This is another heart-pounding psychological thriller from Adele Parks. The beginning and middle are filled with suspense and leave readers with a lot of questions. The real beauty of this is at the end when the author reveals surprise after unpredictable surprise. A fast, entertaining read for fans of Shari Lapena and B. A. Paris.

This is the second book by Adele Parks that I have read, and I actually enjoyed it more than I Invited Her In. I wanted to give Parks another chance and this one redeemed her for me. Some of the things in this book were hard to read, so take heed of content warnings. There is also kind of an open ending and not everything gets completely resolved, so I'm not sure that this book really needs a sequel but I'd probably read it anyways. Overall though this one was just an average read; I didn't hate it but I didn't really care for it either.

Dora’s life has not gone according to plan. Once, she was young and naïve, studying to be an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She believed having been given a place at the prestigious school “was the beginning of everything. Everything marvelous and possible and wild.” Then she met a handsome, charming, older man who swept her off her feet. But their big romance turned into a quintessential tale of heartbreak and abandoned dreams. There was no divorce in progress, as he initially represented, and too late Dora figured out that she was nothing more to him than a dalliance. When things became too inconvenient and complicated for him, he threw money at the problem and abandoned her. Blindsided, the consequences of their affair upended Dora’s life. She was forced to drop out of school and struggled to earn a living without the benefit of a degree or meaningful work experience. For a time, a good friend assisted her, but when he moved on, she had no choice but to reach out to her mother, from whom she had hidden her true circumstances. Her mother was disappointed, but willingly came to Dora’s aid, agreeing to move in and help Dora manage her life and responsibilities. She asked few questions because when she did, Dora evaded them.

However, to make ends meet, Dora became an escort, a dangerous avocation she had to conceal from her mother. She was able to fool her mother for a time about where she was really working, fabricating a promotion to the position of manager to explain the amount of money she was earning and the material things she was able to provide, including a move to a more spacious apartment. She always changed into jeans and tennis shoes before returning home.

But one evening, an emergency arose, and her mother needed to reach her immediately. Frantic to get in touch with Dora, she called the pub where Dora allegedly worked, but learned that not only was she not the manager, but she also hadn’t even worked there for some time. Desperate, she searched Dora’s laptop for the address of her employer, and was shocked and dismayed by the photos she found stored there that Dora emailed to a woman named Elspeth, her “agent.” She was puzzled by the stash of cash tips hidden in Dora’s closet, and taken aback when Dora comes home from work in a short, strapless cocktail dress. Dora’s mother announces she is leaving, taking with her the one thing most precious to Dora, who realizes that fighting her mother’s decision would be a mistake.

Now thirty-one years old, Dora is still working with Elspeth and has formed a close friendship with her neighbor, Evan, a twenty-seven-year-old trust fund baby she met four years ago. Evan will eventually inherit a fortune from his father, who owns an international property and land management company. “He is my best friend and he hates what I do, but he loves me,” Dora explains in her first-person narrative. But she has returned from a job beaten, bruised, and shaken. The client was not a regular, and as he assaulted her, he said, “You disgust me. Stop what you are doing. Stop it now. Or next time will be worse. Next time will be the last time.”

Dora and Evan are extremely close, but have never been romantically involved, even though Dora is well aware that Evan is in love with her and she sees him as the most “sympathetic, humane being” she has even known. Evan experiences extreme mood swings, and Dora has stood by and supported him in his fight with drug addiction. He has dated many women, but never sustained a relationship. Dora knows he needs a certain kind of woman by his side. The kind “who can drop everything at a moment’s notice to pack her Fendi sunglasses and a Chanel bikini and hop on a plane to the Caribbean if the mood takes him. Career women can’t do that.”

Dora is at first sure Evan is joking when he tells her they should marry. “I see his problem. I can also see how he might have concluded I’m the solution.” Still, the idea appeals to her because she cares deeply for him, he will cherish her, and, most importantly, marriage to Evan will ensure that she can leave her dangerous work behind, financially secure. Perhaps she will be able to reclaim the one thing that means the most to her. The idea is especially enticing after her recent terrifying experience, so Dora accepts Evan’s proposal, and they formulate a plan to introduce her to his family. They embark on their newly negotiated romantic relationship, which Dora finds pleasing, and she promises Evan she is permanently out of the escort business.

