I really enjoyed this tense read. It had plenty of twists and turns and kept me up reading late into the night as I couldn't wait to get to the end of this novel Three friends, Beth, Sally and Carol have a secret that they swear they will take to the grave, that they will never share with another living soul. It involves their part in an incident that took place in their boarding school when they were just 14 years old. Years later their school grounds are being torn apart and the three girls fear that their secret will be unearthed. They have drifted, Carol in particular and their friendship isn't as it used to be but the girls are terrified that the promise they made many years before will come to light. Beth's voice is the one we hear most often although the story is told from the perspective of other characters from time to time. It worked well and the voice of others added to the telling in my opinion. It was a good read, one I"d recommend.

The Promise by Teresa Driscoll centres around three friends, a promise made decades before, and their relationships, past and present. Following the lives of Beth, Sally, and Carol as they meet at a Catholic boarding school and become best friends. However, something bad takes place when the girls are fourteen and they each make a promise to never reveal what happened and the parts they played in this traumatic event. This memory and holding in the secret of what happened tortures the girls throughout their lives. When they are 38, their old boarding school grounds are going to be torn apart, with the chance of their secret being revealed.

Beth is happily married to Adam and has two sons. She is terrified that she could lose her husband, along with her sons, if Adam discovers her secret. Sally turned to drinking, many years ago, in an effort to forget what the girls did so long ago. Carol has dropped off the map, no longer keeping in contact with her mom, Beth, or Sally and Beth is desperate to contact Carol, so they can either make plans to do "something" about their secret or be freed from their promise.

What will happen to the promise?

I love a good mystery or thriller and am always happy to dive into more. As much as I love such books, I find I love those that follow detectives – be it police officers or private investigators – a lot more than I enjoy domestic thrillers. There have been some domestic thrillers I have really enjoyed, and due to this I continue to read them.

At first, I thought The Promise was going to be one such book, a domestic thriller I would love. There was so much potential with this one, and I was eager to see how it played out. The book certainly had me gripped throughout, and I was constantly thinking up new ideas of how things would come together, but it didn’t quite wow me in the way I had hoped.

In fact, the reason this is a rounded down three-point-five-star rating is because the ending felt rushed. There was so much introduced, and I fear many of the elements were not given the amount of attention I would have liked them to receive. I’m sure many will be okay with this, but with the topics involved in this book I needed more.

All in all, an addictive read despite the ending feeling a wee bit rushed for my liking.

Multiple POV, dual-timeline. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I enjoyed it as much as the first (I’m Watching You).
Plenty of twists and turns weave their way through this story of shared history and secrets. Although certain plot points were predictable, others were not and overall it was an enjoyable read.

The only part that left me wondering was if the Matthew in this is the Matthew in I’m Watching You!
ARC from NetGalley.

With thank to Net galley for allowing me to review this book.
The Promise by Teresa Driscoll is a good book that is steady paced book

Didn't enjoy this one. Seemed to drag, writing ok but didnt "grab me and I was very disappointed because I wanted to like it.
3 stars

This one wasn't for me unfortunately. These sorts of books are a let down recently. I need to be more selective in what I request going forward.

A gripping psychological thriller in which three young girls share a secret they swear to take to the grave. No one must ever find out what they know. Two of them have tried to put it all behind them, but are forced to track down the third before all their secrets are revealed and will ruin their lives. Someone is watching and will stop at nothing to reveal their wrongdoing. Who is it, and what lengths will they go to to protect their secrets?

Stereotypical mystery/psychological thriller with not very likable characters and no real conclusion.

This book wasn’t what I expected but it was a nice surprise. Very interesting premise. I love all of Driscoll’s books.

I loved this so much.

Most of the time, when a plot relies on secrets, they're pretty predictable. Not so in "The Promise" , which throws so many twists at you it leaves you giddy.

Such a great read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

A Promise Like a Curse

Sometimes things happen to teen girl friends that bring them closer together, forming a bond that the passage of time can't break. Sometimes, the source of that bond can become a curse on that friendship. This is a story of that kind of bond.

The girls of this story are all grown now, each with their own lives, each with varying amounts of success in the world. They've kept their promises, but it's cost them dearly. The secret they hide is revealed in pieces to the reader in flashbacks, adding a foundation to events in the present that cause each of them to doubt the other as tragedy seems only a breath away.

