Their desperate secret. Her desperate search. A shattering truth exposed.Caroline Corbett wants nothing to do with her father, Hoff, a man who abandoned her as a young girl and then vanished from her life almost thirty years ago. But when her beloved aunt expresses a dying wish to see him once more, Caroline, despite her failing marriage and other personal troubles, drops everything to look for … everything to look for him.
Harris Fenton found the father figure he’d dreamed of when he turned eight and his mother married Hoff—but his disappearance four years later left Harris with scars he carries even now that he is a father himself. While he has a beautiful family and a great job, he’s hiding a shameful secret and a nightmare from his childhood.
Caroline’s search for Hoff soon uncovers a host of disturbing clues and draws a threat of violence. Her mind churns with memories of her troubled history, while Harris is losing the battle against his own demons. But for both of them, dredging up the past will be dangerous, and confronting the truth could prove life shattering.
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I loved this dark domestic suspense novel about PTSD, opioid addiction, lies, and twisted secrets connecting one fractured family (linked by two marriages). Harris might be one of my favorite male characters of all time–my heart bled for him–and I was routing for Caroline to unearth the truth about my father’s disappearance from page one. This would be a fantastic book club pick–so much to discuss.
This book has secrets. This book has more secrets! Secrets that are to Tell No One. But eventually secrets are hard to hide.
Caroline Corbett has been estranged from her father, Hoff, for over 30 years. She hasn’t had any desire to be in contact or to have anything do to with him. But she has Aunt Lanie who has one last wish before she dies and that’s to see her brother to make peace with him. Caroline wants to honor her aunt’s last wishes so she starts out on a mission to find her father and bring him back to Aunt Lanie.
Along this journey, Caroline is struggling with personal and emotional issues with her marriage and business. What secrets does she discover? What is she going to do?
Then there’s Harris. He’s the step son of Hoff. Harris doted on his step father. He was his hero….until…..more secrets.
I was pulled into this trove of secrets from the beginning of the book. I felt for Caroline. She wanted to do something for her aunt but it opened up a whole desperate search that revealed shocking events. Ms. Sissel developed characters that were each unique and I could get a feeling of who they were….good and bad. The issues they were living with were heart wrenching and each one had different things they were trying to overcome or failing at. They seemed like hopeless situations.
I didn’t get the connections to each other of the characters right away but that also contributed to the secrets in this book. I never expected where this book took me at the end. It was a shock to me!
I love the switch in chapters between the two POVs of the main characters, Caroline and Harris. The way Ms. Sissel works this in the book to tie them together was perfect.
This book is titled Tell No One…but I think it’s a novel to TELL EVERYONE to open it up and read a very good book.
Thank you Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I also thank Ms. Sissel for writing it and that I could enjoy it. It’s a five star read for me.
I struggled with this book a bit. I didn’t really like any of the characters – the main character, Caroline, was okay, but I didn’t really like her enough to really root for her in her quest to find her father. The best part about her was her dedication to her dying aunt and her desire to protect her daughter from the fallout of a broken home. Otherwise, I found her to be kind of annoying. The other main character, Harris, had so many issues and dealt with them in all the wrong ways. The story itself was ok, but I found that parts of it seemed to go really slow.
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my fair and honest review.
Tell No One by Barbara Taylor Sissel I believe this was the first book I have read from this author. Caroline is searching for her father whom she hasn’t seen or heard from for many years, because her aunt Lanie has cancer and is dying and wants to see and talk to her brother one last time. The beginning of the book was a little slow for me, but it did improve over time. This book combined a little bit of everything. So many different issues that at times it was a little hard to keep up with it all. I did enjoy the book overall, although I do think sometimes less is more. When you are overloaded with all that is going on it can feel a little overwhelming. I would recommend this book to those that have enjoyed this author in the past.
What a wonderful read!! Barbara Sissel does an excellent job of building tension, the story lets the reader roll a bunch of possibilities in their heads for the solve of the mystery. The characters were all shades of grey (in a good way), and Harris was a well structured, complex addition.
My only grouch is that the story could have used more diversity and action; it was missing a bit of that “ka boom” factor.
Nonetheless I would recommend this book; Sissel builds tension beautifully and constructs a thoroughly entertaining mystery.