Tell Me

Savannah #3

by Lisa Jackson

The most hated woman in Savannah, Georgia, is about to be set free. Twenty years ago, beautiful Blondell O'Henry was convicted of murdering her eldest daughter, Amity, and wounding her two other children. The prosecution argued that Blondell wanted to be rid of them to be with her lover. But Blondell's son has now recanted his crucial testimony. . .

Reporter Nikki Gillette is determined to get the truth, and this time it's personal. Amity was her childhood friend. The night she died, Amity begged Nikki to meet with her, insisting she had a secret to tell, but Nikki didn't go. Now Nikki's fiancé, Detective Pierce Reed, worries for her safety. Because somehow, the events of that tragic night connect to Nikki's own fractured family.

Is Amity's murderer still at large, or is there a new, darker danger? Soon Nikki will discover what really happened two decades ago, but the answers may come too late to save her life. . .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Romantic Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Romance

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of over ninety-five novels, including the Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya Series, the Pescoli and Alvarez Series, the Savannah series, and numerous stand alone novels. She also is the co-author of One Last Breath, Last Girl Standing, and the Colony Series, written with her sister and bestselling author Nancy Bush, as well as the collaborative novels Sinister and Ominous, written with Nancy Bush and Rosalind Noonan. There are over thirty million copies of her novels in print and her writing has been translated into twenty languages.

Before she became a nationally bestselling author, she was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.

With dozens of bestsellers to her name, Lisa Jackson is a master of taking readers to the edge of sanity—and back—in novels that buzz with dangerous secrets and deadly passions. She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers—the personal, the professional, and the downright twisted. As she builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies, and personal histories that haunt her protagonists, she must also confront the fear and terror faced by her victims and the harsh and enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and madness touch far too many lives and families.

Visit http://www.LisaJackson.com where you can find a Media Kit with photos and more information.

Reviews

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 3rd book in the Detective Pierce Reed and journalist Nikki Gillette series are again together in the middle of trying to solve a murder mystery and hopefully Nikki will be able to write her next novel based on the story.

From the prologue, you follow a multi -layered mystery of a Blondell OHenry, convicted, after the testimony given by her 8 year old son, 20 years earlier for the murder of her daughter, Amity and shooting and injuring her two small sons, is about to be freed after her son recants his testimony.

Nikki has a connection to the crime. Amity had been her best friend and had phoned her on the night she was murdered, telling her that she needed to tell her something very important. But Nikki was unable to meet up with her and has always felt that she may have been able to save her from dying. And then, there’s her uncle, who was Blondell’s lawyer at the time of her trial.

Nikki soon begins digging into the O’Henry family past and is soon stone-walled by everyone involved in the tragedy, which just makes Nikki more determined to find out what really happened that terrible night.

Some of the characters she encounters in her quest for the truth are uncouth and unhelpful and at times damn right scary and dangerous and some may even harm her from keeping the truth coming out. Willing to kill to keep secrets hidden.

Suspense, thrills, more killings, twists and turns that just kept me at the edge of my seat and asking….who did it?????

There are so many questions in this story and I have to be honest and say that I never ever guessed the answers that we get at the end.

There is some romance in the story – after all Nikki & Pierce are now an engaged couple but the main focus is in the mystery of case.

Another good read by this author. I really enjoy her books.

[Tulay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suspenseful.

Report Nikki Gillette character knows what not to do to get the story and write a book, but does it any way. Didn't like this character. Story is full of suspense, who was the killer? Eight years old boy did what the investigating officer wanted twenty years ago. Ending wasn't shocking to me, but writing to that point was long and ended suddenly.
2.5 stars.

[Joma · Rating 1 out of 5]

A previous patient of mine told me this was a good read. It took me two months to get this done. It's like feeding myself oats without any milk.

The story line was good and a number of scenes were quite intense but she kept throwing names at every page (since I opened it). You can get all confused on which person is suppose to be important. The author kept on reminding you (at every chance she gets) that her heroine was an outstanding journalist who wrote the most intriguing, talked-about crime book of all time, which is exasperating. The author was trying hard to make the heroine's achievement so significant that she failed to convince me that she can be more fascinating than that.

Got me most interested in the last few chapters of the book, quite exciting and breathtaking (the author is a great storyteller anyway and it is the climax), but I guess that was what this book is...a few great moments.

I could only hope for a better book after this.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good quick read. I had read some of LJ's earlier books but never the romantic suspense thrillers. I enjoyed this one and will definitely read more! Recommended!

[Melliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a few by Lisa Jackson, usually when I'm in the mood for something distracting and not too challenging, and I have to say that I have found them uneven. She's a NYT bestselling author and gets rave blurbs for her cover from the likes of Harlan Coben, so maybe it's me, but I found myself tapping my foot with impatience while reading this--not a good sign. There is a fair amount of repetition and some pointless explication, and her language choices sometimes irritate me. For instance, instead of Aunty-Pen narrowing her eyes, she "thinned" her eyes. Maybe Jackson's just trying to be original, but this is not the proper usage of "thinned." She did this several times that I remember, and each time it pulled me right out of the story.

She did surprise me when it came to "whodunnit," but there were too many red herrings, the pursuit of the case by the police wasn't very logical, and the initial dogged insistence by one of the detectives that someone had to have done the crime, despite the almost complete lack of convincing evidence, was pretty unbelievable. I found her main protagonist (a newspaper reporter/true crime writer) kind of annoying and didn't believe she would make the decisions she made, given her past. All in all, I could have spent my Sunday afternoon better.

[Terri Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I grew up in a large city- Atlanta, Georgia- in 1960's and 1970's. I am a city girl through and through and went on to live in other cities. I had family who lived in a small town/rural area and my mother forced us to live there for a miserable year and a half until even she couldn't stomach it anymore. Hey, I love watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show but sure don't want to actually live in Mayberry. Though Lisa Jackson's new book is set in Savannah, GA which is not exactly a small rural town, it has that icky, gooey redneck feel to it, that Paula Deen, Grand Old Opry (never Opera) feel to it that reminds me of the old Carol Burnett Show skit "As the Stomach Turns" (a comical take off on the soap opera As The World Turns) the way it makes me retch. It is Southern with a capital S and I, even after decades of living in Los Angeles and then San Francisco, am a recovering southerner trying to get the taste out of my mouth.

This book feels like a "marry your sister, Dukes of Hazzard" episode. Even the snakes are here.

Nikki is a reporter who once yearned to go to a bigger paper in Atlanta or even New York City but the chance to be "Mrs. Pierce Reed" overcame that. That reminds me of old southern women whose first name you never knew because they were Mrs. Homer Bentlow or Mrs. Bubba Reed" or Mrs somebody as if they had lost their own name and identity and been grafted as an extra arm onto some guy. Why bother with college? Pierce is a known jackass and heartbreaker but you know these southern gals who want to be Mrs somebody like Charlotte York in Sex and the City.

Nikki's best friend Amity (no, I'm not kidding) was laying in bed years ago as a teen when a copperhead snake got in bed with her and she felt it rubbing her and thought it was her uncle and got hot. Unfortunately it wasn't and it bit her then her aunt blasted her head off but her mama Blondell (yes, this IS the south) went to jail for it. Now Blondell is loose, her son no longer holding to the story that Mama killed Amity with a sexy snake and shot her then tried to kill the other kids so she walks. Nikki had given up her job to be Mrs Pierce Reed only they aren't married and she needs to work so her agent is trying to get her to come up with a good true crime story like her first two and along comes Blondell getting loose and murders starting up. Who knows, Nikki herself might get a date with a snake.

This was chick lit and it reminds me of a southern friend's book about a hog farmer in South Carolina and goodness, I hate this stuff. I'll catch up with Lisa once she writes something worth reading not involving the Savannah series. What's next- maybe Nikki will dump Reed for a hog farmer?

[KC · Rating 3 out of 5]

More predictable than some of her others.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reshelving from the 'thriller' shelf to the 'plodder' shelf. Not good, not bad, just meh.

[Stacie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had so many weird incestuous sexual comments. It wasn't published that long ago, so I don't feel that the female author has an excuse for sexualizing everyone this way. She was a little out of touch with how people behave in real life, so the characters weren't believable.

The book was so repetitive. I kept reading the same information over and over again. Even the same three dollar words (not reaching to five dollar words in this book) in two paragraphs, which I kind of blame the editor for.

The ending was boring and the author admitted there wasn't a motive for one of the characters in the end. The italicized portion where you're supposed to think Nikki's interviewing Blondell doesn't make sense either. I know it's supposed to be misleading, but when I went back to read it, it fails at that too. It's trying too hard to sound like she is speaking with Blondell so when you know she's not speaking to her it doesn't really make sense. There are false leads that wouldn't come up naturally. It was trying too hard.

