This was a great psychological thriller and one that once I started reading I could not stop.Great storyline and characters and I cannot wait to read more by this Author.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

This is my first novel by Chris Curran and I really enjoyed it. It's a good psychological thriller that keeps you on your toes following the twists and turns.

With chapters broken up into sections and the sections being told to us by 3 named characters. I found that it helped keep the book flowing and damn sure made me continue turning the pages. Not only is it written with multiple points of view there's also two different investigations keeping the police at their limit.

My heart breaks for the family struggling to cope after their 14 year old daughter doesn't come home from school. When one parent seems to deal with things better than the other the family liaison officer becomes suspicious that a secret is being hidden by one of them.

Read for an honest review, Thank you Ms Curran, Netgalley and HarperCollins Killer Reads

FAMILY BUILT ON LIES…

A dark and twisty psychological thriller, in which a young girl is abducted and her family is confronted with a horror from deep in their past. Perfect for fans of BA Paris and Sue Fortin.

This is a incredibly dark psychological thriller ! A young girl that has been kidnapped may be linked to a girl that was kidnapped fifteen years ago ! Her family is confronted by horror from their past ! Dark and grizzly secrets ! An intense and gritty plot that will send you on an eerie ride ! Great story !!! Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins , Kiler Reads for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review ! #Netgalley #HarperCollins , #KilerReads #HerDeadlySecret

I loved this! It is written well, and I literally could not work out what was going on, who was the 'baddie'!!
If you love a good thriller, read this!

A page-turner from start to finish... Highly recommended.

I'm definitely in the minority judging by other reviews...

This was my first experience of this author - I may look into her other books at some point.

This one wasn't for me I'm afraid but I can't give a reason why - I've given it a lot of thought but came up blank. I'm just glad it was short.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

After their teenage daughter Lily disappears without trace Joe and Hannah her traumatized parents are consumed with grief.But all is not what it seems behind the curtains of their suburban home.

Loretta,the family liaison officer,is sure that Hannah is hiding something - a dark and twisted secret from deep in her past.

Could this terrible memory be the key to the murder of another teenage girl fifteen years ago.As links between the two victims emerge,Joe and Hannah learn that in a family built on lies,the truth can destroy everything.

Great tale that kept me interested all the way through the story.

A character led psychological thriller that packs a real punch.

Joe and Hannah Marsden’s fourteen year old daughter has disappeared. Lily hasn’t returned from school and although at first the police were sure she’d turn up soon we first meet Joe as he returns from giving a press conference to appeal for her to get in touch. Hannah didn’t attend, doesn’t want Joe near her and anyway we all know that the police watch the behaviour of those who are part of the televised appeals.

Loretta is the Family Liaison Officer assigned to the Marsden family there to support them through the difficult time, but also to observe, and there is plenty of observations to make that’s for sure. Hannah is distraught, completely poleaxed by her grief whereas Joe secretly wants to escape the confines of the now claustrophobic house but he also wants to know what has happened to Lily.

Our final narrator is Rosie Weatherall, a mysterious addition to the storyline, she is watching the news story of Lily’s disappearance unfold with horrified interest as it reminds her of the disappearance of her elder sister Alice. Rosie’s father has recently been released from prison, convicted of killing Alice fifteen years previously. After struggling to accept that her adored father, a widely respected classical musician could have ever committed such a crime, her mother finally convinced her that it was the case, the evidence was squarely against him.

With secrets bursting to be set free, Her Deadly Secret makes for full-on compulsive reading ably assisted by our three brilliant narrators; Loretta, Joe and Rosie. All three are searching for the truth but that’s not easy when those in the know are masters of deception.

A good psychological thriller has characters you can believe in, even when they may behave in strange ways due to the abnormal circumstances they are plunged into. I absolutely believed, although of course my suspicions were on high alert for criminal behaviour, that these were genuine people. Books in this sub-genre should also follow the unwritten rules of crime writing that the outcome can’t come out of left-field. It is even better when there are some red-herrings to keep the reader wondering. I’m pleased to state that all these conditions were met, and more. Even the minor characters, such as Lily’s own secret boyfriend was believable all the more so because many of these held conflicted beliefs which is always one of the biggest problems for a writer to convey without losing credibility for their creations. But we all can believe one thing, whilst suspecting another from time to time, people generally struggle with two conflicting views are presented to them. This is illustrated through one character in the book, who reports another to the police, and then soon apologises to the suspect, realising that what she thinks she saw, could have in fact been viewed in an alternative way. There are many more such examples which for me only had me all the more wrapped up in the family’s nightmare. Added to that was the wonderful backdrop of Hastings, Loretta’s family life and a religious community called The Children of Light which all served to round this off as an immersive read.

I'd like to thank the author and publishers HaperCollins UK for providing me with a copy of Her Deadly Secret, this honest review is my belated thanks to them for the book and the brilliant reading experience which examines the ripples caused for years when a child is murdered. Back in July when Her Deadly Secret was published, the author kindly wrote a guest post for me on how she finds inspiration for her books which you can read here. If you like the sound of this book, it is currently at a bargain price in eBook format so I'd snap it up quickly while I will be adding the author's previous two books, Mindsight and Her Turn to Cry to my wishlist.

When a young girl goes missing near Swindon and is later discovered dead, life falls apart for her parents, Joe and Hannah. Hannah is barely able to speak about what's happened and grows distant from her husband. Family Liaison Officer Loretta Peterson offers support while at the same time looking for any indication that either parent was responsible.

Hannah is a former member of a cult - The Children of Light - who have a centre nearby, and it seems her daughter, Lily, was involved with a boy who was also attached to the cult. Hannah refuses to speak of her time there, or anything else. and Loretta realises there are secrets to be uncovered.

Loretta has her own problems at home. She is separated from her husband and her son is getting into trouble at school. Also, as a black Liaison Officer, she fights a certain amount of prejudice amongst some of her colleagues.

Meanwhile, on the south coast, Rosie watches the case unfold. Memories are triggered as she recalls events of 15 years ago when her father was convicted of murdering her sister. Now released from prison, her father makes attempts at reconciliation but Rosie does not believe his protestations of innocence. Rosie's mother, who has now returned to her former husband, claims they have evidence to show that he did not commit the crime. Rosie's husband, Oliver, is keen for them to go and live in France with their young daughter to get away from the influence of Rosie's parents.

This is a gripping novel with all the elements of the thriller plus well rounded characters and believable family backgrounds. Although the reader suspects various people of being the killers - both in the current case and in the historical one - the final revelations come as a shock. Excellent writing and characterisation, plus an edge of the seat denouement.

I thought this was an excellent read and kept me hooked. Joe and Hannah are married and have daughter Lily to complete their happy family. Then Lily disappears what follows is the disintegration of what seemed to be the perfect family. Loretta is the family liaison officer who is trying to keep Joe and Hannah.
Rosie watches the case on the local news and is trying to rebuild her family. What happens when these two families collide and whose relationships will survive?

Sorry,this was a DNF for me.I rarely stop reading books halfway through but just felt this wasn't going anywhere and found the writing boring.I love thrillers so would normally love this sort of book,but it just didn't interest me at all.

My Rating ~ 3.5*

Just published by Killer Reads (a Harper Collins imprint), Her Deadly Secret is described as ‘a dark and twisty psychological thriller, in which a young girl is abducted and her family is confronted with a horror from deep in their past'.

This was most certainly a book that kept me guessing!!!!!

Joe Marsden arrives home in a police car after making a public appeal for his teenage daughter, Lily, who never returned home from school. Joe and his wife Hannah are worried that something very bad may have happened. Then they receive the most horrific news, the news that is every parent’s worst nightmare, Lily’s body has been found.

Immediately the police step up the investigation with a full team in place, including a Family Liaison Officer, Loretta. Hannah goes into complete meltdown and neither Joe nor Loretta seem to able to get any coherent information out of her.

In the meantime, another family is going through there own difficulties. Bernard and Marion Pritchard are trying to get their lives back together after a tragedy that took the life of their teenage daughter Alice fifteen years previously. Bernard was convicted of her murder and has only just been released from prison. Their other daughter Rosie, on seeing the death of Lily Marsden on the news, finds herself reliving the past. She can completely empathise with all that Joe and Hannah are experiencing. Now happily married to Oliver and with her gorgeous little girl Fay to keep her busy, Rosie is determined to move on with her life.

But the past has a way of rearing it’s ugly head and soon the waters get very murky indeed…

As the investigation team digs deeper, they start to notice some very strange overlap between the two cases. Historically the Pritchard case is closed. A man was convicted, he did his time. There is no obvious connection between both families, yet….??

It is up to Loretta and her colleagues to further scrutinize the facts and what they begin to find is a very, very tangled web of lies, deceit and horror.

Loretta is an extremely warm character. Now separated from her husband Will & with two teenage kids, Pearl and Dex, Loretta is feeling under pressure constantly. At work she is required to work very long hours if she wishes to prove herself in her new role as an F.L.O., yet she seems to be on the receiving end of some very nasty comments and sneers from some of her work colleagues. Her home life is in disarray, as her son is having issues in school and her ex is not one bit impressed with her choice of careers.

Loretta is a fighter and through persistence and pure determination she begins to uncover information that assists her in piecing the facts of this very complex case together.

Rosie is happy at home with Fay, working as a temporary teacher when required. Her life is simple, was simple….until her father is released from jail. Her happiness is her family unit and now this unit is under pressure. Cracks start to appear as Rosie has to face up to meeting her father again and old wounds are ripped open.

Joe, poor Joe, his wife Hannah is turning in on herself and Joe is convinced she is hiding something. Does Hannah know something of Lily’s death? What secrets is she hiding?

Her Deadly Secret is a story very much focused on the individual characters involved. The book is divided into chapters lead by Joe, Rosie and Loretta. As a reader we are taken into their homes. We get to witness each moment ‘live’ as new information is discovered.

Her Deadly Secret is a novel that had me rushing to cross the finish line. Every time I thought I had it solved, I was wrong….

Not the ending I was expecting!!!

I really enjoyed this book , the story is told from three perspectives , Joe a father who's daughter is missing , from Rosie who's father has just been released from prison after admitting to killing his daughter and the third is Loretta the family liaison officer assigned to Joe and his wife Hannah after there daughter is missing , The story keeps you gripped as the crime of Lily's murder is compared to Rosie's sister some years ago , you realise quite early that all is not as it seems and that Rosie's dad was in prison even though it's highly likely he is Innocent , with a shady religious cult and with Lily looking for her biological father you are wondering what connects it all . Really satisfying read and I will look forward to the next ...

Now the idea of a child going missing has to be one of any parent’s greatest fears. This is a fear that Joe and Hannah Marsden are forced to face when their fourteen year old daughter Lily fails to return home after school. And in that moment their lives are changed forever, in ways that they could never begin to imagine. Could their daughter have been caught up with the local cult, The Children of Light, or is there something far more sinister behind her disappearance?

Watching their horror unfurl on a TV screen, Rosie Weatherall knows all too well the pain of losing a loved one. Her older sister Alice was murdered when Rosie was just a teenager, and the pain of knowing just who had killed her had changed the course of her whole life. Rosie now has her own young daughter and is both fascinated and horrified by what she sees on the TV, little knowing how close to home the story truly is.

Her Deadly Secret is an absolutely fascinating and often heart wrenching look into the lives of two very different families who have suffered the same immeasurable loss some fifteen years apart. From the very beginning you can feel the anguish of Joe Marsden, the sense of foreboding as the bare facts of Lily’s disappearance begin to emerge. There is a kind of stillness in his actions, a emptiness brought about by loss that comes across in every word and makes you truly feel for him and all he is going through. In spite of him being the main suspect in Lily’s disappearance, there is something so honest in his bewilderment and his pain that you cannot help but empathise with him. As for his wife, she is evasive and withdrawn, both natural reactions from any mother faced with the loss of a child. Chris Curran captures their despair perfectly. And yet there is always an overwhelming sense of there being more behind their sorrow.

As for Rosie Weatherall, it is hard at first to know just how she fits in to this story. Her life was ruined many years before when someone very close to her was accused and convicted of her sister’s murder. She has spent many years angry and confused and when that person reappears in her life, it only serves to cause her more pain. She is someone you can kind of respect, having worked hard to make the best of a very traumatic life. I liked her character a lot, and understood her need to look further into her sister’s past when faced with the new evidence her mother shows her.

As the title suggests, there is a secret which has devastated all of their lives. But as to whose secret it is… That is a mystery which remains hidden for quite some time. There are links between the families and while there were enough clues left and hints dropped to make some of the revelations not entirely surprising, there were also so many lies and secrets and constant misdirection that it meant that the truth remained successfully hidden until the end. I thought at one point I had it all worked out, but then something would happen to flip my conviction right around and I was sure it was something else entirely.

This is not a high action novel. The brutality of the story happens early on and the rest is a slow revelation of the facts surrounding the case. Don’t let that statement fool you. That doesn’t mean that this isn’t full of tension because it is. And your attention will move back and forth between ‘suspects’ so regularly and surely that you’ll run the risk of getting whiplash. There is a growing sense of unease from page one, the feeling that although you may trust the central characters, the truth is that is could be anyone of the them who is guilty of murder. And the closing scenes will take you right to the edge of your seat as the slow realisation of what you are watching unfurl hits home.

Chris Curran has done a brilliant job of creating the characters in this novel, capturing the varied emotions perfectly. From the grieving parents Joe and Hannah, to the angry and confused Rosie and the overworked and stretched to the limit Family Liaison Officer, Loretta, there wasn’t a single person I didn’t believe in. And as for setting, the author created such a clear picture of Bexhill and Hastings, even of small estate that Joe lived on and the commune of The Children of the Light, that I truly felt I was there. I could taste the sea air and feel the oppression of the four walls in which Hannah and Joe waited for news of their daughter. Every element felt real and helped to draw me into the story. And draw me in it did. I started and finished in one evening, determined to know what had really happened to Lily and even to Alice all those years before.

A truly engrossing and compelling tale of lies and loss. Loved it.

Her Deadly Secret is a twisty psychological thriller that gained pace halfway through.

The story focuses on the disappearance of a teenage girl and the impact it has on her family, liaison police officer and sister of a girl who was murdered 15 years earlier. The first half of the book is a slow-burning build up, establishing the background of the characters, main plot and setting, and I did wonder at first if it was going to be a book for me.

However, I'm very happy that I persevered. The second half of the book is written at a much faster pace, filled with revelations, twists and turns. These two families are tied together by circumstances, lies and secrets. Alternating narratives by the different characters gradually revealed that everything in the first half that seemed so straightforward wasn't straightforward at all.

I couldn’t help myself and I HAD to read and review Her Deadly Secret. We are first introduced to Joe, father of missing school girl, Lily and husband of Hannah. The news doesn’t appear to be good and the sorrow you feel for this one character is immense. But this is only the very tip of the iceberg in what proves to be a multi threaded and intricate tale of secrets and lies.

The story is divided into three POVs. You have Joe, father of missing daughter Lily. Loretta, who is the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) for Joe and his wife, Hannah. And finally, Rosie, whose sister Alice was murdered when she and Rosie were just children. I loved Curran’s multi point narration but couldn’t for the life of me work out how Rosie fitted into the plot. It’s only as you progress through the book do you discover exactly how detailed and intricate a tale the author is telling. I confess, I did get a little muddled by the number of characters but once I’d written them all down, I was well away and had no further problems. More to do with me and my ageing memory than anything else I think!

In a story about terrible things happening to normal people, I couldn’t understand why there was so much emphasis on the FLO, Loretta and her own fractured home life. It WAS interesting and I enjoyed reading about her but it did feel a little like ‘filler’ in some scenes. I understand that she was there as part of an ongoing investigation but she did feel a little superfluous at times (as the characters tend to make the big case breaking discoveries more than those that are employed to do it). She’s a great character but at times I wanted her to step away from the limelight so I could focus more on Joe, Hannah, Rosie and her parents.

Would I recommend this book? I certainly would. It’s a tense tale about family secrets and not really knowing those we claim to love. Great twists, one of which I didn’t see coming and it blew my socks off! I would pick up another book written by Chris Curran in a heartbeat.

Four out of five stars.

I chose to read and review an eARC of Her Deadly Secret. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.