‘Kiss and Tell’ by TJ Cooke

Published on Createspace.
ISBN: 9781483986333

Jill Shadow comes from a working-class, council estate background and, by a combination of luck, brains and sheer hard work, she has now become a solicitor. Now Jill's worst nightmare has come true: her teenage daughter has disappeared and all the indications are that she has been kidnapped.

Trapped in a safe house, where she has been placed for her protection, Jill cannot assist in the search for Hannah. She spends her time trying to work out which of the choices she made has led to her current position. Is Hannah's father, Jimmy, behind her disappearance? He has recently been released from prison after serving a long sentence for drug dealing, and he has made it clear that he wants contact with Hannah, although she is unaware of his existence. Is the threat tied to Jill's mysterious new client, drugs mule, Bella Kiss? Or is Hannah's disappearance tied to another, more dangerous set of conspirators?

There are so many potential villains surrounding Jill that it seems impossible for her to work out where the danger is coming from, but if she cannot discover the truth her life and Hannah's could both be destroyed.

Jill Shadow is a very appealing and interesting protagonist. She is a young woman who has worked her way up in the world and now finds herself isolated, unable to fit in with her old friends or her new associates.

There are two narratives in Kiss and Tell: Jill's Present Tense, anguished life in the safe house and her Past Tense memories of events, relationships and work-related conflicts. Both narratives are in the First Person and they are combined with great skill.

Cooke's knowledge of the English legal system and the life of a solicitor make this book convincing, but, above all, he leads the reader into total empathy with Jill as she faces every parent's worse fear and faces the guilt of feeling responsible for her daughter's danger. Kiss and Tell is a compelling read.

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Reviewer by Carol Westron

 TJCooke, otherwise known as Tim, was formerly a legal executive and advisor to the BBC's Eastenders. Since then he has dovetailed his career between advertising copywriting, freelance journalism and screenwriting. Tim has written numerous television and radio commercials for a variety of well known companies. He is Creative Director at Sounds Sorted, www.soundssorted.co.uk
He has written many hours of broadcast drama, notching up writing credits for some of UK's most popular series, including London's Burning, The Bill and Bad Girls. Tim also wrote for Madson starring Ian McShane and Dreamteam, which follows the ups and downs of a fictitious premiership football club. He worked on a number of overseas projects including the setting up of Eastern Europe's first daily serial drama.
His debut novel Kiss and Tell is available now via Amazon Kindle. It introduces us to Jill Shadow, a criminal lawyer who doesn't fit the mould. Tim's second novel Defending Elton, will be available shortly. This will introduce us to Jim Harwood, another unorthodox lawyer, and an altogether darker tale. His third novel will see the return of Jill Shadow.
Tim currently lives in Devon. His hobbies include cricket, badminton and table tennis, which he enjoys with varying degrees of success. For further details, and to follow his blog, please visit tjcooke.com or follow the author on twitter timscribe@timcooke

Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats is the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013. Her second book About the Children was published in May 2014.

www.carolwestron.com