Except with Evan out of town on business, she sees no harm in accepting one last assignment. A regular client, Daniel, asks her to do one final favor for him. He wants her to accompany him to a chateau in the south of France to celebrate a friend having been made a partner in a law firm. It will only be from Friday to Monday, and they will be pretending that she is Daniel’s girlfriend because all of Daniel’s friends will be attending with their partners. Daniel has always been “a pussycat,” he will pay her handsomely, and it will be a strictly platonic weekend so she will not break her promise to Evan. It should be an easy weekend for Dora in luxurious surroundings. After all, she explains, she reinvents herself every time she embarks on a new assignment, becoming the woman her client is paying for her to be. “I am anyone I want to be. I am no one at all,” she relates.

Dora has no idea that she is walking into a trap. But she quickly realizes that nothing is as Daniel promised, and something is off about the entire setup. His friends are a decidedly eccentric group, and she immediately becomes the target of suspicion, accusations, outright gaslighting. She recognizes one of Daniel’s friends, Jonathan, as the client who beat and threatened her, but futilely tries to convince herself that she is wrong since she never saw the client’s face. Her confidence is shaken, and she wonders if it is because her “life is finally coming together, and I can hardly believe it. I don’t trust my own luck.” Eventually, though, she realizes she is in danger and accepting Daniel’s invitation was a grave mistake. But why is she being targeted? And who is really behind the nefarious charade? The revelation of one last secret could claim not just her future with Evan, but her life.

Through Dora, author Adele Parks explores gender and socioeconomic disparities, as well as greed and power in an inventive and tautly crafted tale about revenge and retribution. Dora is an endearing, sympathetic, and pragmatic protagonist who unsparingly details what her life as an escort is like, offering stark observations about the similarities between the trade-offs made by ordinary women in their dealings with men and those required of prostitutes. She acknowledges the mistakes she has made in her life, and explains both her struggle and desire to disengage from the life she has created for herself despite the enormous losses she has suffered. She is a survivor who acknowledges the codependent nature of her relationship with Evan, but it is based on genuine affection and earnestness, and she is determined that her “hooker with a heart” story will have a happy ending worthy of Hollywood. Are her motives really that simple? Or is she more calculating than her explanations suggest? Parks expertly keeps readers guessing and surrounds Dora with equally interesting supporting characters, especially Evan. He is self-aware. He knows he is a hapless, spoiled, and indulged trust fund baby who has never had to work to earn anything, but is intent on freeing Dora from her treacherous lifestyle. He proves that he is willing to do whatever is necessary to protect the woman he loves. Would he be as eager to rescue her if he knew the whole truth?

One Last Secret is a darkly absorbing and fast-paced story, with the fascinating and multi-layered Dora at the center of an imaginative mystery.

This one wasn't too bad. There were moments in the middle that were slow and some things were a little fat fetched. Overall it was a decent thriller and there are a bunch of times that I totally wasn't expecting and the ending was well done. I say if you like thrillers, you may want to give this a try!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own. Out now.

Dora is a high priced escort. She knows at some point she needs to put this life behind her. And after her latest ‘date’ with a new client left her beaten and bruised, that time was now!

But change was not going to come easily. Her most trusted client Daniel reaches out, pleading for one last rendezvous. He needs her to escort him to a function in the French countryside. Nora is reluctant, torn between her two opposing worlds. But come on! The French countryside? One last job won’t hurt anyone…. ya right!?

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!

But midway things started to lag once they arrived in France. Dora’s behavior and lack of insight just felt silly. I’d think anyone with an ounce of common sense would have behaved differently… but hey, that’s just my opinion.

Overall, I’m glad I stuck with the read to the end. I was rewarded with quite the roller-coaster of twists!

Definitely a worthwhile read for all thriller lovers.

A buddy read with Susanne.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing

AMAZING. I was hooked all the way through. The twists just kept coming and coming. And then the ending!!! I was not expecting any of it. I loved it.

Thirty-one-year-old Dora works as an “escort” as she calls it. She insists that she is safe in her job and that the woman she works for, Elspeth, keeps her that way. In the beginning, she lets us know that doing sex work isn’t about the money for her and that being rich isn’t that important to her. Being valued is. Dora says that “telling it like it is” is a core skill of hers. Because she’s so adamant about what she does and why, it seems as if she’s a combination of naivete and overconfidence.

