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    Promise Not to Tell
    Promise Not to Tell
    Promise Not to Tell
    Audiobook10 hours

    Promise Not to Tell

    Written by Jayne Ann Krentz

    Narrated by Susan Bennett

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A broken promise reveals a terrifying legacy in this electrifying novel from the New York Times bestselling author of When All the Girls Have Gone. Seattle gallery owner Virginia Troy has spent years battling the demons that stem from her childhood time in a cult and the night a fire burned through the compound killing her mother. And now one of her artists has taken her own life, but not before sending Virginia a last picture.a painting that makes Virginia doubt everything about the so-called suicide-and her own past. Like Virginia, PI Cabot Sutter was one of the children in the cult who survived that fire-and only he can help her now. As they struggle to unravel the clues in the picture, it becomes clear that someone thinks Virginia knows more than she does and that she must be stopped. Thrown into an inferno of desire and deception, Virginia and Cabot draw ever closer to the mystery of their shared memories-and the shocking fate of the one man who still wields the power to destroy everything they hold dear.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 2, 2018
    ISBN9781501960611
    Promise Not to Tell
    Author

    Jayne Ann Krentz

    The author of over fifty consecutive New York Times bestsellers, Jayne Ann Krentz writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick), and futuristic/paranormal (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print. She earned a BA in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Master’s degree in library science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries. She is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington. Jayne loves to hear from her readers and can be found at Facebook.com/JayneAnnKrentz.

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    Reviews for Promise Not to Tell

