Reviews for Give My Secrets Back

The average rating for Give My Secrets Back based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-04-05 00:00:00 Daniel Sytsma Its good, but wow… An action-packed, entertaining story with interesting characters & riveting plot lines. It was a very enjoyable read. I recommend this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-07-15 00:00:00 Mark Locaparra The second book in the Allison Kaine series finds our hero still dating Stacy, aka "Mistress Anastasia" Ross, after a year. She is still a lowly officer for the Denver Police Force, trying to get through the work day without being harassed too badly by her co-workers. In her off time, though, she's involved in various lesbian and feminist causes and is heavily into the S/M leather scene. At a gathering called GAY-la, she sees Tamsin, an old acquaintance from the early feminist days of the 70s. She is intrigued when she finds out that Tam, under the name of Katie Copper, is the author of one of her favorite mysteries series featuring Blaze Badgirl. But before she can talk to Tam about this, Allison finds the author dead in her bathtub. Although this is an intriguing mystery with more than a few excellently drawn characters, the importance of the book may be in its history of the fledgling lesbian political movement. Told in both flashbacks and stories from the participants'Allison and her friends'it is one of the best fictional chronicles of that time I have read and certainly the best involving the city of Denver. But I think it is Allen's writing style that impresses me the most. Not only is Allison personable and easy to like, but insightful as well. In asking one of the characters why she chose to return to a relationship with her abuser, she says, "This was one woman coming back to start in again on a love that was painful and bad, for the simple reason she could not stay away." Michelle Martin, quintessential feminist, ranks high on the list of best friends in the lesbian mystery genre along with Nikki Baker's Naomi Wolf and a few others. She gives the Kaine books not only another eye into the lesbian scene, but a disapproving one into Allison's own lifestyle, which can be hilarious, as when Michelle bursts into the room while Allison and Stacy are into a particularly revealing scene involving restraints, fire, and fantasies. Unlike other books where the protagonist is a police officer, we see very little of Allison actually on the job, or perhaps as an officer she sees very little action. The entire case is worked and solved without any involvement from the police. And it is an odd one with references to S/M, firepley, incest, feminism, and just good old plain murder. This is the third book I have read by Kate Allen, who like her character Tamsin, also writes under a pseudonym. As a bonus, it also introduces the character of Marta Goichecca, who is the main character of her only non-Allison novel, I Knew You Would Call. All are deserving of a 4 rating or better. Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel. Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.