Derek and Marin are living with every parents’ nightmare. While shopping, their son Sebastian slips out of Marin’s grasp and is abducted. In their quest to get their son back, they both become victims and perpetrators of lies and deceit. No one is truly as they seem as the reader is kept guessing until the very end.

3.5 stars

Marin Machado is Christmas shopping with her 4-year-old son Sebastian at Seattle's 'Pike Place Market' when the unthinkable happens. Distracted by a phone call, Marin releases Sebastian's hand for a moment, and when she looks around the boy is gone. A hunt for the child is fruitless, and security footage shows that a figure in a Santa Claus costume led Sebastian away.

The police search for Sebastian is thorough and extensive since Marin and her husband Derek are high profile citizens. Marin is the owner of a beauty salon that caters to celebrities and Derek is a wealthy business mogul. Sebastian isn't found, and Marin - who's both inconsolable and guilt-ridden - attempts suicide.

After a brief stint in a psychiatric hospital Marin joins a support group for parents of missing children and - encouraged by her sympathetic salon manager - returns to work.

After eighteen months Marin and Derek, though still living together, have grown apart - and Marin thinks Derek blames her for the tragedy. Marin is barely holding herself together, but her support group acquaintances and her best friend Sal - who was her college boyfriend years ago - help her go on.

When the police stop actively looking for Sebastian, Marin can't stand the idea that the search has ended. So, unbeknownst to Derek, Marin hires private investigator Vanessa Castro to continue the hunt. Part of Castro's strategy is to look into all of Marin and Derek's friends, acquaintances, and employees. Thus, Castro happens to learn that Derek is having an affair with a pretty, pink-haired art student/barista called McKenzie Li. The PI immediately tells Marin....and shows her pictures.

Marin is furious, and - thinking she's lost her child - determines that she can't lose her husband too. Encouraged by her longtime friend Sal, who's always been a reckless irresponsible guy, Marin does something drastic - and it has unexpected repercussions.

The book alternates between the perspectives of Marin and McKenzie, and we get a close look at the behavior of both women. Marin is a sympathetic character - a distraught woman out of her mind with grief, while McKenzie is a piece of work I'd like to send to Jupiter.

There are some surprises in the story, one of which I found completely unbelievable. That said, this is a well-written suspenseful story, well worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Jennifer Hillier) and the publisher (Minotaur Books) for a copy of the book.

I eagerly awaited this book by the author of Jar of Hearts. It definitely did not disappoint. A fast paced read that will have you caught up in the story until the final page. I give it a solid 5 stars.

Wow, Little Secrets is the best book I have read in a long time! Jennifer Hillier blew me away with this one and has left me with chills.

Marin's perfect life falls apart when her son is kidnapped at a busy market. She hires a private detective to look into her son's disappearance after the FBI does not find any leads. She learns that her husband is having an affair, and his girlfriend may have been involved in her son's kidnapping. Marin is desperate to find her son and will do whatever it takes to find him.

Hillier's writing is cleverly crafted, full of suspense and down right perfect! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read.

I loved this book. So many twists and turns. It kept me hooked til the end. I could not put it down.

AMAZING. I couldn't put this book down! Everyone here has a complicated story to tell, everyone's actions are both terrible and understandable in the same breath. Lots of twists and an ending that fulfills everything it promised.

Wonder filler thriller by Jennifer Hillier. When her young sun goes missing as Pike Place Market, the families life is turned upside down. I had an inkling on who it was, but I don't want to give away any spoilers. Great book and I highly recommend.

Thank you to @Netgalley and @StMartinsPress for the advanced copy.

This is a must read for thriller lovers! I dont like to go too deep into describing a plot when talking about thrillers but I will say that this book drew me in from page 1 and left me stunned. A child goes missing, a marriage is on the rocks, we see the different relationships and friendships and the effect that this has on them all. Our protagonist is in a state of shock and has become morally grey which also adds a lot to the story. Please note that this does have a trigger warning for violence and suicide.

Jennifer Hilliar’s writing scares me. Her stories are so real, the characters could easily be someone I know, or the situations could easily happen to me or a loved one.

Little Secrets deals with what is quite literally my (and probably every other parents) worst nightmare. Child abduction.
This book was phenomenal. Twisty, addictive and terrifying. The entire time I was reading it my stomach was churning with nervousness and full of dread, yet I just had to keep reading. I loved that we got perspectives from both Marin and Mackenzie. Their characters were so incredibly different, and neither were necessarily likable but they were so layered and equally interesting.

One of my favorite things about Hilliar’s writing is her reveals. You truly can’t figure out the twist until Hillier is ready for you to know it. You spend the entire book guessing, thinking you have it figured out, only to be blindsided by the twist. I was definitely blindsided by this one!!
If you love a good twisty thriller full of secrets, that keeps you guessing this is the book for you!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read and give my honest review of this incredible book!

I loved this book and could not put it down. So many twist and turns and a surprising ending. I highly recommend this book

As the years stack up after the release of Gone Girl, it can feel like every twisty-psychological-thrillery book is all the same, with the same tired tropes and plot devices. (Don't get me wrong, it's still my favorite genre!) This novel enlivens the genre with a protagonist who is not entirely sympathetic and complicated, and a unique plot. As a veteran of this genre, I didn't see this ending coming.

Well, this was a blast of a book.

It gets quite devious and what happens with our characters will definitely surprise you.

This is extremely suspenseful and, while you won’t like some of what our characters do with their lives, most of them are ultimately relatable. Kind of: you may hate what they do, but you don’t hate them.

