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A review by jhscolloquium
One Last Secret by Adele Parks
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
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.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.