Customer Reviews

The Secret Ever Keeps

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Secret Ever Keeps opens with a great start, the opening lifting off the page and not mired with a huge amount of exposition. This technique pays off in Tirrell's very readable, though flash-back filled, story of family wounds and secrets and adventure. Through the alternating views of a grandfather and granddaughter, the reader is immersed in the history of rum runners during the age of prohibition, with family dynamics and loyalties playing out across generations. If you enjoyed the unraveling mystery of Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind, you will also love this story.

In The Secret Ever Keeps, Art Tirrell weaves a rich story of bitter family rivalry, Depression Era wheeling and dealing, and thrilling underwater treasure hunt. Set on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, the novel shifts effortlessly between the present and the 1930s. Jake Eastland, a hard-nosed billionaire nearing the end of his life, attempts to make amends for his unscrupulous dealings in the past by reaching out to his sole living relative, a young woman who is unaware she even has a living grandfather. As they get to know each other, their disparate pasts arise to haunt them.

Tirrell's depiction of their slow-growing relationship is delicate and moving, but it is the suspenseful plot that keeps one flipping the pages. Tirrell quite simply writes the best underwater scenes I have ever read. He takes the reader down into the depths, and no matter how unfamiliar one is with this eerie, potentially deadly setting, one feels one knows exactly what it would be like to dive into the bowels of a sunken ship, to get one's line snagged or air cut off, to be caught and whipped away by a sudden current. Suffice it to say, you'll be breathless, until the secrets and ancient treasures are revealed.

The Secret Ever Keeps is a terrific debut novel for Tirrell. I know he has another in the works and can't wait till it hits the shelves.

I bought a copy of this book because my significant other grew up on the
shores of Lake Ontario. It sounded like the sort of adventure yarn that he
loves to read. I picked it up four days ago when he was away and I couldn't put
it down.
This is the first book that he and I have agreed about since Kafka On the Beach.

Mid February 2007, while surfing the net for new fiction, I came across Art Tirrell's website. For the cost of time only, Tirrell provides the first chapter of The Secret Ever Keeps for all to read. Laurel Kingsford has had a really bad day, was my first thought. The next, what's Tirrell's email address?

Promptly and cordially, Art replied that I would have to wait until The Secret Ever Keeps was released on April 1, contracts, royalties, and all that you understand. I did. This week I finally read Laurel's story. Her days got worse.

At the center of the Secret is Jake Eastland, a former bootlegger, and his search for treasures of the present and past. Set on the shores and waters of Lake Ontario, Eastland enlists Kingsford in a search for bootlegged whiskey lost in the depths of Lake Ontario. That's just part of the story. Unbeknownst to Laurel, Eastland is her estranged grandfather. Therein lies the real story, as Eastland gradually reveals to the reader his history and why he brought Laurel into it. Along the way heroes, villains, and adventure visit Eastland and Laurel on the stormy waters of Lake Ontario.

Tirrell writes in a crisp engaging style. An insightful and entertaining tale, The Secret Ever Keeps is an adventure story with depth equal to its adventure. A great read for the summer or any other season.

I'm glad I found Art's site last winter; it was worth the wait.

Art Tirrell's The Secret Ever Keeps is a modern Cinderella story, with a rum-running, sunken treasure twist. On the shores of Lake Ontario, Laurel Kingsford discovers that there is more to her family's past. There is a secret that has laid buried, one that is yearning to be revealed.

While searching for a treasure buried far beneath the sea, she uncovers a conspiracy, a passionate new love, a jealous and formidable rival, more family than she wants, and riches beyond her dreams. But of course, something--or someone--wants to spoil her plans at happiness and they will go to any length to take her breath away--permanently.

The Secret Ever Keeps is a tantalizing read. Fast-paced, sexy and sensationally plotted, it will keep you guessing and cheering on the heroine until the explosive and satisfying ending.

I have given this novel 5 stars because it deserves it! The story is awesome and it is believable and well-researched. Great work! I look forward to Art's next novel.

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Author of Divine Intervention

Art has written a beautifully paced book that effortlessly leads the reader through the dubious dealings of Jake, the aging head of the Eastland family. Secret is both intriguing and complex but Art's composition never leaves the reader out of touch. Ultimately we are reminded that no matter where we are, our past is never far behind and it is always best to turn to face it.

Do you like sea stories?
How about Adventure stories? Or stories about romance, mystery, the roaring 20's, bootleggers and gangsters - all built around a central core of modern day problems of love, hate, redemption and reconciliation.

Don't believe that all those things could be packed into one riveting story? Well then pick yourself up a copy of Art Tirrell's new novel, The Secret Ever Keeps and see for yourself how a skillful author can artfully weave all these things into a book that will hold your interest from page one to the very end.

[...].

The Secret Ever Keeps is just that ... A keeper !

Ric Wasley - Author
[...]

There are layers of meaning to the word `Secret' in the title. On one level, the secret is simply a matter of what's buried beneath the storm-crossed surface of Lake Ontario. If that were the only secret, what we would have here would be a bang-up, swashbuckling, sexy adventure romp.
But there's a great deal more: hidden beneath this well-paced, neatly written action tale is a story of profound family secrets, shame and mis-guided altruism.

As the story progresses, we are lured from the action by the deepening relationships. The suspense becomes less about what's happening below the water and more about what's going on with the characters.
There are layers in the plot too. It zigzags back and forth betweer the present and Prohibition-era America and in and out of three generations of two entangled families. This is an especially appealing summer read and perfect for the beach where you can hear the waves as you read it.

If you are a fan of Michneresque sagas that span decades and are willing to read one that burrows a little bit deeper, The Secret Ever Keeps is for you.



--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books. ISBN 9781601640005

A friend told me about this one, but Art Tirrell's The Secret Ever Keeps still surprised me. Keeping things simple, it's too darn good to be a first novel. There is a sureness to the writing, and even though the complex plot shifts between the modern and Prohibition eras, there's never a false note. The supporting characters are wonderful, particularly Char, Sheik, and Estelle. All this is delivered in a way that never allows the narrative tension to lapse for an instant. Before, I'd never heard of him. Now, if you ask me, Art Tirrell is the best new writer of adventure fiction to come along in years.

This romantic adventure has it all: shady characters, star-crossed lovers, and a well-described, interesting setting. It's protagonist, Jake Eastland, is a fascinating character unlike the stereotypes that inhabit most novels these days.

What really sets the book apart, though, is Tirrell's use of his knowledge of Lake Ontario to put it someplace besides New York, L.A., or Hong Kong. He obviously knows the water and it's mysteries and draws on that to make the story come alive.

Add in the cross-generational relationship with Jake's granddaughter and some treasure hunters, and you have a unique, fun read.