This is the kind of popcorn read that you simply won’t want to put down until the very end…and then you’ll be disappointed that it’s over!

A truly fun read.

• ARC Provided via Net Galley

This was a good story about a woman who was still nearly paralyzed by grief a year and a half after her son was kidnapped while they were shopping. When the private investigator she hired to help find her son instead discovers that her husband of 20 years was having an affair with a 24 yr old student, she rashly decided to have the girlfriend killed.

The plot was good, but the writing dragged a little. Overall this was not as compelling of a read as it could have been, but was still an enjoyable and fast read.

Abduction. Affairs. Deception. Betrayal. Little Secrets has it all, and the title is definitely an understatement. Marin has the seemingly perfect life until her son Sebastian is kidnapped while out shopping at Pikes Place Market. This leads to an unraveling to all Marin knows and a testing to all Marin believes to me true. Hillier knows how to craft an engaging novel, and this one is a must read!

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. All thoughts are my own.

4.25-4.5 STARS

With her latest novel, “Little Secrets,” author Jennifer Hillier delivers a multi-layered story spun from an intricate web of lies, secrets and betrayal. Right from the get-go, this story’s compelling premise pulled me in and held me captive right up until the very end.

The main characters—Marin & Derek--are understandably flawed, as they struggle to navigate each day following the tragic disappearance of their 4 year old son. Together, yet alone, grief weighs heavy on them both, causing their once happy marriage to now reside on rocky ground.

Through a series of twists and turns, the mystery turns from intriguing to riveting, as the truth slowly unfolds, leading up to a shocking reveal. It’s a roller-coaster ride of emotions, to be sure. If it weren’t for a certain secondary character that I found annoying and immediately took a dislike to, this book would garner a perfect 5 star rating, rather than falling just a tad bit short.

Marin’s worst nightmare comes true when she is in a crowded shopping area and lets go of her four year old son’s hand for a second and he is kidnapped. Marin and her husband Derek frantically do all they can to find him but after a year the trail goes cold. Marin doesn’t give up hope and hires a private investigator to find her son. The PI discovers that her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. Marin doesn’t want to lose her husband, so she does the unthinkable. As she begins to scheme, something comes to the surface. Perhaps this other woman knows what happened to her son. How do all these pieces fit together? Will Marin find her son alive?

I really enjoyed this story overall. It’s about love, heartache and betrayal. I really enjoyed the story and thought it was pretty well developed. While there are plenty of kidnapping mystery thrillers out there I feel like Jennifer Hillier took this in a direction that hasn’t been done before. The book does switch between points of view but the characters are developed well enough that it is easy to follow. The characters are also easy to love or hate which speaks again to the development of these characters. I think the author did a great job of keeping the reader engaged. I thought I had the end figured out but I was wrong. Having a four year old myself certainly pulled on my heartstrings. I can not begin to imagine what I would do in Marin’s place. Definitely add this one to your list. It comes out on April 21, 2020.

Marin and Derek are the perfect couple. Finally able to have a child, Sebastian, who they lovingly call Bash, they seem to have to perfect life. Marin and Derek are both type A personalities, Derek, a successful businessman and Marin, owner of a salon that caters to the rich and famous. One day, Marin and Bash are busily rushing through crowded stores at the mall, and, Marin drops her young son's hand for a second to text her husband back. The next thing she knows, Bash is not there. This is a story about the unraveling of a mother whose fault it is that her son is gone....

Wow! This book took me for a ride. I'm a first-time reader of this author so I didn't quite know what to expect, but wow, she didn't disappoint.
The book starts with the abduction of the main character, Marin, going to the Pike Place Market in Seattle and after just a moment's inattention her son has disappeared without a trace, apparently following a person in a Santa Claus outfit out of the market.
From that point onward, the story unfolds in countless surprising ways and I repeatedly had myself wondering what was around the next corner. The story had so many fascinating twists and turns, all not illogical, but several gave me a sense of whiplash because my beliefs were torn away from under me, in a way, the book reminded me of those by another favorite author of mine, Harlan Coben.
This is a great book and I will be recommending it to anybody who will bother to listen to me and most certainly, the author's other books will be added to my to-read list.
Highly recommended!

All the stars for this book! Jennifer Hillier is amazing. I’ll read anything she writes at this point, and I’ve loved all her books, but Little Secrets was by far my favorite.

Marin and Derek have everything. A perfect marriage, tons of money, two incredible careers, and sweet little 4 year old son, Sebastian. He is kidnapped one day in broad daylight and everything goes to shit for them. 16 months later, Sebastian is still missing with no leads. Marin, who is not doing well at all, finds out Derek is having an affair and she starts surveilling him, leading to a whole lot of explosive secrets coming out.

Reading the synopsis, you may think it’s been done before, and it has. But there is so much more than meets the eye to this story. This is what all thrillers should be. Truly shocking, propulsive, and unputdownable. I hated all the characters and yet I couldn’t stop reading. A fantastic book.

“It’s confusing how love and hate can exist at the same time,” is an understatement. Hillier notes that this was the most difficult book she’s ever written, and believe me, some parts are hard to read. A parent’s worst nightmare has to be a missing child, and Hillier played that and it’s consequences up brilliantly. The multitude of little secrets that stacked up to common denominators in this story were masterfully done and left my jaw dropped a time or two. A fabulously suspenseful plot rounded with human characters with flaws, hopes and dreams like yours and mine, this one will stay with you for awhile.