The chilling new psychological thriller from the #1 bestselling author of I Am Watching You.
It was their darkest secret. Three schoolgirls made a promise – to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave.
Thirty years later, Beth and Sally have tried to put the trauma behind them. Though Carol has distanced herself from her former friends, the three are adamant that the truth must … adamant that the truth must never come to light, even if the memory still haunts them.
But when some shocking news threatens to unearth their dark secret, Beth enlists the help of private investigator Matthew Hill to help her and Sally reconnect with estranged Carol – before the terrible act they committed as teenagers is revealed.
Beth wishes she could take back the vow they made.
But somebody is watching and will stop at nothing to ensure the secret stays buried. Now, with her beloved family in peril, can Beth still keep the promise?
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5 out of 5 stars
First I want to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The more books I read by Teresa Driscoll the more I enjoy her writing and this was no exception. The first book I read by her was “I am watching you” and I really enjoyed it. I just finished the audio version of “The Friend” and really enjoyed it. “The Promise” was just as good even though it had a different feel.
Sally, Beth and Carol, three best friends living in a catholic boarding school made a promise to keep a secret just between them forever. A secret so dark that has haunted them for life.
Now grown woman Carol has completely distanced herself from Sally and Beth to the point that they can’t even find her. Sally and Beth however have grown closer So close that they are practically codependent. When news comes that the school is being demolished they are afraid that their secret will be revealed. In desperation they hired a PI and that is when things really begin to implode.
Yes, this is a mystery but I also really reads like a character study. Each woman handles things in a different way and it is very compelling to watch as these women handle the stress, fear and heartbreak that has been handed to them.
I must say that I really enjoyed seeing Matthew from “The Friend” in this and I liked that it told us the story of Matthew before we meet him in “The Friend”. It was a pleasure to see him again.
Will you be surprised by everything in this book? No, not really but I think you will enjoy the story immensely.
Some promises are made to be kept and others are made to be broken, it is up to us to figure it out. For three teenage girls at a Catholic boarding school that was not a tough decision until later in their lives. this is a great book! Thanks Teresa!
Not quite what I was hoping for, but it was an okay read for a long car ride.
This is my first book by Teresa Driscoll. I will be reading more by this author. Sally, Carol and Beth are childhood friends at a boarding school. They are very close, but lose contact their senior year following an unnamed tragedy and promise to keep it secret. Years later, the announcement that the school is being sold leads Sally and Beth to search for Carol, in order to renew contact. They are scared that their secret will come out as a result of the schools ending. Carol seems not to want to be found, and they hire a private investigator to locate her. They find her, and she seemingly wants no parts of reconnecting. The action of contacting her seems to open a Pandora’s box. The women are seriously threatened. But once open the box cannot be closed, and the book winds towards its conclusion. As questions mount, we learn more about the burden the three carried for years. No spoilers here — it’s a good read that is complex without hitting you over the head. Recommend this one.
What Lengths Will They Go To Keep A Promise
The novel opens with three Catholic boarding high school friends Beth, Sally and Carol, much blood and a dead girl. After another quick background chapter the storyline starts. Sally and Beth are still close friends. Carol is estranged and living in France. Beth and Sally learn that the Catholic boarding school is going to be sold for redevelopment. They fear that the reason for their promise of silence that they made with Carol so long ago will be discovered. Beth and Sally try to locate Carol so that they can move the remains to a safer location. The main storyline proceeds from here in two threads, the present, and their high school days before that fateful day.
The author unfolds with twists and misdirections to keep a reader’s interest and even adds some hints or events, some subtle and some with the subtlety of a slap to the face. They capture my interest and made me to want to continue to read to find out how everything turns out. The story is enriched with adding a private investigator, husbands, and other boarding school roommates.
If vulgar language and graphic sex are criteria for not reading a novel, you are in luck with this novel. While reading it, I did not remember see any vulgar language. Searching for f-bombs and other common lesser vulgar language returned zero hits. As with most novels written by British authors, I highly recommend that you read this novel on a Kindle. With this novel I found many of the British informal language was not in the Kindle dictionary. Searching the Internet for the meaning of these words using the Kindle was quite easy.