    3.5/5

    416 ratings54 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This short little thriller was just not my cup of tea. I see I am in the minority here so by all means check it out. The story is about middle aged Kate who returns to the town she grew up in Vermont to take care of her ailing mother. The town is also the sight of her fifth grade friend's murder and thirty years later it seems the murderer is striking again. Sound familiar?, yeah it did to me too. Too many rehashed old plot points. I have heard this referred to as a "creepy" read but it was just a boring one for me. As soon as Kate hit the cabin in the woods and read the message on the floor I had it the murderer figured out. The rest was rather predictable while the supernatural element seemed like it was tacked on. I like a little more suspense in my thrillers. Check out Jennifer McMahon's guest post at my friend's book blog Stephanie's Written Word. Stephanie had a more favorable review of the book than I did.
    • 3/5
      No matter how much I tried to enjoy this book, I just couldn't! I found the storyline and the characters completely unengaging. The flashback aspect of the novel, although it is an approach that I enjoy in many novels, did not work for me here. By the end of the novel, I had started to figure out what the mystery was, and while the unveiling wasn't handled terribly, I found myself feeling letdown and disinterested. Also, the stories of Kate's upbringing and communal living were downright boring. I read many reviews of this book before I read it, and I thought it would appeal to me, but that wasn't to be. A disappointment.
    • 3/5
      Kate Cypher, 41, is an elementary-school nurse living in Seattle. As the books opens, Kate has gone back to the small town she grew up in to take care of her Alzheimer's-inflicted mother, Jean. The day Kate returns, a 13-year-old girl is murdered in the woods near the run-down commune where Kate grew up and where her mother still lives. This is a copycat murder to one 30 years earlier when Kate's friend Del was killed. The book has a good start with a lot of back story about Kate and Del but then turns fairly ordinary with a too-quick ending.
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting story involving a murder of a young girl. The author kept me guessing all the way to the end.
    • 1/5
      I agree with CarmenOhio. I was disappointed in this book. It read to me like a book more appropriate for teenage readers. It did not keep me engaged.
    • 3/5
      This book started out with a bang. It was haunting, disturbing and scary. But, by the end it seems like the author gets almost lazy and it takes a cheesy turn.
    • 3/5
      Kate Cypher narrates this ghost story set in two whens: in 1971, Kate's best friend in fifth grade is murdered, and in 2002 -- on the night Kate returns to her hometown after years away -- another young girl is killed in much the same manner. Suspicion swirls around Kate, and she must revisit her past and the role she played in her friend's death in order to untangle the more recent events and help catch the killer.While a few of the characters felt pretty flat, this story had a couple of pretty good twists to it -- enough to keep me guessing up until the last chapter or two, when all is revealed. The dual timeline device worked surprisingly well, and the story was involving enough to keep me occupied for an evening. I was impressed by how well McMahon was able to capture Kate, her best friend Del, and their classmates in this book. While the children were incredibly cruel at times, it's a fairly good look at that awkward trying-to-fit-in phase that a lot of kids go through. Overall, Promise Not To Tell isn't one of the best mystery / suspense novels out there, but it's far from the worst.
    • 4/5
      This novel is a ghost story, a thriller, a mystery, and a tale of reuniting with family/reconciling with your past, rolled up all together in one small unable to put down package. I recommend it to anyone.
    • 4/5
      A compelling mystery that keeps you guessing right until the end.
    • 4/5
      Excellent ghost story. This book quickly grabs you as it moves from past to present time, between the story of a young girl, Kate, raised on a Vermont commune who befriends an outcast neighbor girl to the present day. The murder of the outcast girl, the "potato girl" is apparantly repeated just as Kate returns to the commune to care for her failing mother.
    • 4/5
      This book instantly hooked me. I loved the writing and the characters. It was a short read but I loved every second of it
    • 4/5
      Kate returns to rural Vermont to make decisions about her mother whose Alzheimer's has reached a dangerous stage. On the day she arrives, a girl is murdered in a manner eerily similar to the way a friend of Kate's was killed 30 years ago. Del, nicknamed the Potato Girl because of her poor farming family upbringing, seems to have a hold on Kate's mother and Opal, a friend of the murdered girl. Is she coming back for revenge? The author maintains a creepy feeling throughout, delving into the character of Del through Kate's flashbacks and dropping hints about Del's murder. The touches of horror and the paranormal may put off some mystery readers. A cleanly-written story with interesting characters and a quick pace.
    • 4/5
      I had actually read Island of Lost Girls first because I didn't realize Jennifer McMahon had this debut novel already. Although it doesn't really matter which book I read first since it's not a sequel or anything, I would have probably enjoyed reading her first book first just so I can see how her writing as changed. If it's possible, she's shown to be really consistent in her writing, and once again, completely blew me away. This novel was suspensful and compelling and just so hard to put down.I had actually picked it up two weeks ago, and was reading those little reviews that came with it. I was haunted by the fact that Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants wrote that "[it].. will have you looking over your shoulder for the Potato Girl long after you've turned the last page." And I wasn't in much of a mood to be scared. But I finally picked it up yesterday morning and decided that I'll just read it during the daylight hours, so as to not to creep myself out during the night. What happens is that I read into the night, and finish it around 2 in the morning. And I was so afraid to get up from bed, turn off the lights, and to run back to my bed. haha.I haven't been properly scared for a long time. And this book was the perfect book for that. It wasn't too scary, but the details and the writing in it just completely takes you in. It's an amazing feeling. For those of you who haven't read any of McMahon's book, definitely read Promise Not to Tell and then Island of Lost Girls. Both books are amazing. I'll be getting my hands on My Tiki Girl as soon as it comes out in paperback. haha.
    • 1/5
      No matter how bad it is I tend to grind on and wait to see the story will get better. I am sometimes rewarded for this persistence, and when I am it encourages me to do it next time. This was a horror story. I expected horror. I didn't expect down and dirty ugly. I have trouble with that in a book. Chilling is good in a horror story. Compelling helps, or intriguing. None of those things here. . I disliked the characters and found them annoying. I thought the story was dull. I stopped about 80 pages in, so I may well have missed the best part, but somehow, I don't think so. There are brutal deaths, and unkind people, and in my opinion no redeeming value to this story.
