Author: Michael Robotham
Meghan doesn’t know Agatha, but Agatha knows Meghan. And the one thing Agatha looks forward to each day is catching a glimpse of her, the effortlessly chic customer at the grocery store where she works stocking shelves. Meghan has it all: two adorable children, a handsome and successful husband, a happy marriage, a beautiful house, and a popular parenting blog that Agatha reads with devotion each night as she waits for her absent boyfriend, the father of the baby growing inside her, to return her calls.
Yet if Agatha could look beyond the gloss and trappings of Meghan’s “perfect life,” she’d see the flaws and doubts. Meghan has her secrets too, especially one that she dare not ever tell. Soon the lives of these two women will collide in the most spellbinding and intimate of ways until their secrets are exposed by one shocking act that cannot be undone. From internationally bestselling author Michael Robotham, The Secrets She Keeps is a dark, exquisite, and twisted page-turner so full of surprises, you’ll find it impossible to put down.
Official Summary
A psychological thriller that will keep you up at night. These two female characters are brilliantly written, you cannot help loving both these women despite their faults.
This is the first Michael Robotham book I have read that does not feature psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, but I am not disappointed. I am generally a little wary of novels where male authors write female leads, but in this case, I have to say I could hardly believe a man wrote the book. The author managed to get into the heads of his characters and revealed their emotions wonderfully.
This book will appeal to psychological thriller/suspense fans. When you pick up any book you will find someone saying: ”This is a page-turner that will keep you up at night.” I try to avoid those little printed lines because often I have found them to be rather deceiving. On the back cover of this book you will find the following:
“Two terrific female characters, both with secrets. Add Michael Robotham’s clean prose and whipcrack pacing. The result? A book you won’t be able to put down” Stephen King
The is exactly what this book is. Once you start reading, it is very hard to put it down.
Both female characters have secrets, yet as the secrets are reveals I could not help but feel sorry for Agatha. She does everything wrong, and still, you empathise with her. These two women from vastly different backgrounds, each keeping a secret that could destroy their lives, are brought together by a shocking act which there is no turning back from.
Loved it! You can feel the characters pain and understand their actions even if you do not agree with their choices…..
This unsettling tale is told ingeniously, it will have you question your judgement and remind you that there is always a lot more to a person’s actions than what meets the eye.
Yes, this book is on my recommend list – it does not disappoint!n
Author: Michael Robotham – ISBN: 9780751562798 – Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group – Pages: 520 – Source: Private Copy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author bio from author’s website
Gold Dagger winning and twice Edgar short-listed author Michael Robotham was born in Australia in November 1960 and grew up in small country towns that had more dogs than people and more flies than dogs. He escaped in 1979 and became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.
For the next fourteen years, he wrote for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Britain and America. As a senior feature writer for the UK’s Mail on Sunday he was among the first people to view the letters and diaries of Czar Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra, unearthed in the Moscow State Archives in 1991. He also gained access to Stalin’s Hitler files, which had been missing for nearly fifty years until a cleaner stumbled upon a cardboard box that had been misplaced and misfiled.
In 1993 he quit journalism to become a ghostwriter, collaborating with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and showbusiness personalities to write their autobiographies. Twelve of these non-fiction titles were bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.
His partially completed first novel, a psychological thriller called THE SUSPECT, caused a bidding war at the London Book Fair in 2002. Soon afterwards it was chosen by the world’s largest consortium of book clubs as only the fifth “International Book of the Month”, making it the top recommendation to 28 million book club members in fifteen countries.
Michael’s novels have since been translated into 25 languages and have won or been shortlisted for numerous awards including:
The Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger (won) LIFE OR DEATH 2015 (shortlisted) SAY YOU’RE SORRY 2013.
The Australian Book Industry Association ABIA General Fiction Award 2018 for THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS
The Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel (won 2005 and 2008) LOST and SHATTER.
The Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel (shortlisted) 2016 LIFE OR DEATH (shortlisted) 2019 GOOD GIRL BAD GIRL)
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