I won't be reading anything more from this author again.

[Kari Ganske · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by Lisa Jackson, and I realize I picked it up in the middle of a series (or at least recurring characters). Although the plot was compelling, the writing and pace was REALLY slow. Because the detective and his fiancé were conducting parallel investigations, the reader (me) got to read the same information 2-3 times: once when the detective found it out, once when the fiancé found it out, and once when they talked about it together. The entire book could have been MUCH shorter and the plot moved along much faster if this didn't happen. Also, the ending was a bit of a stretch with some questions unanswered for the characters and for the reader. This makes me feel as though Ms. Jackson wanted to throw in a twist but couldn't figure out how to do it really, so she just took the easy way out and didn't explain it. I try to never judge an author by only one book, so I'll be reading another of hers and hoping it doesn't have the same redundancy.

[Singletary · Rating 2 out of 5]

19/2017/324

The protagonist in this book, Nikki, in my eyes, is a deplorable person. Coming from a very privileged background, she thinks it’s only normal to walk all over people and/or abuse them the get what she wants. For example: 1) She fills in for a guy at the newspaper while he’s out on sick leave. During his absence, she steals what would be his story. He confronts her and points out that she is going to write a novel about this case and he has five children to feed and educate, but that didn’t influence her in the least. She wanted that story no matter how much he needed the work. 2) She was willing to compromise her fiancé job as detective, so she could get confidential information from him for her book. How this person becomes a protagonist is beyond me. The author never mentioned what happened to Blondell once she was released from prison. I just thought it was a rather unpleasant book to read because Nikki was so unethical and unlikable. Very disappointing.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw a review for this book on Goodreads and thought I would read it basis the review. It was just an OK story for me. The central theme of the story is the death of a teenage girl, who was pregnant at the time of her murder. For a mystery / thriller, the pace was a bit slow for me; it seems like I was always waiting for something to happen and when it did, it was not that exciting. An interesting twist at the end when the 20 year old mystery is solved at last, but guess this story was not really my cup of tea. 5 out of 10 for me.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book based on the description. However, I was disappointed. There seemed to be a lot of words and chapters that kept repeating the same information. I predicted all of the twists in the book almost down to when it would happen. This story could have been told in about a third of the pages and gotten the same message across. Just had a tough time keeping my attention and making me want to rush to the end of the book. Instead it was more like how many more pages until I finally finish the book. Disappointed.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish. The book is way too long and it reads like you're watching a movie or TV show, if that makes sense - every little movement and action is described. e.g. Nikki put down her pen. Nikki pushed her chair back. Nikki stood up. Nikki went downstairs. Nikki took off her shirt. Nikki put a new shirt on. Nikki went to the dog's bowl. Nikki broke a dog biscuit in half. Nikki put the biscuit halves in the bowl.' Dammit just get on the with story!!!

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just ok. Too many characters, too much unnecessary detail. Hard to stay interested.

[Christy Baldischwiler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sooo slow! I’m surprised I finished it. Finally got interesting towards the end but still would not recommend this book.

[Carla Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, very well written. Lots of action and several twists and turns. This book is more about Nikki Gillette the reporter. Detective Reeds new fiance. A 20 year old murder case is being reviewed. Nikki soon finds out that this old case has more to do with her family than she cares to admit. Her high school friend was murdered 20 years before, the girls mother is sent away for the murders and attempted murders of the girls younger siblings. The case is being re-investgated because the murderer is about to get released from prison on a technicality. Did they arrest the right person 20 years ago, or was it someone else that did the murder belong to another killer? Read and find out, you won't be disappointed.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If my first fear was being buried alive which was featured in the previous book in the Savannah series, The Morning After this time we're got poisonous snakes as the murder weapon de jour!! Ugh... Creepy. Nikki Gillette and Pierce Reed are back, Reed investigating a cold murder case and Nikki with connections to the case trying to write another best seller. The plot meanders a bit like a Georgia lazy afternoon and of course Nikki finds herself in trouble by the end. ( The saving grace is again she manages to save herself before Reed backs up to save the day. A clever twist at the end and growing chemistry between Nikki and Reed elevates this to quite an enjoyable thriller.. although I could have done without the snakes!