    • 5/5
      I liked this book! Was sitting on the edge of my seat, a real page turner. A little predictable but I didn't care! I liked the characters too.
    • 3/5
      I don't usually enjoy mysteries, but as this book has such excellent reviews, decided to give it a try.Kate has returned to the small Vermont town where she grew up to deal with her mother's worsening Alzheimer's. While there, a killing chillingly similar to the one that happened when she was 12 yrs old occurs. And then other odd things begin to happen as well. Spooky!The book pulled me in right away. I really loved the "alternate" chapter format with the past and the present.That said, the book sort of lost me around 3/4 of it. I was surprised that I figured it out, and found it didn't continue its wonderful pull and promise that it showed in the beginning.It was well written, however, and I found her descriptions and character development to be excellent. Was amazed that this was a debut novel. Great promise from Ms Mcmahon.
    • 1/5
      I might have liked the book better if the author would not have jumped round so much. It was difficult to follow the characters and the plot.It is a story of a young, poor girl who is murdered. Called the potato girl in nasty snide, taunting remarks, years after her murder, rumors still abound regarding the belief she returns to the woods where she was killed and haunts the area.She had few friends. The story is told from the perspective of one of her friends who betrayed her and jumped into the nasty fray of bullying before she was murdered. This haunts her friend who returns to the area to get her mother settled into a nursing homeThere is a stab at an attempted romance, a deaf man who is a tattoo artist, a mother afflicted with dementia, a school nurse who seems to have a lack luster life, and some left over hippies from a commune. All this is spread throughout the plot of who killed the potato girl.This is not a book I liked. I can't recommend it.
    • 4/5
      I must admit the potato girl was creepy. This story was a good mix, suspense, mystery, drama, ghosts. There were so many possible answers to "who did it", that I didn't have it all figured out. I enjoyed the way that the two stories were tied together. A new favorite author of mine!
    • 4/5
      Returning to her home town in Vermont to care for her Alzheimer's patient mother, forty-one-year-old nurse Kate finds herself drawn into the murder investigation of a young girl, a case that reminds her of the death of a childhood friend years earlier. Moving back and forth between 1971 and 2002, this story of two seemingly connected murders of young girls 30 years apart is fast-paced and suspenseful. Most of the characters are introduced in 1971 and are featured again in 2002. Clues point to almost everyone at some point, but it's not until the last chapter that the actual killer is revealed. This one is hard to put down.
    • 5/5
      Similar to "Dark Places" this book took a little time to get going but was well worth the effort. I bought this book for $4.00 at Powell's and it was better than most books costing four time this. Yes you figure out who the killer is before any of the characters in the book do, but the story continues with a god deal of suspense to keep you reading until the end. Time to go back to Powell's for other books by this author.
    • 2/5
      I liked this book, I read it in one night. It is a combination of mystery, suspense and ghost story. The ghost is not to heavy handed, and related by Kate, who doesn't believe in ghosts. It has some dark aspects, neither glossed over or dwelt on, just related in the matter-of-fact way of someone who doesn't expect things to change. It covers peer pressure and bullying in a realistic manner. The novel is written in the first person and switches between Kate's childhood, when the first murder occurs and when she is an adult and a second murder like the first takes place.
    • 4/5
      A pretty good thriller, and it takes place in VT. Is that why I picked it up at the used bookstore? I don't remember. But I enjoyed it. It's a fast and easy read, scary but not bad enough that I had nightmares. I'd read others by this author.
    • 5/5
      This was very well written - had some of Jayne Ann Krentz's classic dry wit, some quirky characters & tons of mystery.
    • 4/5
      Kate, who grew up somewhat unconventionally in a teepee within a small hippie-type community in rural Vermont, lives with the haunting memory of the unsolved murder of a childhood friend. Now, years later she returns to Vermont to attend to her aging mother, who has developed Alzheimer's. But shortly after arriving, another young girl is found murdered, the details of which are eerily similar to those that occurred when Kate's friend was killed all those years ago. McMahon has written several novels within the past 10+ years, but this was her debut. It's a fairly quick, easy read -- a thriller with a little bit of supernatural woven through. It was enjoyable enough, though I guessed the "whodunnit" fairly early, which I'm typically embarrassingly not known for. I've got most of her other novels on my TBR stack, and I did enjoy this one enough to want to read her others.
    • 5/5
      Because of this book, I promptly went out and got all her other novels. Warning, her books cannot be put down so plan your day...or night accordingly.
    • 4/5
      Finished it last Wednesday December 2nd and I did enjoy it although i was quick to know who the killer was. Easy to figure out but all in all an enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      Quick read but interesting, engaging story. Enough twists and turns to keep you hypothesizing until the culprit is revealed to you. McMahon is not afraid to go the supernatural route, and she does it in a style that is not silly or over the top.
    • 3/5
      Decent enough debut thriller with supernatureal overtones. McMahon's writing follows a pretty straight and narrow path, but books of this type are typically not read for their scintillating prose. The use of a rural "urban" legend to set up the premise hooks the reader and the character of the Potato Girl is definitely chilling. However, the remaining characters didn't strike me as memorable nor sympathetic. I found some actions the characters take, particularly the tattooing scene, to be implausible.In the end, I was engaged enough to want to find out what happened, but I can't recommend the book any more enthusiastically. There are lots of other authors writing in the same genre doing it better. Perhaps Ms. McMahon's output improves from here.
    • 5/5
      Wow!!! I am so impressed with this book. Kept me turning pages until the wee hours of the morning.
    • 3/5
      I was disappointed in this book. I had read a review that praised it; I didn't find the characters believable, nor did I care what happened to them. The truest and best writing was the description of the "Potato Girl." She's interesting and quirky. The other characters seemed fairly one-dimensional, more types than fleshed-out characters. I had looked forward to reading it, so it was a letdown.