"Everyone has an idea of what their perfect life is. For Agatha, it's Meghan Shaughnessy's.
These two women from vastly different backgrounds have one thing in common - a dangerous secret that could destroy everything they hold dear.
Both will risk everything to hide the truth, but their worlds are about to collide in a shocking act that cannot be undone."

This was a great psychological family drama thriller all rolled into one. I loved getting to know the characters and felt it had a nice slow burn to the story, but kept pace right the way through to a dramatic conclusion of an ending.

My first from this Author but will not be my last.

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

Oh my word what have I just read ! Yes I’ve read an absolutely amazing psychological thriller that was full of suspense and intrigue . This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will certainly be reading more . I loved everything about this book from the first page . Brilliant .

Agatha works at a supermarket and her boyfriend is away in the Navy. She is estranged from her mother with seemingly no support.

Agatha has always dreamed of having a loving husband, a beautiful home and children to fill it. At her job in the local supermarket Agatha watches Meghan go about her daily life; picking the children up from school, going to the hairdressers and having coffee with friends. Her dream life is exactly what Meghan has. Does Meghan appreciate everything she has, everything that Agatha has dreamed of?

Agatha tries to emulate Meghan’s life, going to the same hairdresser, reading Meghan’s mummy blog and joining her yoga class. When she realises Meghan is pregnant she is happy that they now have something in common and a friendship soon strikes up during Meghan’s visits to the supermarket.

Written in the alternating voices of Meghan and Agatha giving the reader a real look inside their lives and minds and it soon becomes apparent that both women have secrets lying just under the surface.

My only problem with the story was that the beginning was very slow and the plot predictable. However I still enjoyed the story and couldn’t put the book down. It was an easy read, more chick lit than suspense thriller. The characters of Agatha and Meghan were well drawn and the storyline realistic.

In the last quarter of the book the plot heats up and the adrenaline starts to flow, turning The Secrets She Keeps into the psychological thriller I was expecting.
My rating 7/10

The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham is my first book by this author but definitely NOT my last. Absolutely LOVED this.

Excellent thriller. I believe this is the first book that i have read by this author and based upon this book, i shall be looking out for more.

I agree with the premise of the book, other people's lives always seem better than your own. They have everything you've ever wanted. Until you look closer.
This was a very entertaining and thrilling read - I guessed early on what Agatha's plan was, but I wanted to see where it went. Well written and recommended!

Really enjoyed this crime thriller. Great cast of characters and a gripping and entertaining plot with enough twists and surprises to keep this reader guessing. I Couldn't put it down.

Overall I enjoyed this book, but it was a litte predictable at times. The book covers two seperate womens lives, one seems to have the perfect life and the other one not so great.

A definite 4 star book and I would definitely read more books from this author.

It was ok.

Meg and Aggie are practically neighbours. Aggie knows everything there is to know about Meg, but Meg doesn’t even know who Aggie is...

When Aggie turns up at Meg’s antenatal yoga class, Meg is delighted to make a new friend. Someone who is likeable and funny and carefree.

Someone very unlike the stuck up yummy mummy’s that she usually hangs around with.

When Meg has her baby son Ben, Aggie is thrilled for her friend. After all her own son Rory was born only days before.

But then Ben goes missing from the hospital a d Meg is forced to question every single person in her life, new or old.

She knows that whoever took Ben probably won’t harm him as they would have been so desperate for a child of their own, but when any woman is faced with a truly desperate choice who is to say how they will react.

Is Ben in danger, or in a pair of very safe hands no matter how strange that might seem?

The secrets she keeps is a very clever novel, and it will keep you guessing. Another cracker of a novel from Michael Robotham.

This is a brilliant 5 star book. There's a fantastic storyline which keeps you guessing right to the end. The book would make a great film. It's about two pregnant women who meet and become friends. Agatha is a lonely, low paid supermarket worker with a small flat and an absentee boyfriend. She envies Meghan, her new friend, who is popular, happily married, has a successful husband, a large home and two lovely children. But is everything in the women's lives as straightforward as it seems? Read on!

This is one of those psychological thrillers that is designed to keep you on your toes with the story of two pregnant women.

Agatha is working in the local supermarket when she spies one of the customers Meghan meeting with the other local mothers, ones like her who go to yoga and meet for coffee. Meghan is also pregnant and it looks like their due dates are similar.

Agatha wants Meghan’s life and she soon engineers a situation so that they can bond over their upcoming new arrivals, but Meghan’s life isn’t quite what Agatha perceives it to be… and maybe Agatha is becoming a little too obsessed for both of their sakes.

The novel employs the dual-narrative device with great success giving the reader the ability to see behind the doors of both women’s lives and raising the tension to sometimes unbearable levels which meant this reader spent nearly the whole duration of the book on the edge of her seat.

With the two women coming from entirely different backgrounds and approaching their lives in very different ways it is hard to see how a friendship would ever be possible, but that doesn’t take into account Agatha’s devious nature, when she wants something, she will go for it. The fact that Meghan has become adept at presenting a mask to the world results in some preconceptions that those around her are only too willing to accept as the truth. The success of this book is that more than one character has a secret but which one will cause the most devastating results?

