Jane Fallon writes a good
story. This one rattles along like nobody’s business, and anyone (particularly any woman) who has ever worked in an office, had friends, worried about her job, shared a flat, or had children to worry about, will find plenty to recognize in this book.
Narrator Holly has just been promoted: she works on a TV soap opera in the script department, a world which is less glamorous than it might sound, and a world that Fallon plainly knows extremely well – all the detail is fascinating and completely convincing. But Holly suspects someone in the office has it in for her, and what starts as some mild undermining gets quite worrying: she is on probation in the new job. She thinks she knows who it might be – a jealous workmate – but the experienced reader knows it is not going to be that simple.

About one of her previous books, Faking Friends, I said:
Jane Fallon’s books are terrific, but I do sometimes think she should be writing crime books – so, let’s say, as well as her line in contemporary, funny novels. She is the absolute mistress of plotting, and of revenge stories, and of back and forths in a competitive, difficult or point-scoring relationship. She is a modern-day Revenge Tragedy/Comedy Queen, the John Webster of today, only with great clothes, and witty comebacks, and some chance of a happy ending.
And this is true of this one too. But - as I so often say, a lot of the fun of this book comes in not knowing where it is going, so I don’t want to give too much away about the plot –
Is it a sackable offence to enlist two middle-aged idiots to pry into a colleague’s personal life?
I can say that the details of Holly’s life, friends and worries are most enjoyable, jumping around all over the place as the sabotage thread plays out. The book is very funny and a very easy read. Holly’s friend Dee is a delight, and I love the way she – and other characters, and Fallon herself – all give unnecessary extra details in any narrative. Holly busily complains about this trait in Dee before telling us:
The waitress has a cool tattoo of a snake going up her forearm.
There were plot points where I wanted to say ‘but hang on, surely she could…’, the computing skills seemed a bit basic, and some clues I picked up on early. But it is much more important to say that I was racing through this book, unable to put it down till I found out everything that happened.

And of course there were the excellent clothes, and the descriptions of office life – the fierce friendships based on secretive chats and being mean about others, the importance of fellow feeling, the way colleagues start dressing the same and imitating each other’s conversation. All so well done.

An excellent January read, to cheer up the dark days and while away an afternoon. Fallon really knows what she is doing.

Her books Strictly Between us, Sweet Revenge and Faking Friends have all featured on the blog.

This was a compelling story. Lots of threads running through and exercising your imagination. I felt all along that there was a sting in the tail. Lovely conclusion with all loose ends tied off.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I have read books by Jane Fallon before and enjoyed them. This was an entertaining and lighthearted story based in the world of television behind the scenes. The two main characters were editors of a long established programme. Holly and Roz end up as protagonists, when Holly is offered the more senior position and Roz starts a campaign to undermine her. Holly is helped to defeat Roz’s attempts by Deeand Gavin, Juliet and Jake, Emma and Patricia. Her daughter becomes pregnant and like Holly will end up being a single mum.
Easy reading, entertaining fun story.
Recommended.

How well do you actually know your friends your work colleagues? Holly applied for promotion her friend and work colleague Ros even helped her fill out her application form. The day Holly starts her probationary period things start going wrong. Holly doesn’t understand who would be so spiteful did someone else want her job. Who can Holly trust, who’s her friend and who’s the enemy. Holly feels ill she doesn’t know who has this vendetta against her and how does she save her job. Surprisingly she ends up getting help where she least expects it. A great read. You don’t know what goes on in other people’s lives. Sometimes things aren’t what you think they are at all.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I was so immersed in the story that I read it over two evenings. I've had a career in IT support but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the storyline; in fact, I think it added to it. It was interesting to see how Holly and her friends and colleagues suffered from the mis-use of technology and turned the situation around.

It's been a few years since I've read any Jane Fallon books, it was a great reminder of just how much I enjoy them.

This is an easy and captivating read, following Holly who has recently been promoted to a more senior position at a TV channel. Someone has it in for her and we follow her investigation, eager to see what will happen next...some of which was quite comical!

The characters are all quite different, with the relationships between the key players being well defined. Hollys best friend Dee was my favourite, she brings the humour and pragmatism to all situations.

I was hooked early and found myself trying to work out what had happened so I clearly enjoyed it!

If you need a light read that is entertaining and keeps your attention, I'd recommend this one!

It is out on January 10th 2019. Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to review.

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A pretty good suspense novel, with a fun gang of characters - the friends were great!, and some exploration of friendship. Twists were easy to spot, but the writing was good enough that that didn't rankle

Holly, a script editor for a TV soap opera, is over the moon at her promotion and her colleagues seem very happy for her, mostly. But some odd things start happening at work, suggesting that maybe not all the smiles and congratulations were genuine.

This is a fun and engrossing read about jealousy in the workplace. A story about friends and enemies, and maybe something in between. Definitely in the women's fiction genre but with no romance this time around. Hurrah!

