Customer Reviews

Do You Promise Not to Tell?

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mary Jane Clark has the gift to bring her characters to life. This is a story of a TV producer, Farrell Slater who is on her last leg of her career. Either she gets the story of a lifetime or she'll be at the unemployment line. She is sent on assignment to an auction house that is selling the famous Faberge egg "The Moon Egg'. The egg sells for a record 6 million dollars. Farrell soon discovers that the egg is a fake and she knows who has the real one. Soon people who are aware of this egg are dying. This could be the story Farrell needs to get her career back or it could be the story to end her life. I had fun trying to figure out who the "bad guy" was. Read this book and have fun with it.

In her first novel, Mary Jane Clark gave us a fine plot with plenty of suspense til right near the end, some characters to like (albeit the leading lady was a bit "squeaky clean"), and a different venue from most mysteries -- the busy newsroom of a major broadcast studio. Our gripe was that there was too much clutter, from almost unnecessary sub-plots to discussions about diseases and so on, that distracted from our story. Yet, we wanted to move to this book (her second novel) and see if we might find some improvement.

Indeed, the elements we liked are back: an excellent plot, with another late reasonably surprising "whodunit" at the end; the broadcast news venue; and characters we could relate to -- not so squeaky clean this time! Our leading lady, Farrell Slater, whose producing job is on the line throughout (actually, "given notice" by her boss, Range Bullock, whose minor role was reprised from book 1) discovers a probable art fraud of a six-million-dollars-at-auction Faberge Egg leftover from Imperialist Russia. So in addition to a couple of attacks and murders to solve, the true whereabouts and story of the egg form an entertaining tale throughout.

I think Mary Jane is on to something; to us, this is clearly a better effort than her first, although maybe not quite the "Stunner!" claimed by none other than [the real] Dan Rather on the dust jacket. The distractions are gone except for one remaining peeve -- our 260 pages of story are divided into 139 chapters. Maybe our author, a TV Newswoman in real life, just can't get away from a sound byte mentality. Keep the good stuff, give us a little more time per scene, and we'll be looking for five stars in her ensuing work. Good reading!

This is my first MJ Clark book and I can't wait to get my hands on more. Although this book has over 130 chapters (it is only about 250 pages), it makes it very easy to read and you look forward to the rest of the story instead of flicking through the pages to see when the chapter ends. I really enjoyed Farrell from KEY news as she embarks on a story involving the famous Faberge eggs that were commissioned by the Russian Czar, many years ago. Although, this is not really a 'great' crime novel (like John Sandford or Dennis Lehane) it has enough likeable (or not!) characters to keep you entertained throughout the whole story, similar to Janet Evanovich, without the humour.

If you are looking for a great, easy to read novel, that truly isn't boring or a chore, try this one, it is really worth it!

DO YOU PROMISE NOT TO TELL is the second Mary Jane Clark novel that I've read in the past year or so and I have to tell you that I can't wait to read her next. I read a lot of mystery novels and what I enjoy about Clark's books is her ability to transend the usual mystery novel formula b.s. and tell a story of characters, who although they solve a mystery, are people with real life feelings and challenges. Clark draws us into the competitive workaday world of KEY NEWS with the story of Farrell Slater, who has a career that is actually going nowhere fast as we arrive on the scene. Not only does the plot pick up, but so does Farrell's insight and depth as a character as she explores the rareified air of the New York art world of Sotheby's and Christie's and the Russian enclave in Brooklyn as she overcomes numerous personal and professional obstacles. I won't give away the ending, but I will tell you that this book is a great read for anyone who enjoys intelligent, suspense fiction. I hope Clark keeps them coming!

This new author displays great potential for mystery writing. Holds your attention through unexpected twists to the plot.Detail,emotion, and easy reading. Rank her to be equal to the quality of Grisham ! Can't wait to read the sequal...

This is my first book I read written by Mary Jane Clark and might be my last. Although the concept of the plot is good the story seems underdeveloped. The story jumps around a lot with all the different characters telling the story. The characters were flat and didn't seem to have any life in them. Romance suddenly springs up in the middle of the book for no apparent reason between two of the characters. I was in no hurry to finish reading this book to find out who did the crimes. This is a mediocre book at best. I urge readers to read Mary Higgins Clark for page turning mysteries that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

I have read both of Mary Jane Clark's books and I have to say that this lady is going to become one of the "GREAT" mystery writers in the not so far off future. She certainly has the ability to keep you on the edge of your seat while entertaining you at the same time. It's definitely a book that you won't want to put down once you start. I loved both books and can't wait for her next one. She has become another one of my favorite authors.

Although the story was good enough to keep me reading to find out what happened, the author's style seems more appropriate for news writing (her "other" job) than for novel writing. Fifteen-second news stories work better than 15-line chapters -- at least for this reader, who's not part of a Sesame Street generation.

I wish I had gotten a list of her books about KEY news and read them in order. It would make it a lot more interesting.

The plot to Do You Promise Not To Tell was excellent but the ending was corny. They could've picked a better killer than that. The seller sent the book in fair condition.