Keep No Secrets

Praise

 

“An engaging legal thriller that brings to mind the intelligence and ambiguity of The Good Wife.”
Kirkus Reviews

A “powerhouse legal thriller . . . [A]t once a morality play, psychological drama and legal puzzle. Difficult to classify, Keep No Secrets is very easy to like. It’s a true page turner in which the stakes are high on several levels . . . Ms. Compton’s decisions about when to reveal new information and just how much to reveal keep the tension electrifying. . . Compton is one of a growing number of first-rate authors who have chosen, after winning contracts with trade publishers, to take the self-publishing route. On the strength of Keep No Secrets and her previous work . . . she deserves a large readership.”
Florida Weekly

Keep No Secrets, Julie Compton’s powerful sequel to Tell No Lies, is guaranteed to keep readers turning pages into the wee hours of the morning. . . Like Jodi Picoult’s best works, Compton’s novels sizzle with all the trust, betrayal, love, and forgiveness family relationships entail—especially when you expose their private conflicts in a public courtroom. . . [Her] novels are as fine as any courtroom thrillers out there.”
–Southern Literary Review

“I’m not usually a fan of presumed-innocent plots, but Compton’s skill at meshing several storylines,  detonating any number of secrets, and delineating credible characters kept me flipping pages, hoping that truth, justice — and Jack — win the day.”
Nancy Pate, blogger at On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever and former book critic for Orlando Sentinel

“In Keep No Secrets, Julie Compton merges psychological, family, and legal drama in a masterful thriller that rivals the work of Scott Turow and William Landay.”
Sharon Potts, author of The Devils’s Madonna

“If you had to pick honesty over family loyalty, which would you choose? That’s the dilemma facing St. Louis DA Jack Hilliard in Julie Compton’s follow-up legal thriller Keep No Secrets . . . Compton, an attorney turned full-time writer, uses her knowledge of the law to create believable characters where there is no black or white, but many shades of gray. A single step in any direction can change the entire picture. And as it is within most aspects of life, learning from the past is not always as easy as it seems.”
Clarion-Ledger

Keep No Secrets is a fast paced thought provoking psychological legal thriller that is captivating right to the end. . . This story embarks on the question of whether or not it’s possible to forgive a spouse after an infidelity.  Can Claire truly forgive Jack for his indiscretion? Can she remain trusting once Jenny returns? What happens when Celeste, Michael’s girlfriend who uncannily looks like Jenny, accuses Jack of rape? . . . Superb dialogue showed the characters’ flaws and imperfections all while driving the tension filled account. Twists and turns will have the reader wondering just how these conundrums will be solved and who will be left standing. Keep No Secrets is a magnificent page turner that will not easily be put down.”
Lourie, Goodreads/NetGalley reviewer

Having enjoyed Julie Compton’s two previous books, I suspected Keep No Secrets would be a winner. I was right! This story is smart, exciting, and original. The characters pop like firecrackers and the plot moves like a Ferrari, from one intriguing moment to the next. Get plenty of rest the night before you start this one, because you’re not going to get much until you’ve finished it. Can’t wait until the next one!”
Elizabeth Sims, author of the Lillian Byrd Crime Novels, the Rita Farmer Mysteries, and You’ve Got a Book in You: A Stress-Free Guide to Writing the Book of Your Dreams

“[R]acy and well paced . . . I was pretty well addicted after the first chapter. . . [K]udos to Compton for making some tough choices with the ending of Keep No Secrets, and keeping the plot heavy on twisty suspense the whole time. I liked where it went and how it ended. . . If I could have taken this book on holiday, I would have. I can actually picture reading it by a pool, in nice long stretches where I’m not going to be disturbed. . . This is the very picture of escapist holiday reading.”
Illiterarty.com, book blogger

“An excellent read, Keep No Secrets is a page turner that will capture readers from the beginning . . . Just when resolution seems to be at hand, Compton’s plot unfolds, resolves, and unfolds again. Keep No Secrets is a fast paced character study that happens to have a couple mysteries in the mix. Compton just keeps getting better and better!”
Lisa Fuller, Goodreads/advanced reviewer

“A superbly written legal thriller that is so emotionally charged that you can almost feel the pain and fear of the characters.  It proves how easily little white lies can come back to hurt you….even destroy you.  This is a stay-up-all-night-reading kind of book.”
Thoughts of a Dedicated BookWorm, book blogger

“This book had everything I expected and more. Mystery. Lies. Betrayal. Love. Family. The author’s words sucked me into the story as if I were seeing it all played out through a close friend’s life. Right away the reader relates to the characters. As a woman I NEVER thought I would have any sympathy for a man that cheated on his wife. I always assumed I would HATE him. While I don’t excuse Jack’s actions or think there was any justification for them, I never hated him. Sure, I was angry with him. Upset, hurt even. But never hate. With the same token I ALWAYS thought I’d hate the “Other Woman”. She was a home-wrecker. A slut. But Jenny was so much more than that. While I was mad at some of her obvious manipulation tactics, I felt sorry for her. It was obvious she really did love Jack. It was also obvious she was (for the most part) willing to sacrifice her own happiness so that he would have a real chance at mending his marriage. The courtroom scenes were my favorite part. From the moment they started I couldn’t put the book down. I felt like I was a part of the jury as I began to question everything I THOUGHT I knew about the story. As if every conversation I’d heard or character’s thought I had insight to was merely hearsay. I loved how things were kept hidden from the reader until the evidence was presented in court. . . I LOVED the author’s style of writing and her ability to suck the reader in and make them a part of the story. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for more Julie Compton books that come out in the future.”
Tammy Herrin, Goodreads/NetGalley reviewer

“[T]he characters are . . . well described and the writing is solid. . . [T]his one is explosive from the beginning. . . Compton does a great job with maintaining interest and keeping her foot on the gas first with the actual accusation of rape, then later with the trial. The characters act in believable ways and the conversation isn’t stilted or out of place. Compton actually gets the reader to care about what happens to Jack because we all know that we would hate to have to be reminded of our mistakes day in day out for an undetermined amount of time. . . . [A] great successor to Tell No Lies . . . I want to imagine that Julie Compton will write a sequel to Keep No Secrets because I need her to. Seriously. I have to know what’s next for our DA Jack Hilliard.”
Patrice’s Reading Corner, book blogger