of the murder, she thought - just like everything else, this is over. A couple of days later, Jordan's father Allan Dukes, appears on her doorstep claiming that his son is innocent and Grace is the only one who can help him proof that. Grace can't seem to shake the feeling that perhaps Allan is right and when she discovered someone was snooping around in her house, she starts digging.

"Secrets might be taken to the grave, but they are rarely kept there."

A strong point in favor of this novel was the characters. They came from all walks of life and they were all portrayed very well. Grace's family is a real lucky packet, but to me, it was this family dynamic that kept the story together most of all. Grace's ex-husband is woosy and although there is a very interesting twist regarding his new blond girlfriend, I had no sympathy for him.

Both Grace and Allan are victims of their children's bad choices. That makes it a bit more of a family drama. No matter how hard you try to raise your children well and make the best of difficult circumstances, they will still follow their own minds. Children lie, they hide things from their parents, they make devastatingly bad choices.

Don't Tell Anyone kept me guessing until the final chapter. The revelation was a bit of a let down however. It will be really very hard for anyone to make an accurate guess about the whodunnit. It was a bit like one of those Murder She Wrote episodes where the killer is randomly picked five minutes before the end. (No, it wasn't the lawyer)

If you like thrillers that leave you just enough clues to THINK that you have it figured out, then this might be the book for you. As I was reading, I picked up a few of the clues and I ran headlong into more twists. Most of the times I was right in my assumptions, but others, I was left saying: "Well, I'm an idiot."


http://ithinkihaveaproblem.webs.com/apps/blog/show/44407847-arc-review-don-t-tell-anyone-by-eleanor-gray

Don't tell anyone by Eleanor Gray is a mystery and thriller and general fiction (adult) read.
Art historian Grace Neville watches Jordan Dukes sentenced for the murder of her teenage daughter, Tara. A few days later, as she attempts to come to terms with her loss, she receives a visit from Jordan’s father, Alan, who claims that his son is innocent and that a grave miscarriage of justice has taken place. Jordan’s violent history in a notorious gang, plus the fact that he doesn’t have an alibi, makes Alan’s story a hard sell . . . until someone breaks into Grace’s home and goes through Tara’s belongings.
A good read. Little slow in places. I liked the story and the characters. 4*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

This book is a great book, if you bypass the writing style and character development. While I did not think these areas were very satisfying, I could not give a bad review, because it was fast paced and very interesting. I do think the author needs improvements in some areas, and if she makes her characters more developed and fixes a bit of her writing style, she'll definitely have some amazing books.
Fast paced and very interesting. Wanted to help Grace get her answers about her daughter Tara, but needed to be able to connect a bit more with all characters.

This blurb is full of promises. A dead teenager daughter. A sentenced boy who might or might not be a killer. Justice gone wrong. Gangs. A search for the truth. A close look at a mother/daughter relationship. And most importantly: secrets.
But the biggest surprise for me was that I finished this book.

I admire authors who decide to make their characters unlikable. Most readers don’t mind it and it is okay for me, as long as the protagonists manage to make me feel emotions, even though it is only anger or hatred. I need emotions, good or wrong, to get involved. After all, you don’t have to be chummy with all the characters you meet, just as you don’t friend every people you meet in the street or spend hours locked in a study room with. But I like my unlikable characters to have a motive for not being what I expected of them. Here, Grace was just a woman I would never want to talk to, would I ever have the luck to meet and get to know her.

It all started with the opening. Grace and her husband are taking a break and decide to tell their daughter. A few lines in and I knew Grace was not my kind of woman. Yes, she was understandably hurt, yes she felt betrayed, but her inner thoughts and reactions sounded a bit off to me. She was clinging to a man who obviously had no more concern for her well-being. I know, it happens a lot. So I let it go with a rolling of my eyes and a sigh.

But the next chapter condemned her character to be one of the few I don’t want to remember in a couple of weeks. I am a big fan of “show, don’t tell.” Except here everything is told and what is showed is unnecessary. I can only take so many times a character saying how sad and hollow she feels and just how no one can understand. This is what you get throughout the story, as Grace clings to memories, false hopes and questions about her daughter. I could have coped with a grieving mother if only she hadn’t been so madly in love with her husband and ready to forget everything just to have him back. I guess I expected a strong woman fighting for her daughter, but I met a weak ex-wife in need. Grief can make you do all kind of things, but it was Grace’s personality I had a problem with. If I was angry with her at first, I soon stopped caring for her.