Michael Robotham has shown his skill at creating characters we should dislike but given them enough humanity that the result was I felt a measure of compassion for them. This takes this psychological thriller away from the realms of the deeply unpalatable character doing crazy things and the reader’s thrill is in seeing how bad things can get; In The Secrets She Keeps, even when it was obvious that the story wasn’t heading to a good place, I almost wanted it all to turn out all right, for everyone. This is in part to the flaws in the secondary characters too, no one in this book is saintly but nor are they outright sinners, which gives depth to what is undoubtedly a compulsive read.

This book could also be read as a modern fable so strong is the deadly sin of envy running through each and every page. Agatha thinks that because Meghan has a handsome husband, a beautiful child, a big house and can shop without worrying about what she spends that her life is more successful than hers where she resents taking her shop overall home to wash, preferring to hide it in the storeroom away from the eyes of the disagreeable owner. By being privy to Meghan’s thoughts we know that Agatha’s assessment of her life isn’t quite true and in the end Meghan realises exactly what matters most to her.

I was grateful to receive a review copy of The Secrets She Keeps from the publishers Sphere via NetGalley and this unbiased review is my thanks to them and the author for a fabulous read.

Wow, wow, wow, what can I say? 'The Secrets She Keeps' is Michael Robotham at his very best. A gripping psychological thriller that will keep you on your toes from beginning to end. With twists and turns aplenty, it takes you on a thrilling rollercoaster of a ride with many shocks along the way. An outstanding 5 stars.

This book hooked me from the very beginning... I hated putting it down!!
Loved it!!!

The Secrets She Keeps is a well paced character driven suspense thriller that is skillfully written that drew me into the secrets and lies kept by two very different women Meghan and Agatha. I really enjoyed delving deep into their minds especially Agatha and I really enjoyed both their stories.

The Secrets She Keeps started out a bit slow for me at first and then picked up speed till I became engrossed in the lives and minds of Meghan and Agatha and I could feel their desperation to keep their secrets and lies. At times it felt like I was watching a car wreck and I knew what was going to happen but still hoping for a different outcome.

Michael Robotham does a fantastic job creating rich, interesting and compelling characters and slowly, skillfully revealing the secrets and lies Meghan and Agatha keep. He did a great job shocking me with their webs of deceit and delusions yet still leaving me feeling a little compassion for their situations.

I did make the mistake of looking and trying to figure out some big twists that never came for me and the end did leave me wanting a bit more but after discussing this one with my sisters I ended up feeling very satisfied with the ending. I highly recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group/Sphere and Michael Robotham for a copy to read and review.

4.5 stars! There are no secrets here - I absolutely loved how this story was told and what a perfectly fitting title!

THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS by MICHAEL ROBOTHAM is a gripping fast-paced suspenseful character-driven psychological thriller that had me totally engaged, entertained, and interested throughout this whole book.  This book was extremely hard to put down.  

MICHAEL ROBOTHAM delivers an engrossing and angst-ridden read here with absolutely wonderful character development and an extremely enthralling storyline. The story is told in alternating chapters from our two main characters points of view, Agatha & Meghan.  I equally enjoyed both of their stories and uncovering their secrets.

MICHAEL ROBOTHAM doesn’t share all of Meg's & Agatha's deepest secrets to us all at once, we get a character study into the true nature of these women as their secrets and motivations are revealed to us layer by layer.  This is what actually really stood out for me while I was reading this shocking story.

Although, I wouldn’t say that this novel was all that suspenseful for me it was the pacing, the writing, and the characters that I found so compelling.  Some aspects to this story might have been a little unrealistic but all in all I don’t think it really mattered too much and I was able to just accept it for the wonderful story that it was.

To sum it all up it was an interesting, unforgettable, and an enjoyable read with a satisfying ending. Would highly recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group/Sphere and Michael Robotham for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Review can be found on my Sister Blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereading.wordpress.com

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I was so so excited to be selected to read a book from one of my favourite authors. Whoa . . . now this is how a thriller is done! Absolutely brilliant

I was certainly gripped by this psychological thriller and found it a real page-turner. With all its twists and turns it kept me guessing to the end, and the tension is well maintained throughout. The storyline, whilst at heart perhaps not original, is engaging enough to keep the reader’s interest and the characterisation is relatively believable most of the time. It’s an often insightful and nuanced exploration of the lives and feelings of two women, Meghan and Agatha. Meghan seems to have it all – a happy family, plenty of money, a handsome husband, a nice house. Agatha, on the other hand, doesn’t have much at all. And she wants what Meghan has. So far so predictable. Told in alternating chapters from the point of view of the two women, the slow reveal works well. However, on the whole the plot is really is quite implausible and even whilst I was enjoying the story I found myself huffing and puffing a bit at the sheer improbability of it all. Nevertheless, it’s a good compelling reading experience – you just have to suspend your disbelief for a few hours.

Two woman with very different backgrounds who's lives entwine, both characters pull at your heart strings you hope they can both have what they so desperately long for but you know that only one can win in the end. Both woman are characters you warm to even through the bad bits you want them both to get their dream. I like the way it is written from the perspective of both mothers, I liked both women feeling sorry for each in turn and wondered how it was going to end..............it couldn't end well for both of them. I enjoyed reading this and would recommend this book.