One Last Secret: From the Sunday Times Number One bestselling author of Both Of You comes a gripping psychological crime thriller

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I loved Lies, Lies, Lies, I Devoured it last night. Gripping, moving and elegantly written.” - Marian Keyes Theodora (Dora) thirty-one is a glamorous high end escort and she’s about to retire but she has one last job where she will accompany a regular client Daniel, to a luxury chateau in the South of France for a week, what could possibly go wrong?

The locations are vague and not really the main thing here but there is a keen sense of paradise, sun, beaches and a gorgeous chateau where a sex worker arrives to stay for a last job with a client. So exact locations might not be real but the sense of the South of France, a paradisethat you just know is going to go down hill fast, is evident. I very much liked Dora. And the relationship with her bestie Evan. I did find it a bit contrived that they were easily able to go to ‘friends only and nothing more’ into an intimate relationship… after her having ruled it out for so long and seemingly feeling no attraction for him.This is told mostly from the first person account of Dora/Teodora, who is a high end escort/sex worker. She isn't ashamed of the way she earns money, but when a client gets too rough she decides it's time to leave the business. Dora can't resist but take one last job as a favor to a client, a weekend away at a luxury home, yet what happens there is not what she was expecting. I can honestly say I got very flabbergasted after getting blown away by several twists. Some of them are unnecessary! I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing author Adele Parks for the Storytime in Paris podcast on the Paris Underground Radio podcast network, which features interviews with authors who have a French connection. A week at a beautiful French chateau should be an easy final job for Dora. She’s smart, stunning and discreet. She only needs to convince the other guests that she’s Daniel’s girlfriend. I saw the big reveal coming a mile away, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. It is slightly OTT, which I know some readers don’t like, but it worked fine for me.

Dora is a sex worker. Or a ‘hooker’ or ‘whore’ - words that are littered throughout the text���not sure that was necessary. When she’s beaten by a dangerous client, she’s more than a little shaken and her millionaire boy best friend offers her an out. As the story developed, I could not believe some of the surprise revelations that Parks includes. At some points I was gasping in disbelief, finding myself re-reading some paragraphs in case I had missed something! There were some clever plot twists that come in the final chapters, so this is definitely a book you need to see through to the end to truly appreciate Parks thrilling narrative. The novel builds well, there is tension and suspense though disbelief suspenders are required on occasions but hey, it’s fiction! There are several twists and turns although one is easy to figure out but not entirely the reasons behind it. The end twist is good.I loved the start and sarcastic, straightforwardly blunt narration of Theodora/ Dora: thirty years old sex worker/ escort, honestly telling her work life, her clients, her only friend Evan, her struggles in her tough, survival tone. I liked her immediately! A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. Adele Parks goes fearlessly into worlds which others might balk at. She pulls it off every time. One Last Secret opened my eyes." - Jane Corry