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Dora is an high classed escort who happens to fall into a doting relationship with her friend Evan. They get engaged. He knows her history and feels nevertheless that they would be a good match and Dora is pretty OK about getting married. It would be such a novelty to be loved for her and not admired, for the services she provides. 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! It was abrupt but absolutely necessary! I was about to give 2 stars to this book! But last third changed my mind: at least so many of my questions answered even though they were far fetched explanations! Well, I really want to scream at Dora as soon as she said yes to Daniel. And when they arrive at the château, she meets with Daniel’s eccentric friends who act like they see an exotic creature as soon as they say hi to her. And one of them is a very dangerous man! Dora absolutely knows who he is! Both things are impossible. I mean, where else might we meet? It’s not like I’d ever turn up at his local Neighbourhood Watch, or the monthly executive board meeting at his enormous blue-chip company, or any of the annual charitable trust meetings that he patrons, chairs or fundraises for. Cancer, modern slavery, national ballet are his causes. These are the places he hangs out when he’s not with me. Being respectable. Being brilliant and philanthropic. With me, he’s filthier.
We learn about her lifestyle and how she came to work as a high classed escort until one encounter leaves her bloodied and bruised. And terrified out of her wits. Dora finds herself face to face with a man she has never forgotten, the one man who really knows her. And as old secrets surface, it becomes terrifyingly apparent that one last secret could cost Dora her life… Perfect pacing… a clever plot with several jaw-dropping twists and a protagonist you’ll find yourself rooting for…’ My Weekly
Locations
The action is mostly set in the beautiful surroundings of a chateau in the south of France and this glamourous location pulled me right in! I definitely felt a sense of unease, tension and confusion as Dora entered this location. I also wanted to yell at her and signal a warning that she should have stayed home with her fiancé. Dora was definitely taking an unnecessary risk that could have been prevented! I was scared that Dora would jeopardise her chance at escaping the game and having her own safe happy ever after thanks to this final jaunt. Parks sets up a narrative stage full of mystery, intrigue, unpredictability and tension. I really took my time to savour this one, which is unlike me as a speed reader. I’m glad I slowed down my intake with One Last Secret as I was bulldozed by this one – in a good way! A week at a beautiful chateau in the south of France . . . should be a straightforward final job for Dora. She’s a smart, stunning, and discreet escort. Daniel has paid for her services many times before. This time, all she has to do is to convince the assembled guests that she is his girlfriend. Dora is used to playing roles and being whatever men want her to be. It’s all about putting on a believable front. 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.”
Today is perfect. The sun is shining just enough. The job I’ve just finished was perfectly fine. Fine. Adele Parks MBE is one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women's fiction writers in the UK. She has sold over 4 million books and her work has been translated into 30 different languages. If you want an engaging and wild story, One Last Secret is for you. A thriller that will keep you guessing, until the very end. I don’t want to give spoilers but plenty happens, some of it sad, some a bit silly. There are also some truly bizarre/problematic plot points that the author seems to just skim over. As for the plot, you don't want to read too much into that at all, best to go in as blind as possible. All you need to know is this:
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.
Dora goes on one last girlfriend experience (without the sex) to a super secluded mansion in the south of France. She is gaslit, drugged, and raped while drugged. She does not figure out that her “naps” right after politely eating or drinking something forced on her mean she was drugged even though it happens multiple times. The guy who beat her up is an employee of her daughter’s father who has brought her out there to be murdered by that employee. Overall though, I had a difficult time putting the book down because it's compulsively readable and I did want to know how everything was going to shake down in the end. There are some good twists and although I didn't always like Dora's choices I did like her and was rooting for her success. OK, PR girls, the ones in marketing and events management, you might very well be all wide-eyed and incredulous at this moment; you might be insisting, ‘But I love my job.’ Good for you. You will also be thinking it is not paid well enough; you will be planning on marrying someone rich if money matters to you, or living in rented accommodation all your life if it doesn’t. If you are thinking of marrying someone rich to supplement your lifestyle, to allow you to continue to pursue your dream job, then you need to pause on that thought before judging me. Look, don’t take offence. I’m not saying you are like me exactly. I’m just saying maybe we’re not a million miles apart. Telling it as it is, is a core skill of mine. If I ever had to write a CV, I’d include it. 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!?
Why a Booktrail?
This was my first time reading an Adele Parks book, and it did not disappoint. Dora’s character was so well done and had me rooting for her the entire time. And that issue I mentioned, that no little girl grows up wanting to be an escort, well that’s true, but they – we – had dreams. Plans. I know I did. Dora is an escort, the oldest profession in the world. She is quite upfront about her career but after one client treats her horrifically her friend Evan, a trust fund baby, asks her to marry him and she says yes. However, one client begs her to do one last job which is to accompany him to France and fake a relationship and so she reluctantly agrees. What could possibly go wrong? With a plot that is far from conventional, complete with an alluring main protagonist, a suspect outer cast and a flashy setting, One Last Secret will keep you guessing until the bitter end. An amazing read! Dora finds herself face-to-face with a man she has never forgotten, the one man who really knows her. And as old secrets surface, it becomes terrifyingly apparent that one last secret could cost Dora her life…
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