I heard about this book when I was at my online bookclub with my friend Amy at her site – http://www.momadvice.com – and we were talking about Mary Kubica’s new book (The Other Mrs – reviewed here: https://drbethnolan.com/2020/04/05/the-other-mrs-by-mary-kubica/ ). Ms. Kubica said she had just read Little Secrets and it was very good so I got it from Net Galley (lucky me!).
What a read! It was suspenseful and thrilling and scary but not too graphic or disturbing. I don’t usually read things about missing children as it gives me nightmares, but this was okay for me. I feel that Ms. Hellier (new author to me) did such a great job in describing the main characters feelings and depression while she is caught in a horrific limbo of not knowing what happened to her child.
So glad I picked this one up! Thank you, St. Martin’s Press!
Here’s the overview:
Description
“Unflinching and unforgettable. Little Secrets has everything you want in a thriller” —Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of Lock Every Door Overwhelmed by tragedy, a woman desperately tries to save her marriage in award-winning author Jennifer Hillier’s Little Secrets, a riveting novel of psychological suspense.
All it takes to unravel a life is one little secret…
Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They’re admired in their community and are a loving family—until their world falls apart the day their son Sebastian is taken.
A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding Sebastian, she learns that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman. This discovery sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her son; she’s not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix.
My publicist friends at Minotaur books offered me a review e-copy of the latest Molly Murphy mystery and of course I said yes!! I believe I have read all of the other Molly mysteries. I love a historical mystery, and I love reading about New York at the turn of the century. This time, Molly, husband Daniel, and baby Liam are headed out to Connecticut for the holidays at a house filled with sadness from the loss of a child ten years before. Molly herself has recently lost a child through miscarriage and she is still healing. As always, there’s a realness to these characters that make them very believable and easy to relate to.
Here’s the overview via Amazon:
Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. Not long after they arrive, however, they start to feel the tension in the house’s atmosphere. Then they learn that the host couple’s young daughter wandered out into the snow ten years ago and was never seen again. Molly can identify with the mother’s pain at never knowing what happened to her child and wants to help, but there is so little to go on. No ransom note. No body ever found. But Molly slowly begins to suspect that the occupants of the house know more than they are letting on. Then, on Christmas Eve, there is a knock at the door and a young girl stands there. “I’m Charlotte,” she says. “I’ve come home.”
Everybody clap your hands, because Kate Morton has a new book out!
I am so very thrilled to be part of this tour today because I absolutely love her books and when I saw this opportunity I was almost overcome with excitement. THE LAKE HOUSE is Kate Morton at her finest; it does not disappoint.
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Secret Keeper and The Distant Hours, an intricately plotted, spellbinding new novel of heart-stopping suspense and uncovered secrets.
Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…
One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears the family apart in ways they never imagined.
Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather’s house in Cornwall. While out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old estate—now crumbling and covered with vines, clearly abandoned long ago. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone…yet more present than ever.
A lush, atmospheric tale of intertwined destinies, this latest novel from a masterful storyteller is an enthralling, thoroughly satisfying read.
Kate Morton grew up in the mountains of south-east Queensland and lives now with her husband and young sons in Brisbane. She has degrees in dramatic art and English literature, specializing in nineteenth-century tragedy and contemporary Gothic novels.
Kate Morton has sold over 7.5 million copies in 26 languages, across 38 countries. Her novels include The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours, and The Secret Keeper.
Me again — Oh my goodness, this book has SO MUCH of what I love: mystery, old English country houses, hidden passageways, forbidden love, tragedy, happy endings, reconciliation, self-forgiveness — the list goes on and on! Ms. Morton’s writing flows easily and her books read quickly. I get engrossed in the characters and have read several where they move back and forth through time in the same setting. I always can’t wait to get to the next chapter.
In this story, I really connected with the character of Eleanor (surprisingly) and how she went from being a happy child to being in love to having the world come down on her and dampen her zest for life. Sadie was another sympathetic character. I thought I had the mystery figured out (more than once) and was mistaken. There are lots of twists and turns with this one!
If you have never read her books, start with this one. Or get thee to the library and find them all!
Thank you for making me part of the tour and for my Net Galley copy to review.
Here is a lovely picture of Kate Morton. I just want to shout: “Kate! I want to be your friend and we can talk about books and old English country houses!” But of course she might find that odd…
Here’s a You Tube book trailer:
Here’s a You Tube video of Kate reading the first chapter — you can pretend she’s your friend and reading to you!
Here she is discussing her inspiration for the book (via You Tube). I was wondering about how she got her idea and voila – questions answered!