When she’s savagely beaten by a client, it scares her so much that she opts to take her friend Evan’s proposal of marriage. After spending time with him, she finds he’s kind and sweet. She thinks she can love him. But she's out of practice when it comes to having those kinds of feelings. She’s known poverty, and Evan’s independent wealth appeals to her, contradicting her earlier bluster that money isn’t important to her. Dora states that we won’t like her, but she also lets us know that what she is professing is her version of the truth. “We all trade sex for something,” she says. Her bluster often feels as if she’s protesting too much. At other times, it comes off as belonging to a hardened woman. Is Dora a credible narrator?

Dora still believes she can handle anything that comes her way. When Evan needs to leave for a week to work in Hong Kong, Dora takes a job she can’t refuse. It doesn’t involve sex, just accompanying a client, Daniel, to a chateau where his friends will gather and she will play his girlfriend. She rationalizes that this is not “sex work.”

Once there, Dora is introduced to Daniel's friends who are a mixed lot, and none of them make her feel comfortable. Then she’s introduced to Jonathan who she’s certain is the man who savagely beat her and told her to give up the sex work or the next time would be her last. When she begins to experience frightening physical ailments, she doubts her sanity and wonders what in heaven’s name is happening to her. When she tries to escape, she can’t. Now she knows she shouldn’t have taken this job and these people “aren’t quite right.”

The twists and reversals happen with a speed that often tangles the brain. What exactly is this group of people and who is pulling the strings? When Dora’s background comes to light, the layers of craziness multiply, and what we know gets tangled to the point of wondering about everyone involved.

The final secret alluded to in the title comes down like a hammer. Parks takes us on an almost surreal ride while accompanying Dora. Often what Parks lays out seems to contradict what she’s previously set up, and just as we believe one thing, Parks reverses course. She does this over and over until she lands a brilliant and unexpected ending.

Adele Parks creates a world from the viewpoint of a complex woman who keeps the reader confused at times or judgmental at others. Some of the observations like “...money is power, and I play the game,” and “I guess I am the epitome of inappropriate,” are meant to establish Dora’s attitude toward her work. Parks keeps us confused about her ... and on edge. Why does she do what she does? Is she self-destructive or brilliant? Only the ending will tell us and then let us breathe once more.
Thank you to Adele Parks, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Meet Dora she’s a high class escort, after a horrible night she’s ready to stop being an escort and she accepts a proposal and believes she found true love. When a former client Daniel hires her for one last job she accepts, a week at a beautiful chateau in the south of France where she just has to pretend to the guests that she is his girlfriend. Simple enough. When she arrives at the she finds herself face to face with a man whose face she hasn’t forgotten and he has a dark side. Immediately Dora feels like something is off, she begins to suffer blackouts, she panics and wants to leave. Every-time she tries to leave its like they have a hold on her and no one knows she’s there. Soon the nightmare begins and someone wants to make sure that secrets stay hidden.

It was a pretty good book. A little far fetched for me. Overall not one of my favorites by her but good enough I finished it.

Title: One Last Secret

Author: Adele Parks

Publication Date: December 27, 2022

Publisher: MIRA (Harlequin Trade & Publishing)

Suggested Reader Age: Adult

Genre: Thriller

Triggers: Drugs, physical abuse, rape, child abandonment, extramarital sex, violence, murder, animal injury/death

Pages: 368

One Last Secret is mainly told in first person from the perspective of thirty-year-old TeoDora (aka Dora). Her mother moved back to Serbia after her father died suddenly when Dora was 17. Through flashbacks, we learn a lot about Dora's life after her mother left. Her resilience and ambition got her through the hard times and now she's an experienced sex worker/escort, making really good money. She is NOT ashamed of her profession and there is great commentary in this story about societal views on sex workers. Her closest friend is Evan, a trust fund baby whom she met while working as an escort at a party.

Evan convinces Dora to quit her job after she is traumatically abused by a man while working. He proposes and she says yes. She promises that she will never take another escort/sex worker job, but when a trusted client calls with one last job she figures Evan is away for work and will never know. Plus, the client Daniel promises there will be no sex. He simply wants her to pretend to be his girlfriend so he can impress a woman he likes. Dora agrees to accompany Daniel on a getaway at a chateau in the South of France with a group of his friends from college. Things seem okay until one of his friends is a man she knows...a man she could never forget.

