Tell Me No Secrets

You can never go wrong with a Joy Fielding mystery/thriller and this is one of her better stories. The main character is a female lawyer fighting the good fight for her client who was raped and afraid to testify because her life has been threatened. Without giving the story away, you're really not sure which one of three characters ends up being the murderer and who may also be taunting the lawyer until the very end. Quite a good read if you like court dramas and suspense.

Contrary to what some other reviewers have said, I found this book to be totally absorbing and unputdownable, and can see it being made into a wonderful suspense/thriller movie. Jess Koster is a very troubled and flawed woman, rather unlikeable most of the time, with her arrogant views and prickly nature, but a very competent lawyer and States' attorney. Against her parents' wishes, she married her law tutor,Don, eleven years her senior, while still in law school and, even after the marriage had finished, stayed under his influence and protection. She meets an attractive shoe salesman who seems to be working at a job which is way below his mental and social capacities,and, for the first time in years, thinks that a romance might be possible. A client of Jess has been raped and terrorised by a sadistic monster, Rick Ferguson, but is convinced by Jess to testify against him in spite of repeated threats to her life. When her client is found, beaten and nearly decapitated, Jess faces her ex-husband across the courtroom where he is defending Ferguson, and so begins an horrific time for Jess, with Ferguson stalking her and horrible incidents becoming a daily part of her life. M/s Fielding weaves a suspenseful web and keeps up a breakneck pace which doesn't let up till the final page. This story kept me up into the small hours as I just couldn't put it down.

I've always enjoy Fielding's work, and I liked this book maybe not quite as much as the others she has written. It focuses on a prosecuting attorney, Jess who is having many problems in her life concerning her mother who has been missing for several years, a stalker waiting to attack, and a client who ends up killed. In the story, Jess has many moments of terrible panic attacks. And she has a lot of trouble keeping herself together. Her ex-husband's client Rick Fergerson, is trouble and not in jail where he should be. He stalks Jess everywhere, and is believed to be the one who killed Connie, Jess's client who was raped and beaten. When Connie appears missing, the first suspect of course is Rick, but there is not enough evidence in court yet to convict him. In another of her situations, her brother-in-law Barry can't stand Jess and seems to make trouble for her as well. When Jess starts receiving threats by the mail, and break-ins at her apartment, she also believes her brother-in-law has a hand in it. This causes problems between she and her sister Maureen. Then Jess also meets a shoe salesman who seems to like her very much, Adam. She isn't sure that with all the things happening to her, that she can really trust Adam. He seems to be a mystery himself, and has secrets from the past. The book builds up slowly until the last portion. It is hard to write a great review on it, as there are so many situations happening at once. Jess finally resolves her past eventually about what happened to her mother so many years ago. She isn't able to go on with things until then, as it might have everything to do who is stalking her now-and of course I won't say. All in all, it was worth reading.

Of all the people who wrote reviews for this book, I have a completely differant opinion. I have never read a book that I loved sooo much and couldn't put down for a second.