I do need to mention Doug, the only character I warmed to in this story. Big, capable, who can’t be quite called innocent. A Doug is handy to fix issues you can’t handle yourself.
Grace’s family was colorful but again everything was shown instead of letting the reader make their own opinion through the characters’ actions, which made the whole thing rather dull.
Tara was a shadow that I never really got to know or understand, a typical teenager with crises, secrets, and lipstick. Her relationship with her mother is only explored in a superficial way to remind us just how good children are good at hiding things from their parents. I wish I had seen more of their days together to confront it to Grace’s grief and understand her a little better. I did feel sorry for Tara’s boyfriend at times, as well as his family, but our connection was also too superficial to make me care about what would happen to them.

With all of this said, why did I finish the book in one sitting?

I blame my unhealthy need to be right! See, a couple of chapters into the story, I was debating whether or not to give up on the book when Jordan’s father met Grace to convince her his son was innocent. My interest was kindled and I wondered what would make Grace believe him. I kept asking myself how I would react if faced with the same situation. Pages later, a couple of hints appeared and my brain went full on into all-scenario-possible mode. The author had managed to pick my curiosity somehow, despite my lack of feelings for any characters. It certainly had to do with the suspect-husband trope I love so much. Also, Tara had a “big secret” and this word acts like a spell on me. A secret means there is some digging to be done and boy do I love to dig! I ended up with a weird but plausible theory. Theories are good so long as you can verify them. I had no other choice than to rush through the book to check if my instinct was right. The pace of the plot was quite uneven, steady at times, too slow or on the fast track in some chapters, but there was definitely enough red herrings to keep me going. It turned out I was right, so no big surprise but it always feels good when you unravel the truth before it is revealed to you.

The ending itself felt a bit rushed and easy when you think of just how many things Grace had to go through to reach the truth. The gang aspect was a good one but I felt it could have been explored more instead of only relying on clichés and a quick denouement. I had a hard time believing Grace’s issues could be resolved in a couple of hours by the snap of a finger, no matter how capable the fingers! All questions were answered so I did not feel cheated but it doesn’t mean I was satisfied.

Overall I feel Don’t Tell Anyone had a promising synopsis and a lot of potential that was not explored enough for me to get involved with the plot or characters. You might enjoy it if you are looking for an easy read in the psychological thriller genre.

It is especially hard to discuss this book without giving away some of the surprises. I try very hard to keep reviews spoiler free, so I will remain as generic in my discussion as possible.

This was a hard book to get through. I found the idea interesting -- hello, family secrets! However, I was never actually drawn into the book. I found our main character, Grace, to be interesting and I felt so many feeling for her through her many levels of grief. And I supported her as she went out on her own to find out what actually happened to her daughter. Aside from Grace, I also liked Allan, Jordan Duke's father. Out of all of the characters in this book, those were the only two I found somewhat interesting and seemed to be the most developed.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this book. Secrets upon secrets. And while I am a fan of family secrets, I felt that there were just one too many in this book. And some -- specifically concerning Archie, Grace's ex-husband -- did not seem necessary to me.

I did not enjoy the writing style of this book. I felt that Gray was incredibly...too wordy throughout this novel. So many metaphors and similes that were not needed. So many discussions on what Grace was doing -- we know she is grieving and having a horrendous time; do we need an entire section on her taking a nap, waking up to take pills, then going back to sleep?

As for the characters, I found most of them to feel flat. And some -- ex-husband Archie in particular --who Gray attempted to make more well rounded, just seemed forced. Grace and Allan, as mentioned above, were my favorites. I found them to be more completely developed than most of the other characters, maybe because I connected with them on an emotional level more so than the other characters.

Once again, for the plot, I feel like there was just too much. The twists work (and the longer I am away from finishing this book, the more I think it works) but it seemed like too much going on. I feel like everything in this book could have done with another round of editing.