What begins as a fun week quickly turns dark. Dora feels like she's losing her mind, and she's desperately trying to find a ride away from this nightmarish chateau in the middle of nowhere.

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 6
There is some diversity. Dora is from Serbia, Chen is from Singapore, Liling is Chinese-American and Sisi is black. The characters felt really flat and forgettable.

› Atmosphere: 5
I would have liked more description and world-building. I also had a hard time connecting with the intended emotions.

› Writing Style: 6
I didn't enjoy the critical commentaries about only female bodies. Some cliche writing, weird dialogue, and some repetitiveness.

› Plot: 5
25% I was thinking...Crap. This is my first book finished in 2023 and it's gonna be a bad book for me. But it's an ARC, so I really wanted to finish.
50% I start wondering what in the world is going on. I'm as confused as Dora.
70% I'm kind of bored...this is so predictable.
Then BOOM, BAM, right in my gut. Jaw to the floor at least twice. The last quarter of this book is one twist after another that I did not see coming.

› Intrigue: 4

› Logic: 5
The tree climbing was super weird. Why not use Find My Phone on Fitbit? Why go with the person into the maze after what they did to you?! In what world would a woman do that?!

› Enjoyment: The last third bumped this up from a 2 to a 7.

Average 5.4

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★

› Final Thoughts
• One Last Secret is a suspenseful and shocking thriller about secrets, lies, deception, murder, and revenge. It left me wondering if doing terrible things makes you a terrible person? In a way, it reminded me of Knives Out Glass Onion. I'm looking forward to Adele Parks's next book, Just Between Us, expected to be published in July 2023.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book easily moved to the top of my most favorites list.

When reading this book, my jaw dropped so many times. A psychological thriller that easily hooked me from the beginning.

Told from the perspective of Dora a 36 year old sex worker. Things go south when she agrees to go on one last trip with a client. This is where she runs into an old client who had beat her senseless and ultimately lead to her leaving the profession. Strange things keep happening while staying at the villa, but as much as she tries she can't seem to make it home. Suddenly, her past starts to creep back into her current situation.

This book was so full of twists and turns. Just when you thought you knew what was happening, a shocking truth would come out. I couldn't help but love Dora even more as I learned about her past.

Happily rated a 5 star book for me!

This was an enjoyable read, and I liked the main character, Dora, especially as we learned more of her background. I did want to yell at her when she accepted one last escort job, but if she hadn't, then this book would not have been very exciting. My only issue was that the chapters were too long at times, and I think the overall book could have been shorter.

This book was all over the place, in the best way possible.

I loved how it was split up into parts, but it wasn't too confusing to make sense of.
I don't read too many books where the MC is an escort, so her POV was actually super interesting to read. I thought it was a bit fishy that Evan proposed when he did, but it worked out okay.
The backstory into Dora's life was heartbreaking, and I felt the loss of Dottie so intensely that when I read the final chapter of the book, my jaw DROPPED.
Actually, my jaw dropped quite a few times during this book. It was really thrilling, although a bit predictable. I loved that Dora wasn't nearly as naiive as she portrayed herself to be, a sign of a fantastic actress.

My first from Adele Parks and won't be my last! Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted copies.

This was my first book by Adele Parks and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot was unpredictable and full of twists that I didn't see coming! The main character is an escort with a big secret. As the book progresses, we learn more about her past and also find out everyone in the book has at least one secret. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers with unexpected surprise endings.

With a slow start and then a quickly escalating pace, this book was different and provoked a lot of thinking on my part as to how I would handle the situation that Dora finds herself in. Making a living as a high-priced escort is not exactly what I would call a dream job, but Dora is paid well and lives well with her earnings. Unfortunately, just when she is ready to leave the business and get married to a man who promises her a life of wealth without working at all, she runs into someone from her past that can totally destroy her and her plans. What a thrill ride this book because once Dora is confronted by her past! I enjoyed the characterizations, especially the realistic description of Dora’s lifestyle and the challenges she faced with it. I thought that the plot plodded along at a mediocre pace until about a third of the way through and then it picked up the pace considerably and held my interest until the end. Up until that point, I was reading because I felt I should and not because I really wanted to finish reading Dora’s story. Once she is confronted by her past secrets, the book was hard to put down and highly entertaining. Reading about one of the oldest professions was not my cup of tea, so to speak, but it was a good read with twists coming from all directions and characters with whom it was easy to empathize.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I also preordered my own copy to add to my library. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Book Summary:

Dora is a discreet and professional escort. Her specialty is tricking everyone into thinking she's the girlfriend – you know how it goes. But she's hoping to wrap up this part of her life, and she will do it with one final job.