This book centres around Holly who has landed her dream promotion in her job on a popular TV soap. She is over the moon but her enthusiasm is not matched by her fellow co workers.

A campaign of sabotage begins and leaves Holly on tender hooks as she tries to figure out who could be behind it. With the help of her friend Holly vows to expose the culprit.

This book explores how you may think you know someone and their character but sometimes they can have a completely different side. I loved how the author explored what made the perpetrator act the way they had . I also loved how Holly did not hold a grudge and was the better person when faced with a chance of revenge.

Friendships, loyalty, work relationships and family are among the topics beautifully explored in this novel. It had me thinking about each of the characters and how they all joined together to create such a well plotted story line .

Although it took me a while to get hooked on this book , hooked I got page turning until I reached the perfect ending .A lovely twisty entertaining read , thank you to the publishers and netgalley for my chance to read this easy reading novel .

A compelling page turner. When Holly gets promoted someone starts to try and sabotage her job. Did her friend Roz want the job? This is a story about office rivalry and finding out who your friends are. I enjoyed this book but I thought it was a bit too long. It seemed to be repetitive and too long drawn out. But overall it was a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Nobody writes relatable intrigue like Jane Fallon - somehow Tell Me A Secret manages to be both funny & disturbing and that’s no mean feat. Another sure-fire hit

I love a fast moving story about office work. Reminds me of my days of working in an office. Scarily, you can never quite shake the feeling that people may not be all they seem.

Holly has recently been promoted and is desperate to do a good job. Before long she suspects that one of her co-workers may be working against her to try to jeopardise her chances of remaining in her post. But who can it be and why?

This story was compelling - A perfect light read for the start of the year but still with the sense that I had to find out what was going on.

As with most of these type of books, it is fairly easy to suspect who might be the villain. Slight twists keep the story fresh though.

Tell Me A Secret features a workplace which is the very antithesis of female empowerment and collaboration, celebrating mutual successes and supporting each other. Holly’s journey through suspicion and blame is echoed by her journey as a new manager and how things change when she suddenly needs to lead her peers. Fairly predictable, the story isn’t particularly fast paced but it is easy to read and compelling, and you do get frustrated on Holly’s behalf by the events unfolding and how her new little team supports her and forgives her.

Tell Me a Secret is Jane Fallon at her best- strong, realistic female characters, and a story with so many twists and turns it's hard to put down.

I found the friendship between Holly and Roz really interesting to read and I'm sure most women have had similar (if less dramatic!) friendships with women who seem like they're on your side but have ulterior motives.

At several points in the book I thought I knew how it was going to end but there were enough revelations to keep me surprised. I found Holly's situation genuinely frustrating and felt like I wanted to reach into the book and give Roz a good slap at times.

The writing was witty and clever and I didn't want it to end. I've read all of Jane Fallon's books and Tell Me a Secret is probably my favourite one to date.

I’m afraid this wasn’t one of my favourite books by Jane. It reminds me a lot of a book I’ve read previously that I actually wondered if this was a rerelease (which it’s not). I think for fans of janes books they will enjoy this, just wasn’t for me.

You can always rely on Jane Fallon for an addictive read – wanting to get through it all in one sitting!

The friendship between work colleagues Holly and Roz starts to go awry when Holly gets the top job. The trouble is, Roz knows everything about Holly, and someone is out to cause trouble for Holly.

A great read with plenty of laughs, and I’d highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

My thanks to Penguin UK, Jane Fallon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read TELL ME A SECRET. Another stonking book from Jane Fallon putting readers in the 'what would I do?' frame of thought. Office politics have always been difficult to navigate, but when Holly discovers closest work friend, Roz isn't who she thought she was, she begins to question their friendship. Roz seems to have it all, a wonderful life, a husband who adores her, and a brilliant social life, and Holly and Roz tell each other everything, don't they?. So when things begin to go awry when Holly is promoted, she blames Julia, the girl who would be Queen of the office, and there's nothing worse than when you think someone is out to ruin things for you. Throw in the new lodger and things begin to get very interesting for Holly with lots of twists and turns, and surely nots. This is the perfect 'frenemy' novel, and let's face it, we've all got them!

Holly has always prioritised her little family so when, after years, she gets her dream job on a popular TV soap she's over the moon, and also determined to pass the probation period, to prove that she's really the right person in the right place. But quickly it turns out that not everyone in the office agree with her promotion, as a not a very subtle campaign full of sabotage and accidents takes place. Holly is in shock and taken aback - who is behind this all? She tries to unveil who the person is, but in the meantime she must be prepared for a life full of twists and turns, sometimes better than in the soap opera she's working on.

