Don't Tell Anyone by Eleanor Gray

Good Wednesday everyone! It is Wednesday, right? The days have slowly blended into one since Thanksgiving break, and I don't really want to turn my head an inch to right to see the date on my calendar. Too much work.

Today, though, I am happy to write a review of Don't Tell Anyone, a mystery that I finished a few weeks back, but had to sit on to decide what I felt about it. I really liked it when I finished reading it, but there was a lot to take in from this book.

Nearly lost in a fog of grief over the fatal stabbing of her daughter, art historian Grace Neville feels only sorrow as Jordan Dukes is found guilty of murder. Days after the sentencing, Grace receives a visit from Jordan's father, who claims that his son is innocent and a grave miscarriage of justice has taken place. Jordan's history of gang-related violence and the fact that he doesn't have an alibi make his father's plea hard to believe. But then why does somebody break into Grace's home and go through her daughter's belongings?









From never having children, I couldn't possibly even begin to understand what Grace was going through. The story starts off in the past, with Grace and her husband Archie telling their daughter Tara that their getting a divorce because Archie has fallen in love with someone else, a woman that his wife had introduced him to. I only mention this first scene because it sets the tone between Grace and Archie, the tug-of-war they have with their daughter and the love they still feel for one another, but the manipulation Archie holds above his two girls is obvious in every sentence. It also introduces many of the characters that you will come to hold in suspicion throughout this whole book.

I'm terrible with mysteries. I'm convinced that everyone person that comes across the page is the one who "did it," and no one can tell me differently until a new character comes into the story. I get too eager to solve the mystery and feel accomplished, and this one was no different. But the ending threw me for a loop, because I did not see any of it coming.

This book is told in both past and present. Grace reveals a little of her life with Tara before the murder, dropping hints and showing how Tara changed in the year after her parents' divorce. She became close with Archie's new wife and revealed some things that even Grace didn't know about her ex-husband. In the present, Grace has reached the end of her rope - because no one seems to want to help her figure out what truly happened to Tara - finally accepting Jordan's father's plea and helping him find the real killer of her daughter. It takes her to seedy places and has her deal with unseemly people who only want to harm her and those around her. Grace is lost and confused, and only wants justice for her daughter, but she is thwarted at every turn.

I guess I can brag about being right about Archie. That's not to say that he has anything to do with his daughter's murder {or does he?? dun dun duuuuun}, but he's a class A jerk and Grace is way better off without him. He's hidden things from her throughout their marriage and she only finds them out while searching for her daughter's killer. He's smarmy and classless, even though he comes from a wealthy family that only cares about image. He's a jerk, plain and simple, and it's obvious from the first chapter what kind of person Grace is dealing with here. He is a master manipulator since he convinced all these women that he's one kind of man, while really being the other right under their noses. He's wonderfully written - as big of a jerk as he is - and it's interesting to watch Grace slowly realize who she's been dealing with all these years.

Don't Tell Anyone is one of those fun type of mysteries that brings you closer to the truth and then shoves you about twenty steps back. You're so convinced that it's THIS PERSON, and then the next corner proves you wrong. Fantastically written and so moving, this is definitely a must read for the winter holidays.