Book Review - Can You Keep a Secret? by Karen Perry

An intense psychological thriller that had me totally gripped from the very first to the very last page. As a chicklit fan this was not my usual genre but I loved it although perhaps that's not surprising as apparently all three of author Karen Perry's previous books have been bestsellers.

Many thanks to The Bookbag for giving me the opportunity to read this book direct from the publishers.

First published in the UK: November 2017

Surviving the weekend depends on whether you can keep a secret . . .

Lindsey hasn't spoken to Rachel in twenty years, not since her brother's eighteenth birthday party at their parents' remote country house. A night that shattered so many friendships - and left Rachel's father dead.

Now Thornbury Hall is up for sale, and the old gang are back there, together again. A weekend to say goodbye to the old place, to talk about the past. But twenty years of secrets aren't given up lightly. Some won't speak about what happened that night. While others want to ensure that no one ever does.

My Review

Thornbury Hall is the grand ancestral home of the Bagenal family headed by taciturn Peter with his wistful wife Heather and their two children, Patrick and Rachel. It is also the setting for many secrets and tragedies all of which resurface twenty years later as Patrick reunites childhood friends, Niall, Marcus, Hilary and main character Lindsey, for one final party before selling the house.

Cleverly written, the chapters alternate between 2017 and 1991, with the friends' teenage years brilliantly setting the scene for the present day events and the story unravelling seamlessly across the decades. In a way it was a kind of coming of age story with the teenage versions of the characters facing the normal adolescent challenges of puberty, friendships and sexual experiences all of which would ultimately shape the adults they would become and the tragic turn of events they would encounter.

Every chapter, or quite possibly even every page, was packed with intrigue and drama immersing me so fully that I was even able to totally block out my fellow passengers on my daily train commute - which is no small feat believe me. Naively I thought I could see what was coming almost from the beginning but happily I was totally wrong and could never in a million years have predicted the actual truths behind the tragedies. I also loved the fact that the intrigue kept building throughout the book with nothing revealed until the very last pages when everything suddenly fell into place and parts of the story that seemed insignificant at the time now made sense.

Such was the suspense that it's very hard to talk about this book without giving anything away. But, if it was on television I think it would come with the warning that it 'contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing' and that for me was the only real negative. It wasn't the scenes as such but the overall motivation that was disconcerting, however, that said it wasn't evident until the end of the book and described in a non-explicit manner so whilst a subject I would normally avoid it wasn't too off putting and certainly didn't diminish my love of this book.

An intense psychological thriller that had me totally gripped from the very first to the very last page. As a chicklit fan this was not my usual genre but I loved it although perhaps that's not surprising as all three of the author's previous books have been bestsellers - I can't wait to get started on Karen Perry's other novels now.