Title: Don't Tell
Author: Karen Rose
Publishing Date: 2003
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating: A
Sensuality: Warm
Mary Grace Winters nine years ago ran away from her abusive husband with her seven year old son Robbie. She knew if she stayed with her husband any longer that he would eventually kill her with his frequent beatings. After healing a broken back, that was the result of a fall down the stairs, Mary Grace changed her and her son's name and moved to Chicago.
There are three separate plot threads in Don't Tell that all eventually come together to a very exciting conclusion. The first is Mary Grace, now Caroline Stewart, meeting and falling in love with her new boss Max Hunter. The second is Rob Winters Caroline's abusive, cop husband, who now discovers after nine years that his wife was not abducted and killed, but deceived him and has hidden from him. He is on a hunt to find her and make her pay for taking his son away from him for so long. The third thread are the cops who are looking for Mary Grace and are following Rob's trail.
Don't Tell was very well balanced between the suspense portion of the book and the romance between Caroline and Max. This was a very intense read. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book, waiting for Rob to catch up with Caroline. I was biting my nails, hoping and praying the cops would catch Rob before he gets to Caroline. Rob was one of the scariest bad guys I have come across in a long time. He is truly a sadistic sick pup and the stuff of nightmares.
While Rob is hunting her down, Caroline is finally letting down her guard and trying new life experiences with Max. It is not easy by any means. Both Max and Caroline have huge baggage that they have to deal with. Caroline is weary of men and not sure she can entirely trust one again. Max carries incredible guilt for causing the death of his father and is a bitter man. Caroline teaches him about what it really means to live and their story is very moving. The romance is more sweet than hot, but it was in keeping with Max and Caroline's personalities. I just loved this book and highly recommend it. Karen Rose is awesome!
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9 comments:
I read this books few years ago and still remember some of the feelings I felt when I was reading it. I don't usually read that much romantic suspense books, but this was totally awesome. After that I read a couple other books by her and they were pretty good also.
What a great review Jill! It's spot on.
I'm reading this book at the moment and in the last stages of it. It's awesome! An awesome book indeed. I have just a few more chapters to go. Rob creeps me out! Really and I haven't had that with bad guys in books for a long time!
Hope to share my review of this book over the weekend.
This was my first Karen Rose and I really enjoyed it. I think I need to go back and read it! :)Thanks for reviewing it :)
I remember thinking what an amazing find she was when I read this book. I glommed the first 4 books one after the other, and they rocked me. It's hard to write a 14 yo boy with a chip on his shoulder and not make the reader resent him, too. As the parent of a 14 yo boy, I absolutely loved Tom. He was a main character, integrated into the story in a major and important way, yet not detracting from the love story. I thought the book was amazingly suspenseful, intense, sad, and scary, even though we knew from page 1 who the antagonist was.
Maija - Yes! Karen's books definitely stand out and are memorable. I need to get her latest trilogy Scream For Me, Die For Me, etc. It looks really good.
Pearl - Yay! I am so glad you enjoyed it. I am always leary of recommending books because taste can very so much. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it too!
Nath - Amazing story and to think it was Karen's first and she just keeps getting better and better. Only bad thing is that she has a small backlist. But hey, she plans to keep on writing!
Lori - I can't believe I didn't mention Tom in my review! He was a fantastic character. All the characters were wonderfully written, even her abusive husband. I think it's the first time, in a long time, that I was actually afraid of the antagonist.
I love Karen Rose's writing. My first KR was Count to Ten. Excellent book that one.
I have this in my tbr pile. Looks like I need to get to it soon. :P
Karen Rose is my favourite romantic suspense author. Her early books were very good, but her most recent ones are excellent. I've read the first two books in the Vartanian trilogy and loved them. I'm eagerly awaiting the mass market release of 'Kill for Me' next month.
I love Tom!! he was a great character!
and LOL at the small backlist. Well at least, she still comes out with 2 books/year :) That's good :)
Ames - Yes! I also read Count to Ten and loved it. I need to start this most recent series she has out. She is definitely an author to follow.
Sarah - I have got to start that series! I love her books and I will definitely be eagerly awaiting any releases!
Nath - I wasn't aware she wrote two books a year. When I met her she said it only takes her a couple of months to write a book. She says that it just flows out of her. Isn't that amazing! And she writes longer than average books; +500 pages.
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