Jennifer Hillier's Little Secrets was an addictive, fast paced and compelling psychological suspense that centred around a family of three and how an unfortunate incident has lead to many effects and consequences.
Marin seems to have a perfect, blessed life. She's happily married to her college sweetheart, Derek, who now runs his own company. Marin herself owns a chain of high-end hair salons which are mostly frequent by celebrities and rich clients. Life is good until their 4-year-old son, Sebastian, is taken. Marin has herself to blame since she'd let go of Sebastian's hand for a while to return a text to her best friend, Sal. Despite the search and a year later, Sebastian still couldn't be found and this becomes a cold case.
Marin refuses to accept the fact that Sebastian is gone like that, so she engages a P.I. to continue with the search. The investigator didn't find any leads to Sebastian's missing, but she did find out that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman during the findings. Marin's despair over the loss of her son quickly changes to rage after learning about her husband's infidelity, and this turn of events and the unexpected effects thereafter is the highlight of this story.
I loved the suspense and the intensity so this was a fast read to me. Sebastian's missing and Marin's breakdown are the hardest to read but I've to say the author has done a great job depicting these scenarios although it's a nightmarish thought for every parents. However, this is more than a missing child story as the plot thickens and I wouldn't want to indulge more. I could only say it was a twisty thriller which left me flabbergasted in the end.
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I can't imagine losing a child like that! Awful. This sounds like a compelling read, though. I'll have to check it out.
Susan - It's always so hard to read books about abused and missing children. :( This book didn't focus much on the missing child case though, but it was still linked to another plot and I'm glad to see there's a resolution to it.
OK, a missing child and a marriage betrayed? So curious!
Glad to hear this one was so good! :)
I've been shying away from thrillers for a while but you've made me curious about this one!
Jenclair - This has a compelling plot, though the ending had me wondering about certain things. ;)
Lark - I enjoyed it! Haven't read a book that fast in a while, lol.
Iliana - I totally understand what you mean about taking a break from thrillers for a while. I do that at times, too. I'll be curious of your thoughts if you do read this, Iliana.
Missing children thrillers always give me pause, although I have read and enjoyed some. Your review has me curious about this one.
Wendy - Abused and missing children are always difficult to read, no matter if they're fiction or real life incidents. However, there's something compelling about this story and the complicated relationship between Marin and Derek further made this an intriguing read.