3.5 stars

[Patrice Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tell Me by Lisa Jackson is the third in the Savannah series and the second featuring Nikki Gillette. Nikki is a reporter for the local Sentinal newspaper in Savannah, Georgia and is anxious to get the scoop on the breaking news regarding Blondell O'Henry. Blondell was convicted of killing her eldest daughter Amity who was once Nikki's best friend. Nikki is also personally linked to this case since her uncle Alexander, who is now battling dementia, represented Blondell and saved her from being executed. The reason for the new surge in interest regarding the state's most hated woman is the fact that her son Niall is recanting the story he told as a child that helped convict her. Nikki is hoping her link to the past and renewed interest in the Blondell case will help her with a true crime novel she wishes to peddle to the masses some day.

The other thing that's very convenient about Nikki plopping her self smack dab in the middle of a case that virtually has nothing to do with her is that her fiance Det. Pierce Reed is now investigating the case and trying to piece together what really happened that night. Oh! We musn't forget that there seems to be a deranged psycho who's after Nikki... again. The killer is using a snake bite, which was also done during the Blondell killing spree. And it appears he's hot on Nikki's trail for some reason. All these instances I can overlook for a great story. Lisa Jackson tells great stories.

There is so much mystery and intrigue in this novel. The ending was not something I could foresee or the many different stones uncovered during Nikki's investigation. I do caution future readers that at times I felt that if I'd read the predecessor novel The Morning After, maybe some of the characters would have been a bit more worth being interested in, but for the most part, they all seemed paper thin. This is one of the drawbacks of not starting a series at the beginning. Besides the many secondary characters who didn't matter, I thought Nikki was a well developed leading lady. Her history is given with great detail and explains the fears she has and much of the guilt she harbors.

If you're looking for a good, swift-paced read Lisa Jackson's Tell Me is the way to go. Jackson is no newbie on the scene so I expect her fans and lovers of Tami Hoag, Iris Johanson, and Beverly Barton to really enjoy this latest novel. I do advise reading The Morning After to get acquainted with some of these characters a lot better.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original review can be found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...

I was pleasantly surprised to find this book in my mailbox sent to me from Kensington Press. Thank you! In exchange for the unexpected but much appreciated gift I will give my honest thoughts.

This is book #3 in the Savannah series but can be read as a stand alone. References are made about events from the previous books but it does not impact the story.

I thought that the story started out strong with lots of potential. A twenty year old case in which a mother was convicted of killing one of her children and injuring her other two isn't all it appears to be. When her son recants his original story it looks like she may go free. Is she guilty or innocent? This is what I was asking myself. I was excited to dig into the past with Nikki and get the answers.

Once I got into the story it fizzled a bit for me. It dragged in places and was too drawn out for my liking. There were a lot of players within the pages and I found it a bit confusing trying to keep them all straight. It wasn't that it was awful just a little too long. I think that if parts of the story were shortened or even cut out it would have made for a more exciting read. Also I feel the need to mention that I hate snakes of any shape or size whether they are harmless or not and there were more snakes in this story than I cared to read about!

I thoroughly enjoyed Nikki and Reed's characters and I absolutely loved Reed's partner. There were too many other characters for me to become invested in. In fact as the story progressed and I was trying to figure out who the murderer was if it wasn't Blondell, I didn't really care which character it turned out to be.

In the end it was an average to good story and I liked it enough that I plan to check out more of Jackson's work. There were a few road bumps in the book but still a worthy read.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a lot of Lisa Jackson's suspense novels and I do think she is a good author. That being said, I must admit I am becoming a bit bored with her books. I have had the pleasure of reading some pretty great books lately (by other authors) and I just found this latest book by Jackson cannot compete. It was an ok story but overall it was pretty dull and not in the least suspenseful. It took we quite a while to get through this book and I came close to moving on to another book on several occassions but managed to trudge through it. By far my least favorite book by Jackson.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts out SLOW. The story line is intriguing so I kept reading, but it doesn’t really become a great book until 3/4 if the way in. Excellent ending. Not sure if I will try this author out again or not.

[Wynonna Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was a slow start. Once halfway through, more curiosity began to arise. The page-turning suspense happened within the last 100 pages and I was completely shocked with finding out who the real killer was.

[Madison Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, the ending just kind of came together like a soap opera but it was a good thriller! The culprit was a surprise but again just kind of all randomly thrown out there and didn’t flow too well to close out the mystery.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a struggle to read.

[Kerrie (Layton) Box · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book, I need to read the first two books in the series

[Scott Clement · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many characters

[Julie Stauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to the last page!!

[Barb Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story line was good, but I wasn’t impressed with her writing. It could’ve been so much better.

[Diane Bircher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible....