I debated on giving this one five stars, then I realized I give no craps..I enjoyed the heck out of this book. There are a few tropes that just rope me in and feed my little fat girl soul. Like road trips, grumpy characters and this one.....


I love me some single white femaling in a book. Not in real life though. I would punch a heifer.

This one was all kinds of juicy. You have perfect life Meg, she has handsome husband and two cute kids. Now she is pregnant with baby number three. She gets to stay at home with the kiddies and work on her mommy blog.
Then you have Agatha, she works at the grocery store near Megs home and she is also pregnant. Her life is not all peachy keen though. Her boyfriend is gone since he is in the navy (He broke up with her before leaving but that's a detail that Agatha ain't worrying over.)

Meg spoke to Agatha one day at the grocery and now Agatha just knows that they are besties. She knows all about Meg, her friends, what her house looks like. All the stuff that best girlfriends do.

I can't give all the details..because that would be spoilery and I would get punched or something for that.
I can say that my face went through all kinds of stuff while reading this book.


AND there is some secret super secrets that the characters in this book are keeping.


Go read this so you know what to do if that grocery girl starts being all friendly instead of bagging your bleach in with the hamburger meat.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Well, that was a treat! I almost never give 5 stars to psychological thrillers but as far as the genre is concerned for me this was as good as it gets. There is very little to say about The Secrets She Keeps before getting into spoilers, but let me say it's a great psychological thriller for those of us who like the complicated people dynamics without the violence. Agatha works in a grocery store, is pregnant and trying to get the father interested. Agatha idolizes Meg who is one of the store's customers and seems to have a perfect life. Meg is also pregnant, writes a mommy blog, is married to a sports reporter and has a life that is not as perfect as Agatha thinks. The story is told in short chapters, alternating between Agatha and Meg's point of view. The key part of the plot -- which I am purposefully not revealing -- is not unfamiliar but what I loved about this one were the characters and their interactions. These are far from perfect women -- especially one of them -- but Robotham approaches them with with a lot of empathy but without any smarminess. And dare I mention that I was particularly impressed with how Robotham depicted Meg and Agatha given that he is a man. There's no condescension or objectification here. Meg and Agatha are the central characters and, while they are flawed, they are smart and have agency. This may be an odd tangent given that this is a psychological thriller, and it's essentially a well plotted page turner. But the characters are what really stood out for me. And the end was especially brilliant -- perfect for the characters. This one makes me feel like finding Robotham's other books. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Compelling and gripping,The Secrets She Keeps packs one hell of a punch. It will stay long with me.

It tells the story of two women, Meghan and Agatha. Both from different social backgrounds and both pregnant with very similar due dates, the story is told from their perspectives, chapters chopping and changing between characters.
Meghan is pregnant with her third child, an unplanned one but she is happy. Her husband less so. A successfull tv sports presenter, Meghan has from the outside an idyllic life. Middle class with a successful husband, two kids a boy and a girl and another one on the way.
Agatha meanwhile works in a supermarket and seems socially withdrawn. Pregnant from a relationship with a much younger man, a sailor Hayden, all she has ever wanted was to be a mother. She knows Meghan from her visits into the supermarket she works at and she is determined to meet her and if possible become friends with her. Meghan has the ideal life. The life that Agatha longs for.

Agatha has had a troubled past and upbringing and a very strained relationship with her mother. Meghan too, although appearing to have a pretty idyllic life has her secrets too, secrets that could ruin everything for her.

To reveal any more of this story would definitely be into spoiler territory. There is so much to this tale but really it can't be talked about in a review as it will spoil the story.

What I will say is what we have is a really fantastic story. The two main characters are beautifully written and fleshed out. We feel empathy with them at times when we know we shouldn't and while the story from the outside may seem(and it is I suppose)a case of good mom - bad mom, the lines are blurred occasionally. This gives the characters much more meat on their bones, makes them more real to the reader and just developes them so well.

The story is creepy as hell and ramps up and up as we read further into the tale. The switching of perspectives works really well as their lives are intertwined, we get the story from both sides. The minor characters as well are all really well written which all adds to sucking the reader into the story.
The tension is raised to unbelieveable levels numerous times throughout the story. You know when all of a sudden your reading speed seems to increase as you get to a really tense part of a story? Well there are plenty of moments like that throughout this book.

It's a fantastic read. It really is. Apart from the tension and the great characterisation there's a really well told story here. It's as vivid as can be in my mind after reading it.

An easy five stars. If you haven't already, get your hands on a copy of this and put some time aside as you will be drawn in from the start and not let go of until the final words.

Thanks to NetGalley, Scribner and Michael Robotham for and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Recently, new light has been shed on the effects that childhood trauma has on adult behavior. It is often said that children are resilient but that strength has its limitations. Too often, when we read about horrible acts people commit, there is a story of childhood abuse or torture. The child's mind and soul cannot absorb it all and come out as a fully functioning adult.

Michael Robotham's new novel, The Secrets She Keeps, tells a story of one such human who suffered as a child and that suffering continued on through her life. MR's character, Agatha, is immediately depicted as one of those young people who live a life on the edge. Her job is shelving groceries and her boss is both indifferent and disrespectful. Agatha watches other people's lives in London and wishes and wonders why she can't have some of that, a happy life, full of people who like her and want to be with her.

The writing of this psychological thriller is thoroughly researched and written with fluid strokes. Once you begin, you won't be able to stop until you find out what happens. Agatha is neither a good person nor a bad person. She is damaged and I wished for her to have one single person reach out and help. This is a novel that sticks to your heart.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Scribner (pub July 11, 2017).

5+ Masterful Riveting Spellbinding Stars. - Full Review now posted closer to publication date.

<b>Have you ever told a lie? One that becomes bigger and bigger the more you tell it? One that makes you keep secrets from those you love? </b> Such that you want to believe your lies more than anything and almost forget what is a lie and what is the truth? <b>I think we’ve all told little white lies but who has told big nasty lies that make you keep secrets from those you love? I think that’s pretty hard to admit to. Yet in “The Secrets She Keeps” by the brilliant Michael Robotham, its easier than it seems and Meghan and Agatha, both of the main characters in this book, are guilty of it to some degree.</b>

Meghan is a happily married mother of two. She seemingly has it all. She is a successful writer of a mommy blog who once had a great career before having children with her husband Jack. Now, they are pregnant again with their “oops” baby. She couldn’t be more thrilled, though it takes Jack a while to warm up to the idea. Life seems idyllic, though things are never as they seem. Meghan’s family is all that matters to her and she will do whatever it takes to protect it, and herself, even when the house falls down around her.

Agatha has struggled all of her life, going through a myriad of trials and tribulations with little or no support from friends or family. She works part-time at a grocery store in a ritzy London suburb, while her on-again, off-again boyfriend Hayden is away at the Royal Army. After years of yearning to have a child, it has finally happened: she is pregnant. While working, she spies Meghan in town and tries to emulate her and then, once Meghan stops into the grocery store, Agatha befriends her, thus altering both of their lives, forever. Meghan is excited to have a normal down-to-earth friend. And Agatha? She finally has everything she wants. And she will go to great lengths to keep her secrets close to the vest or die trying.

<b>“The Secrets She Keeps” is a superbly written psychological thriller from Michael Robotham. I was drawn in immediately.</b> The storyline was gripping and the characters development was in depth and masterfully done. The novel is a brilliant character study of how two women, both pregnant, can have completely different psychological and socio-economic backgrounds and how that can affect how they act towards their families and their children and the extremes they will go to, to protect themselves and their needs. I have always been of the mindset that “lies do not become us”, yet in this novel, somehow “lies become them” as both Agatha and Meghan are masterful at it.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a captivating and compelling mystery/suspense. Michael Robotham is a phenomenal writer. If you haven't read his books, you are seriously missing out. This is a standalone, but his series about Joseph O'Loughlin is perhaps one of the best I have read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Scribner and Michael Robotham for the opportunity to read and review this novel. It was my pleasure.

Final review published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 6.25.17.

* Will be published on Amazon on 7.11.17

The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham is fast-paced and suspenseful. It kept me entertained until the last page.
The Secrets She Keeps is about the unexpected friendship between two pregnant woman who couldn’t be more different. Meghan has the perfect life, a perfect sport presenter husband and two perfect kids.
Agatha knows all this about Meghan and much more thanks to her secret hideaway at the bottom of Meghan’s garden. She knows what she likes to eat, where she shops, what time she drops her children off at school.
Meghan doesn’t realise that her chance encounter with Agatha in her local supermarket is anything but and will change her life forever.
Agatha works in a supermarket stacking shelves but that may not be the case for much longer as her boss doesn’t like the fact she is pregnant and makes that abundantly clear. Added to that the father of the baby she is carrying doesn’t even know she is pregnant and broke up with her shortly before returning to his posting in the navy.
Agatha’s interest in Meghan has crossed over the border into obsession. She wants what Meghan has…including her baby. Meghan writes a successful parenting blog which Meghan reads religiously every night.
Agatha doesn’t know she has a secret but she does know that she has many secrets of her own. Secrets related to her own troubled past. Secrets Meghan would be horrified to know.
The Secrets She Keeps was an enthralling book, not least because of it’s well-developed characters. Even Agatha, whilst not a likeable character, is certainly a character who will cause readers to feel empathy.
Meghan is not portrayed not just as a weak, victim but also as someone with guilt and complications of her own.
Meghan’s husband Jack, is not just someone I frequently wanted to punch, he is also someone I felt pity for at times.
Without giving any more information away I will say The Secrets She Keeps was an interesting read.

A real page turner couldn't put it down characters are well developed

Absolutely fantastic! 5 stars all the way!
From the first chapter I was hooked. Start to finish.
Meg and Jack have it all. Jack is a well-known sports broadcaster. Meg is a stay at home mom with 2 beautiful children, and is pregnant again. This is their 'oops' baby.
Agatha, a troubled woman with a sad disturbing past, works stocking shelves at the local market. She covets everything Meg has from her beautiful straight hair, her stylish maternity jeans to her seemingly perfect life. She watches Meg closely, wanting to be near her...wanting desperately to have what she has.
Told from alternating points of view of both Agatha and Meg. Characters were brilliantly authentic. I connected with both of them! Yes, and at times even Agatha (yikes!)
So many layers to this book. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Secrets, lies and hidden pasts. Nobody's life is perfect. What you see isn't always what it may appear to be. I don't want to say too much more and give anything away. I went into this one virtually blind and I suggest you do the same.
Frightening with just the right amount of creep factor! Was on the edge of my seat throughout. Finished in 1 day! Absolutely loved it!! Brilliant! One of the best psychological thrillers I have read this year! Heading straight onto my favorites shelf. Can't recommend it enough!

Thank you to NetGalley, Scribner and Michael Robotham for an ARC to review.

Will be posted on Goodreads under Kaceey within 2 weeks of publication date per request.

This is my first read from Michael Robotham. I loved it!

How far would you go to create the perfect family?

How many times have you looked at someone and thought "now there is someone who has it all?" Well I have. Plenty of times.

We may assume someone who is beautiful, rich, married with children must be happy. They must have the perfect life. But you know what they say about assuming....

The book alternates between Agatha and Meghan's point of view.

We hear from Agatha first. She tells us that she's not the most important person in this story, that Meghan is.

When Agatha looks at Meghan she sees someone with the perfect life. She has a gorgeous home, two beautiful children, and a loving husband. While Agatha is at home, pregnant and alone, wondering if her baby daddy, Hayden will ever return her calls. Hayden is a sailor who is away for seven months. Agatha tells us the silly boy "thinks" they broke up before he left, but she says he's just overreacting to her going through his phone and reading his emails. Now he's avoiding her.

But she'll find a way to make him reply to her.

Agatha is pregnant and works at a grocery store in an affluent area in London. Her favorite part of the day is when Meghan comes into the store.

Agatha knows A LOT about Meghan's life. She knows her schedule, husband and children's names, as well as what time Meghan picks up her daughter from school. She knows Meghan's mothers' group meets every Friday morning and even what each woman orders to drink. She's gotten a lot of this information by watching Meghan. But she also gotten a lot of additional information from Meghan's detailed posts on her mommy blog. Agatha studies the blog. She thinks Meghan makes motherhood and marriage look easy.

But Meghan's life is far from perfect. Her marriage has been very bumpy lately. Jack has been acting strangely, and the couple has been fighting more than ever (more than once I wanted to reach into the book and throttle Jack, when he made comments about her weight or belittled her blog). Meghan hopes that once the baby is born things will go back to normal, that they will be happy again.

But Meghan has secrets...and she's not the only one.

So many secrets.

Agatha finds out that Meghan is pregnant with baby number three and that they are both due around the same time. This gives her the push needed to strike up a conversation with Meghan. But Meghan doesn't know that this little conversation has solidified a friendship (in Agatha's mind). If Meghan only knew that a seemingly unimportant conversation with a woman stocking shelves at a grocery store will turn her life upside down in ways she never imagined.

If only Meghan hadn't gone to that store. If she'd done anything different that day. Maybe that would have changed everything.

This book got inside my head. So many twist and turns that literally had my mouth dropping open in surprise. I was so fully engrossed in the story that I didn't see the time passing. I had an early appointment the next morning and wanted to get to sleep early. But I couldn't stop reading!

We really have no idea what goes on in someone's life. How things that happened throughout their lives can affect everything. I was trying to put myself into the minds of these characters. All of the horrible things some had been through. Some parts were very difficult to read.

How do we know what someone's marriage or relationship is truly like. Just look at how happy everyone is on Facebook and other social media. So often we are just seeing just the parts they want us to see.

This was a gripping and powerful story full of thrills, twists, and mind games. And although occasionally things may have seemed a little implausible, I just went with it and enjoyed the story.

THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS is a clever and entertaining psychological suspense novel that I quickly devoured in just a few sittings.

I can honestly say this won't be my last read from Michael Robotham

Thank you NetGalley and Scribner Publishing for providing an advanced copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. This is one of those rare thrillers that actually lived up to its hype. Meg and Agatha are fascinating. I loved the use of their alternating voices as it allowed the tension to build. There are an incredible number of secrets and lies here (making it hard to review because of spoilers). Robotham spools them out slowly- I was not surprised by some but others were unexpected. It's a page turner for sure; perfect for travel or the beach (or the couch on a rainy day for that matter.). I really enjoyed this one and you will too if you like suspenseful tales where not everything is what it seems. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

Are you looking for that next hot, psychological thriller? If so, Michale Robotham's latest is a great choice. With shifting perspectives, the story is told by Meg, a well-to-do wife and mother, expecting her third child and by Agatha, an outlier who has been knocked around pretty hard in her earlier life. As the tale unwinds, we see that perhaps Meg is not so perfect, and that Agatha has a deep well of past tragedies, mental illness, and trauma that has shaped who she has become. While there were a couple plot holes that left some questions, it was some excellent character development, with no easy answers of who is right, wrong, or culpable. In the first twenty or so pages, I felt like this might be a rip-off of Girl on the Train, but nope, it definitely has its own voice and its own vibe. I read voraciously and finished it in twenty-four hours. Solid page-turner and thriller:)

" You can't always get what you want........" The Rolling Stones would absolutely agree.

Pregnancy brings with it tons of uncertainty, highs and lows, and the burden of knowing that you're not always in control. Not even the little details that you've planned and certainly not the big details that you've anguished over.

Just ask Meghan and Agatha. Both women are expecting........expecting exactly what? Days are filled with the tapping sound of the unknown and the soul-searching deep desire for perfection Elusive perfection........

But one day their paths cross as Meghan rushes into the grocery store where Agatha works. Oh, they have so much in common. Parallel universes in the making. Two women with expanding waist sizes and bulging shadows on sidewalks. And there seems to be excessive cravings going on here. Yes, you'll be sure to notice.

Meghan and her husband Jack have two children, Lucy and Lachlan. There's plenty of secrets hiding in the cabinets of this household. Neither Meghan nor Jack have been quite honest with one another. Their lives seem to give off a veneer like the furniture in every room. But that's all about to change.

Agatha carries the burden of unfulfilled relationships. She's trying to make a new life with her boyfriend, Hayden, who is a sailor in the Royal Navy. Somehow she keeps waiting for her ship to come in. And there's some monumental waves brewing on the horizon.

This was my first book by Michael Robotham. Robotham really knows how to churn up the anxiety and turn up the volume on the eerie factor full blast. Those of us who imbibe in mystery/thrillers and psychological thrillers may sniff out "the secret' from the onset. But what drives this story in a turbo blast is the constant risk taking by one of the characters. You know that the bottom is going to drop out eventually, but you don't exactly know when. The ending may falter a bit, but the ride is fast and furious. A perfect summer read. Gonna check out more Robotham reads for sure.

I received a copy of The Secrets She Keeps through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Schuster (Scribner Books) and to Michael Robotham for the opportunity.

I really enjoyed this book, even though some of it was predictable it still had me turning the pages. This is only the second book by him that I have read, the first being The Night Ferry (which I read only recently) and I thoroughly enjoyed that too.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley
This book was really good!! I immediately liked it because it was written in first person alternating points of view of the main characters Megan and Agatha by chapter. Initially everything seemed great for both of them for the most part, but the further into the book I read, the more twisted Agatha got and also more of Megan's life was exposed, the less than perfect part. I guessed as I read what was going to happen but there were a few twists that I did not expect which made the story more interesting. Megan turned out to be a surprisingly strong character in spite of her previous mistakes and handled the situation after he baby was taken with grace and dignity. She also treated Agatha (who clearly went off the deep end) with care and respect at the end which was really nice. I felt really bad for Agatha because she had been through such trauma as a teenager and it clearly affected her mental state more and more as she got older. The story was suspenseful and keep me interested to the very last page. Great book!!!

On the surface, Meghan has it all: a handsome, successful husband on television, two beautiful children and a third on the way. She attends prenatal yoga classes, and spends time writing a “mommy blog.”

Agatha doesn’t have it so easy. She’s divorced, seeking to keep her new man, Hayden (of the Royal Navy), in her life with an accidental pregnancy she uses as leverage with his family back home. She works in the grocery, lives in a drab home, and wants to be Meg.

The two women have spoken on occasion, and at one point become “friends,” chatting over their yet unborn children and going through baby clothes, a scene which later comes into play when the police wonder at people who might have inserted themselves into Meg’s life in the months leading up to her delivery.

Meg can’t possibly believe Agatha could have anything to do with her missing infant son.

Agatha has been convincing.

*Spoiler alert* I will try to keep to a minimum but cannot review without mentioning reasons I lowered my rating to four instead of five stars.

Overall The Secrets She Keeps is a page-turning read. I foresaw trouble between Meg and Agatha from the beginning, but that’s to be expected given the blurb. Agatha’s fake pregnancy is telegraphed, but so well-written and thorough that I really feared for Meg’s safety. There’s talk of Meg needing a cesarean birth due to prior delivery complications and I waited for Meg to be abducted and Agatha to be performing some do-it-yourself surgery, but this didn’t get that dark.

What did happen, though, reveals a heartbreaking backstory of a woman, Agatha, who feels her life is worthless without being able to have and raise children of her own. She’s suffered, and is unable or unwilling to see the pain she inflicts upon others in her quest for what she desires most.

Kudos to the author for so completely committing to this tragic character.

Meg, on the other hand, is someone with whom I’m less sympathetic. I almost agree with Agatha’s speculation that Meg isn’t grateful for what she has (then again neither is her husband). Both partners have been unfaithful, and it’s in calling into question Meg’s son’s paternity that I feel the author either went too far or not far enough.

Let me explain. Meg had a one night-stand with her husband’s best friend, a man she shares a past with (unbeknownst to her husband). When “Ben” (Meg’s infant) goes missing from the hospital, it seems a foregone conclusion that while Meg is berating her husband for his infidelity, she’ll have to admit her own. Simon (the possible father) is set up as someone demanding, a man who needs to know whether or not the boy is his, and who wants badly to be in his life if so. He seems the perfect suspect, really, but never once is any of this mentioned to the police, not even while Meg fears for her son’s life. The Simon-Meg connection seemed a lot of drama and potential tension for nothing because when it came down to it Simon was like, “Yeah, well, it’s okay. Congrats on the baby that may or may not be mine. Maybe I’ll turn in this DNA swab or maybe I’ll just try and get my girlfriend pregnant instead.”

What the what???

If something’s like this is written into a story it must have purpose other than surface tension. Simon professed love for Meg. Her husband was cheating with their realtor. How on Earth does this end up “happily ever after?”

Grr.

Also, I’m not a fan of appropriated material. In the author’s quest to write a compelling false pregnancy for Agatha he resorted to quite literally mimicking a scene from Gone Girl almost to a T. Agatha has a pregnant friend who she invites over and plies with drinks to make her pee in a broken toilet, for Agatha to then take the pee to her doctor to get a positive pregnancy test. Eh, sorry, that one’s been done before.

For that reason and for the whole thread about Simon, I’m downgrading my rating from five to four stars. Harsh, maybe, because this is certainly five-star prose, but I don’t feel the plot is perfect, and fives are rare from me. Overall, an excellent read. Riveting, and Agatha’s secrets are both shocking and heartbreaking. What drives a woman to steal another woman’s child? You’ll have to read to find out.

*Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this novel.

4.5 stars

The Secrets She Keeps is a fast-paced, highly entertaining, psychological thriller that I could not put down!

Two pregnant women, Meg and Agatha, are harboring deep secrets. On the outside, Meg seems to be living the perfect life: handsome husband, two beautiful children, and a lovely house in a posh neighborhood. But what goes on behind closed doors is far from perfect. On the other hand, struggling Agatha is on the outside looking in. Desperate for love, she would do anything to have a family like Meg’s.
Meg and Agatha are bound together by obsession. When one of their newborns is kidnapped, it’s a fight to the end.

This book is jammed packed with tension and plenty of crazy. Told through the alternating POV’s of Agatha and Meg, Agatha’s character is what pulled me in; I loved being inside her mind. I guessed the main premise in the beginning, but I didn’t know how things were going to play out. Although the plot is a bit like a Lifetime movie, it’s very well put together, there’s some depth to the characters, and it’s well written.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Robotham is definitely one of my favorite authors. When I saw that he had a new standalone novel coming out I jumped at the chance to read it. I always feel like I read his books too fast and this was no exception.

This book was advertised as being a suspenseful novel but while I definitely enjoyed it I can't see that there was actually much suspense in the book. That wasn't too much of a problem to me because I was still dying to know what happened to the characters.

I liked the pace of the plot before the baby was kidnapped. After the kidnapping it seemed too drag just a bit. I was satisfied with the events at the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

I wasn't sure who the "she" in THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS: Meg, the yummy mummy or Agatha, the very troubled woman unable to have children and who envies Meg's perfect life, and her apparently perfect family. Meg and Agatha alternate as narrators and the action moves to its dramatic, but predictable ending.

Absolutely loved this book. It grabs you and never lets go. You wake up in the middle of the night and reach for it instead of going back to sleep. Good discussion material for my students. I can't praise this author enough for what he wrote and hope others will pick it up only to see it can't be put down.. This one even tops the other great ones he has written. Thanks for a great read!

This is an outstanding psychological thriller that had me completely unable to stop reading until I had finished. To say it is compelling is an understatement. It is a novel narrated through the perspective of two women expecting babies around the same time from different ends of the social and economic spectrum. Meghan is having her third 'oops' child, is married to the well known, good looking sports commentator, Jack, and runs a popular mums blog detailing her everyday life and personal thoughts. She has had a privileged lifestyle, and despite elements of her marriage feeling stale and occasionally fraught, loves her husband. Agatha is expecting her first child, is involved with a younger man, Hayden, who is a sailor in the Navy. She works in a supermarket, sees and relates to Meghan shopping there regularly, and thinks that Meghan has the perfect marriage, husband, and children.

The two women become friends at Agatha's persistent instigation. They connect over their coming births, looking forward to the lives they have planned. Only Jack is supremely ambitious and is not so keen on having an unplanned baby. Agatha's background has been traumatic, challenging and there is a dark schism between her and her mother, rooted in the her dark history with her parents as committed Jehovah's Witnesses. Agatha is not above being manipulative when it comes to her relationship with Hayden in her efforts to ensure that it is as wonderful as it could be. However, Meghan and Agatha harbour lies and deeply buried secrets. Their lives collide on a path that places such deep strains on their lives that you wonder if they can survive.

This is a well plotted and twisted story with a narrative that is tense and gripping. I was particularly impressed with the complex and authentic characterisation of Meghan and Agatha, not to mention other characters such as Hayden and Dr Cyrus Haven. The storyline felt desperately realistic, and there are mentions of real life contemporary events that it echoes. The portrayal of the media really touches a nerve with its amoral drive for any angle for a exclusive story that it can get, without any thought to the people concerned and the lives they ruin. A terrific book that I highly recommend.