I was compelled to identify with these girls, despite having little in common with them. The writer has deep understanding of human nature and the capability to write a believable, suspenseful mystery that touched my heart deeply. I look forward to reading more of her books.

There were a lot of red herrings in this book that, once I knew the truth, felt like the author was intentionally throwing them in to mislead the reader. Many twists also felt very convenient and too coincidental. Despite that, this was still a fun read and great for a plane ride.

The story revolves round three schoolgirls who met at a Catholic boarding school and became firm friends.
Something terrible happened when they were 14 and one of the girls,Carol,eventually left the school.The other two girls,Beth and Sally, maintained their friendship throughout the next 30 years - Beth marrying and having a family ;Sally's marriage breaking up and her drinking too much.Always though there was the knowledge of a vow they'd made all those years ago.
Life takes a turn when there is news that their old school is to be demolished with the potential for their secret coming to light..
Beth hires a private investigator to try and find Carol who has become estranged not just from them but also her mother.
The story is related by the four main characters and moves from the present to the past..
It was a bit slow to start with and the revelation of the 'dreadful secret' rather drawn out so that there was plenty of time to suss that out for oneself.
However ,the characters did draw me in and there were unexpected twists and turns which kept me turning the page .
All in all an enjoyable read.

A great psychological thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Slightly disappointing in places, also some of the characters were quite unlikeable, but I guess that was intentional. Recommended.

Very captivating, couldn't stop reading. Not at all what I was expecting. I was more than pleasantly surprised by the conclusion. I would highly recommend reading. #THEPROMISE

I read a lot of psychological thrillers so I find it hard to be thoroughly impressed & The Promise just fell a little flat for me.

I was hoping for something a little more dark, so when the “big secret” was revealed, I was disappointed.

Three friends made a promise to keep a dark secret while young teenagers in boarding school. Now adults, something happens that causes their secret to be threatened.

While it was a slow burn to get to the secret, it still kept me interested. When things picked up about halfway through it was fast (shorter quicker and cliff hanger chapters) and I couldn’t put it down. The characters were all flawed and well developed. The story made sense and the end was practical.

First, some Trigger Warnings as this was definitely a dark story - something I didn't expect, as most of these showed up towards the end. Sorry to be spoilery, but you need to read these:
*Abuse, rape, child molestation, loss of an infant, death of a child*

My second Driscoll read and this was unexpected. Like I stated previously, I didn't feel like this will go dark. The first half of the book we're kind of pacing slowly through a mystery of what happened at the boarding school. We know there's this dark secret between the three friends, but there's not really any hinting at what it is.

We're told their individual stories after boarding school, while dealing with threats that seem to be connected to the secret between them. In all honesty, the beginning was boring and slow.. It wasnt a hook for me, and I kept putting the book away, and not coming back to it for long stretches. It wasn't bad writing, but just dragged on and on without revealing anything. These women trying to deal with their secrets but also trying to deal with current issues.. it was bla.

And then things turned violent. We finally started having some action, and things started revealing themselves.. and then the last 20% went deep and dark. A lot of issues were thrown at the one person and I just couldn't believe it. It felt like too much but at the same time made this more interesting.

It was a good attempt at making this an emotional thriller, but except for the last bit I wasn't fully engaged. I'd give this 3-3.5. I liked this better than her previous work though.

This book was written really well and had a lot of potential. I was engrossed the entire time, though a little confused getting the characters straight at the beginning. Driscoll is an amazing, captivation writer and I enjoyed the first 75% of the book. The ending however, felt forced. The big reveal wasn't really as dramatic and dark as I expected, and while I can't personally relate to the characters, I felt it didn't reflect on how the friends were traumatized about it after all these years. I think Driscoll realized that as well, and had to make up for it by adding *so many* dark twists and turns within the last couple of chapters. I think a couple of these plot points could have been removed without taking away from the ending.

Also, I'm not sure what issue Driscoll has with men or fathers, but only 1 of them is reflected in a good light and as a good man. The rest are evil soul-less creatures that cause 80% of the problems in the girls life.

Outside the unfulfilled ending, the book was written well. But when an ending falls flat it's really a disappointment, especially when the rest of the book is so good.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an Arc of this book to review.