I received this book for free from Berkley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz Series: Cutler, Sutter,
Published by Berkley Books on January 2nd 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Pages: 325
Format: Hardback
Source: Berkley
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Books
A painter of fiery, nightmarish visions throws herself into the sea—but she leaves her secrets behind . . .
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, private investigator 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 painting, 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.
I don’t read a lot of romantic suspense, and, unfortunately, this book reminded me why that is. It’s just a genre that doesn’t work for me. It’s improbable to me that if you’re in genuine danger, and you know you are, your biggest concern would be getting laid. Maybe I’m the weirdo, and that’s fine, but it just doesn’t sit right with me.
Victoria and Cabot knew each other as children when their mothers got tangled up in a cult. After being rescued from the cult, they were separated and didn’t see each other again until the events of this book. Virginia has come to Cutler, Sutter, and Salinas because Anson Salinas was the cop who rescued them and she needs someone she trusts to investigate the recent death of a friend of hers. She believes it to be related to the cult, so it makes sense to her to seek him out.
Virginia and Cabot had almost no chemistry whatsoever, then they were suddenly having sex. They continued to not have any chemistry, even after they had sex. I just never really bought them together. The crime they were investigating, the new crime that is, not the cult, was somehow both silly and convoluted. And when they found the perpetrator of the crime, said perpetrator spent an entire chapter laying out their plan and their actions from start to finish, which I always find to be ridiculous. Especially because that delay nearly always results in their capture. I mean, really, do criminals not watch TV or read books?
Overall, this was just an ok read for me. Fortunately it was a quick read, but I won’t be going on with the series, or going back to read the first one. Hardcore fans of Jayne Ann Krentz may enjoy, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
About Jayne Ann Krentz
The author of a string of New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ uses three different pen names for each of her three “worlds”. As JAYNE ANN KRENTZ (her married name) she writes contemporary romantic-suspense. She uses AMANDA QUICK for her novels of historical romantic-suspense. JAYNE CASTLE (her birth name) is reserved these days for her stories of futuristic/paranormal romantic-suspense.
“I am often asked why I use a variety of pen names,” she says. “The answer is that this way readers always know which of my three worlds they will be entering when they pick up one of my books.”
In addition to her fiction writing, she is the editor of, and a contributor to, a non-fiction essay collection, DANGEROUS MEN AND ADVENTUROUS WOMEN: ROMANCE WRITERS ON THE APPEAL OF THE ROMANCE published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Her commitment to her chosen genre has been strong from the very beginning of her career. Each year at the annual convention of the Romance Writers of America she participates in a special day-long workshop for librarians and speaks on the importance of the romance genre.
“The romance genre is the only genre where readers are guaranteed novels that place the heroine at the heart of the story,” Jayne says. “These are books that celebrate women’s heroic virtues and values: courage, honor, determination and a belief in the healing power of love.”
She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters 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.