The characters were absolutely brilliant. Not only Holly, but also the side characters that were so well developed and fleshed out. Jane Fallon is perfect when it comes to capturing people's characters, their personalities and mentalities, and she's a real queen of revenge novels, guys. The characters always feel realistic, they are engaging and genuine, and the way she writes about friendship dynamics is absolutely brilliant, as she isn't shy of stirring things up and complicating them. She's a great and sharp observer of everyday interactions and she can brilliantly transfer them onto the pages of her novels. Holly was so human, with all her insecurities, and the need to prove herself that she's got the promotion rightly and so she puts herself under a lot of pressure. I can only guess how weird and difficult it must have been for her, suddenly managing people that she used to work with and who are now to report to her but I think she really did her best, even though it couldn't have been an easy task, especially with all the back - stabbing and the uncertainty of what's going to happen yet. I really loved to see her growing in confidence, it was the best thing to see. It was also refreshing to see Holly as a single woman, not looking after a romance or a man that she could relay on - she didn't need it, she had her best friend Dee, and I loved their interactions and how far would Dee go to help Holly.
But I also think we shouldn't demonize the other character, the one that sabotaged Holly. Of course our sympathy is on Holly's side, there is no other option, but I think we should also stop for a moment and think what was it that made her act like this, to put people so down. And this also what I so love in Jane Fallon's novels, the diversity, the way she is able to portray different types of friendship! There is the perfect mix of characters that we love and we love to hate.

This book follows the Jane Fallon's proven formula and guys, it turns out I could read the books like that over and over again, it doesn't grow old or boring for me. Though, in my opinion, this novel is not as bitchy and as sharp as the previous books. It's not a criticism, oh no, it's just my simple opinion, I am used to much more trouble, fret and paperchase. Also, in the previous books we were not directly told who is the frenemy and here we actually know from the very beginning who's sabotaging Holly, the question is now - why. But - just as with Ms Fallon's previous books I was so close to put this book down because I simply couldn't take the tension! This is why I don't watch films - because I can't stand sitting here and not being able to do anything, and it is the same with "Tell Me a Secret". You've no idea how much I wanted to punish the character in question, and I'm usually really a very peaceful person, so that's saying something, that my blood was boiling and I so wanted her to happen to slip up eventually. Sure, there were things that were perhaps happening too convenient, and right people in the right places so that the plot could flow seamlessly towards the happy end, but honestly, it didn't bother me.

I do love a Jane Fallon novel, that's not a secret, and "Tell Me a Secret" was a light - hearted, entertaining novel, full of intrigue and hidden depth. There is the safe and proved Fallon's trademark that explores the themes of friendship, rivalry, betrayal, jealousy and deception, and it's sometimes so refreshing to read a book without a romance in it. It explores toxic friendships in such an eye - opening way, with all its ups and downs. It was, just like all the other Fallon's books, a fast - paced and addictive read that made my heart go faster and me to clench my fists. It was a complex, thought - provoking and clever read, very well developed and written in this brilliant, sharp writing style. Even though it's pretty sure who the "bad one" is, there are moments that I started to doubt myself, and started to suspect everybody, that I was wondering perhaps they are all involved? The author knows how to complicate the things, how to pool wool over our eyes. Highly recommended!

This is a story about friendship, trust and allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to let someone in. When Holly, a hard-working single mother, gets a well-deserved promotion at work, she believes her colleagues support her wholeheartedly. She isn’t prepared for someone who is determined to try and sabotage her career, her reputation and her life.

It starts with small incidents. Scripts disappear, ideas are stolen and the rumour mill is given a push. Someone is jealous of Holly, despite her earning the right to the promotion. After a while what seems to be a petty disagreement escalates into a vicious battle to destroy Holly.

You know what the sad thing is, what happens in this story is why misogyny and sexism are still rampant in the workplace and why women are still regarded by many as less than a man. Instead of supporting each other the majority of women consider each other rivals and often try to demean each other.

The more positive aspect about this story is the message the author sends about allowing ourselves to look beyond the façade, the protective layers people build around themselves, and most definitely beyond the snide comments and whispered rumours spread without knowing whether they are true or not.

We should always take the time to find out more about our fellow humans. You never know who might be hiding a life full of loneliness, a lifetime of pain or sadness, then again they could just be hiding the fact that they are psychos waiting for their next victim. Sorry, don’t want to put anyone off attempting to connect and form new friendships. Nobody wants to miss out on that sense of camaraderie and special bond, do they? Unless of course it’s your close friend who wants you gone of course.

I have to say I really enjoyed the ending. I won’t give anything away, but it felt like a weird sense of closure after the vindictive vibe of the storyline. The interactions, characters and dialogue are realistic, which is what makes this a relatable, albeit quite a spiteful read.

I loved this book. Holly works at a TV company and she is promoted. Someone has an access to her computer and trying to ruin her career. Holly and her good friend Dee are trying get to find out who could it be and she suspects it could be her ex best friend Roz. Bur is she right?