One Last Secret: From the Sunday Times Number One bestselling author of Both Of You comes a gripping psychological crime thriller

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The novel builds well, there is tension and suspense though disbelief suspenders are required on occasions but hey, it’s fiction! There are several twists and turns although one is easy to figure out but not entirely the reasons behind it. The end twist is good. To put it mildly, a complicated mess. Dora finds herself playing cat and mouse in an elaborate revenge plot the type of which I am fairly certain you can only find in fiction. It’s hard to sympathize with Dora as she discovers herself in deep trouble because it is obvious from the very beginning that taking this trip with Daniel is a colossally dumb mistake.

ONE LAST SECRET | Kirkus Reviews

Dora is a sex worker. Or a ‘hooker’ or ‘whore’ - words that are littered throughout the text…not sure that was necessary. When she’s beaten by a dangerous client, she’s more than a little shaken and her millionaire boy best friend offers her an out. I wasn’t really sure about this one at first but the more I read the better it got. Not at all what I normally read but once I got into it I really enjoyed it. Adele Parks now rises to the very top of my list in the domestic noir category. I have had a really thirst for this genre of late and One Last Secret filled my cup. Unpredictable, wild and tantalising, I couldn’t get enough of this tale of a high-end escort. Then Dora gets a call from Daniel. Among her former clients, he was a favorite; he didn’t just come for the sex and the two of them had been friends of sorts. Dora was his confidant for all the things he couldn’t tell those he knew and loved. Daniel had told only her about his secret longing for his best friend’s wife, how said longing had kept him from dating and marrying, how he just couldn’t seem to move on. Now he’s telling her that said bestie, bestie’s wife, and Daniel are all supposed to attend a corporate event at a French chateau. It’s meant to be a luxurious, decadent retreat for couples – and since Daniel has been lying to everyone that he has a significant other, he’s been invited to attend. He absolutely needs Dora to go, because she’s the only female acquaintance he has who knows him well enough to pull off being his fake girlfriend.And wouldn’t you know it, one look at her bruised, abused face is all it takes for her bestie Evan to propose marriage. They’ve never had sex – it’s been refreshing for Dora to have a friend without benefits in her life – but they are as intimate as two people can be without it. They share nearly everything with each other – Evan is one of the few people who knows just what Dora does for a living, and he loves her anyway. Dora knows all his foibles and hangups, too – and loves him anyway. They come from two different worlds – she’s the daughter of immigrants who had to flee their wartorn homeland, and he’s the son of one of the richest and most powerful men in Britain, but that has never mattered. Several years into their unexpected friendship they’ve found they connect more with each other than they do with their so-called peers. They’ve been circling the idea of taking their relationship to the next level, but Dora is pleasantly surprised and delighted by the fact that Evan is willing to skip the in-between steps of dating and living together to head straight to the altar. She says yes, and just like that, they’re engaged. Evan does demand she quit her job, however, worried there could be another incident like the one she just lived through. Dora also fears a repeat of that experience and is happy to hang up her stilettos and start planning a wedding. I won’t go any further, other than to say, that this clever, psychological thriller had me holding my breath with all the twists and turns. A highly entertaining and addictive read where the tension builds to a mind blowing conclusion.

One Last Secret on Apple Books ‎One Last Secret on Apple Books

It didn’t take long for me to invested in Dora’s story. As a ‘lady of the night’, Dora’s frank, blunt narrative is very honest and it felt like she was talking directly to me as a reader. Like a confessional, Dora makes it clear that her life is not glamorous and that she accepts the criticisms behind her profession. However, money is the driving force and Dora shows she is not embarrassed by what she does: she is embarrassed because she does not know what she would do instead with her life. Dora is an escort, the oldest profession in the world. She is quite upfront about her career but after one client treats her horrifically her friend Evan, a trust fund baby, asks her to marry him and she says yes. However, one client begs her to do one last job which is to accompany him to France and fake a relationship and so she reluctantly agrees. What could possibly go wrong? No more needs to be said on the plot as it’s better going in blind but my heart was racing for Dora and the life and death situation she gets herself into.Her best friend/ trust fund baby Evan sees her condition, trying to convince her to quit her job as like he did before but when he realizes, Dora has no intention to leave this life behind, he does something unexpected, he PROPOSES! Dora is a high end escort in London, and she is not ashamed of it. She makes good money and she is happy. Until she is beaten badly by a client in a hotel room. He threatens her and she is scared to leave her home. This is when her best friend Evan proposes to her. He has been in love with her for a long time, he is rich and handsome. Dora says yes and agrees to stop working as an escort. But she agrees to do one last job for a client while Evan is away, and flies to France. What could go wrong? During an escape attempt, Dora learns that her captor, the father of her daughter, is also her fiancé’s father and that he hired everyone who was at the house to torture her. She manages to kill the employee during a second escape attempt but doesn’t get away because, when she opens the door to run away … Dora is an high classed escort who happens to fall into a doting relationship with her friend Evan. They get engaged. He knows her history and feels nevertheless that they would be a good match and Dora is pretty OK about getting married. It would be such a novelty to be loved for her and not admired, for the services she provides.

One Last Secret: From the Sunday Times Number One bestselling One Last Secret: From the Sunday Times Number One bestselling

This book started off with a bang! And I was ooh! This is different! And these days different is as rare as a unicorn sighting! Theodora (Dora) thirty-one is a glamorous high end escort and she’s about to retire but she has one last job where she will accompany a regular client Daniel, to a luxury chateau in the South of France for a week, what could possibly go wrong? Ever wondered what the classic film Pretty Woman would be like if it was actually a dark noir? Adele Parks provides the answer to that question in her latest thriller One Last Secret. If you have ever read an Adele Parks book, you know that her plots are never as straight forward as they may seem. Once Last Secret is a compelling read, with so many twists and turns you will not know if you are coming or going! I loved it. When a book continues to surprise me, it is a good thing as I don't think that I am easily surprised anymore. There are good points. The prose is smooth, and the pacing is excellent. Another positive is that the beginning – where Dora talks about her life as a prostitute, and the setup for the trip takes place – is intriguing.

Dora is an escort and gets paid for her services so a week at a beautiful chateau in the south of France sounds an excellent assignment. She is used to role play so when Daniel hires her to pretend to his guests that she is his girlfriend it sounds a straightforward booking. She intends to give up escorting so she sees it as a last time to act out with the wealthy. I don’t want to give spoilers but plenty happens, some of it sad, some a bit silly. There are also some truly bizarre/problematic plot points that the author seems to just skim over. With a plot that is far from conventional, complete with an alluring main protagonist, a suspect outer cast and a flashy setting, One Last Secret will keep you guessing until the bitter end. An amazing read!