I particularly liked that all the loose ends were tied up by the end of the novel. The novel did eventually capture my imagination so that I wanted to continue to read as much as possible. This is my major criterion for a high star rating. Unfortunately, the start of the novel is a little slow in the beginning so please continue to read, as I believe that the novel will capture your imagination also. Based upon my enjoyment in reading the novel and the eventual capturing of my imagination, I rate this novel with four stars. I do recommend reading it
I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this novel early.
The Promise was a fantastic read! I enjoyed the closeness between the friends in the story and author Teresa Driscoll’s style of writing. Beth, Sally, and Carol spent many years as roommates in a boarding school when they were young. That was when something terrible happened and they made a promise to never tell anyone about it. Now, it’s years later, and this secret is in jeopardy of being revealed. The secret has caused so much emotional turmoil for all three of the women over the years. Carol has been estranged from the others and Beth and Sally are trying to locate her. The characters are beautifully portrayed. The story is full of surprises, especially during the later parts of the story. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen, something new would be revealed to shock me again!
This is a really good book. Girls growing up in a boarding school go through a horrendous experience. They live with this happening for many, many years not telling anyone. It severely affects all their lives until the unraveling. The twists and turns will have you astounded!
The Promise by Teresa Driscoll
The Promise
by Teresa Driscoll (Goodreads Author)
12494404
Alanna Patterson’s review Feb 15, 2019 · edit
really liked it
I just finished reading The Promise by Teresa Driscoll and I loved it. This story is about so much more than a promise and the mystery it holds through the beginning of the book: its about life and friendships. There is so much i want to say but I’m sure I will miss some highlights plus I do not want to give too much of the story away. I find it frustrating in life the way people hold things back from one another thinking that they will hurt people with the truth. The fact is that no matter how painful the truth is to confront head-on it is much easier than living with secrets that consume us. I will admit the first few chapters with the background kind of put me off I want to meat of the story to start but i kept going. What a payoff, this was a wonderful story of love and friendship and the length people will go to for those they love.
At one point in the story we are on the set as a TV show is being filmed and a guest on the show states that he ” remembers some one very different” . This stuck out to me because when we look back we do see that different maybe better version of ourselves in the past. I think this anchored this story for even though it is not the main point.
I read in the authors notes that she does “not shy away from difficult themes precisely because we should not pretend that these things could not ever happen.” I usually avoid books that relate to real life for that very reason. Stories like this always move me to tears but we can not avoid the reality of life. I read many different genres of literature for this vey reason. I am very glad that I read this book.
This is a story worth reading and would make a great group discussion book. There is so much here that reflects on real life even though it is not based on any actual events.
Beth , Carol and Sally are young girls when they meet and form a bond that lasts a life time. Not many people experience friendships this deep but those who do are truly blessed. Their estranged relation develops as they reach their early 20’s when I think many friendships tend to be lost finding love and starting families. The dedication they show toward each other is admirable right up to the very end.
I think that this was a great story and am grateful to the Publisher Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the amazing book.
Please take time and read this story, it will touch your heart.
The Promise has a good hook, but doesn’t quite hold on like I hoped. In fact, it took me a while to finish this one with it’s slow pace and many jumps between characters and time. We finally get the full reveal on what brought about this dark promise at about 65% into the book, and from there the story does pick up some. In the end, most of these characters have a secret of one kind or another, the darkest of which being what started it all. At the end of the day, this one had potential, and it does live up to some of that, but the first half of the book moves too slow for my tastes, and it just didn’t hold my interest enough for me to connect with these characters.
A sinister secret that three best friends made from their time at boarding school has threatened to be revealed. Thirty years has passed and that secret could now destroy the lives they have built. Beth and Sally must reconnect with Carol in order to ensure their actions never come to light. But when Beth begins to have second thoughts, things begin to take a dangerous turn. Someone is watching and it seems they will do just about anything to ensure the three women’s actions never come to light.
This book moves quite slow in the beginning as it attempts to build the plot. That time could have been used more adequately to add more depth to the characters as it was hard to become fully engaged with any of them. While the storyline does pick up midway through the novel, by this point in the book the reader has already formed an opinion of the characters and is no longer invested in the outcome. I do not feel that it was a poor read, but for this genre one would expect more development and heightened anticipation from an experienced author. 3 stars.