Book Review: Truth Be Told

(Published Oct 12, 2014)

Jane Ryland is having a bad day. She is slogging through her current job as the only reporter for an online edition of the local Boston newspaper after her unfair firing from television news for refusing to reveal a source. While decidedly less glamorous, this job pays the bills, which is reassuring when she is covering the seemingly endless evictions from victims of the housing crisis and bank scandals.  Instead of leaving for a planned romantic weekend with her boyfriend, she follows the story of dead bodies being found in bank-owned houses when Jake cancels their trip because he has to go out of town for work.

And who shows up to investigate the latest murdered body?  Her boyfriend, who is suddenly not “out of town!”

Told to us from different perspectives, Truth be Told relates the myriad ways people respond to desperate times, and with not a little danger to herself, Jane walks us through the foreclosures, banking scandals and well-meaning modern day Robin Hoods that are part of the 21^st century landscape in American cities everywhere.  With fast-paced dialogue and an action-packed story, we accompany Jane Ryland on a roller coaster ride of danger, action and hidden agendas.  No one is what they seem and no twist is off limits!

Hank Phillippi Ryan is probably not having a bad day.  She is an Agatha, Macavity, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark award winning author, as well as the investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate. With Truth be Told, she delivers a third installment to her eponymous Jane Ryland series.

By Cindie Harp. An avid reader and regular book reviewer on Goodreads, Cindie is a committee member for the JCC’s Ann Katz Festival of Books and Arts and a chair of its Community Reads program.