Unfortunately, that final job is about to force Dora to confront her past and all the secrets she thought lay buried. As we all know, no secret will stay nice and quiet in the world of thrillers, not forever.

My Review:

One Last Secret is a solid and VERY twisty thriller. In short, if you're looking for a suspenseful novel with quite the experience, you've got to read this book. Granted, it's written by Adele Parks, so I always knew that it was going to pack a punch.

In my opinion, one of the best parts about One Last Secret is how carefully the scene is set. You know right away that something is going to go wrong. Anytime anyone utters the phrase "one last job," everything goes to hell, right? This time is no exception.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Every time I thought I had things figured out, another twist popped out and slapped me in the face. I love it when a book can surprise me, especially one as suspenseful as this!

Highlights:
Suspense
Crime
France
Lots of Twists

Adele Parks is the queen of plot twists.

Dora is an escort. A high class hooker, essentially. She does well, she makes good money. But when one date turns much too bad and she is violently assaulted, Dora finally decides to get out of the business.

Just one last job… that’s always what the gangster movies say. And one last job comes knocking at Dora’s door. It’s an easy gig that pays a lot and involves no sex. Naturally things do not go as planned and there are plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

I very much enjoyed this thriller and the last third of the book is very satisfying! Great set up, great execution!

This one started a little slow for me, but the ending made it worth it. So can you guess this one relies heavily on secrets? Mostly a slow burn about an “escort” as she likes to call it, but the rest of us would use another name. I am not sure I liked any of the characters, but once I got into the story, that didn’t matter. I wanted to know if Dora was nuts or who was after her.

I liked the breaking of the fourth wall when Dora was pretty much talking directly to the reader at the beginning. She was blunt and sarcastic and that was unique. I thought it was an odd choice to all of a sudden switch to the past and create a new narrator after having just one for so long.

It is full of a few twists, one was an easy guess, but the rest weren’t. It is definitely a slow build with a lot of tension. If you like slow builds and wild endings, then you should pick this one up.

Dora is a high class sex worker. Estelle is the woman who vets her clients and handles the payment keeping Dora anonymous with her clients.

At a party, Dora met Evan, an extremely wealthy straight man. They soon became platonic friends, meeting up for coffee and chats.

One night Dora is beaten by a client who tells her to quit the business or next time he will kill her. Evan stays with her and helps her to heal. That’s when he tells her he wants her to stop this work and marry him. Hesitant to accept his proposal, she finally relents and agrees to marry him.

When Evan leaves for a business meeting in Singapore, Dora opts to stay behind. She then receives a call from a favorite old client who asks her to accompany him to France for a week to a party at a chateau with promises of no sex. Just enjoy a good time and he will pay her very well just to be his date. She agrees. (Grr! This is when I really had to put this book down and start another. I wasn’t sure if I could come back and finish this book. What a greedy twit!) OK, later I picked up the book again and tried to read further. I wanted to like Dora but her method of work is just so distasteful to me. I’m not a prude and I know this goes on but her lazy attitude of no conscience about her work is disgusting. This is the third book by this author that I have read and among those three, the lead character has been distasteful.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

So. Many. Secrets. But nothing like that last one, the one last secret.

Dora, a highly paid, classy escort for very wealthy men, is living the good life—plenty of money, a nice apartment, beautiful clothes, and a best friend. When one of her jobs goes bad, her life has to change and suddenly, her best friend becomes more than that. But then, one last job drops in her lap. That's when things get interesting.

With plenty of twists and turns, things are not at all what they seem to be and suddenly, Dora's life is in danger. One thing after another, when will it end? It will end when all of the secrets are revealed—all of them.

Prepare yourself for a roller-coaster ride of emotions and suspense as you will be sitting there wondering what more can happen. As with all of Adele Park's books, this is the epitome of a psychological thriller. It will truly mess with your head. I highly recommend One Last Secret!