This is a lighthearted mystery with an unusual quirky character. Linda Davidson has lost her best friend Carol to Alzheimer’s and has been moved to a memory care facility. She has also lost her husband and one of her daughters is living with her along with husband. While visiting at the facility she befriends a ninety two year old resident who claims to have killed people. With her foul mouth and slipping in and out of reality, Linda doesn’t know what to believe. Jenny becomes her unlikely confidant and they share their secrets with one another. The book drags a little but makes up for it with her very entertaining characters. Well worth the read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine books for an honest review. All opinions expressed are truly my own.
#JennyCooperHasASecret #JoyFielding #NetGalley

Linda Davidson is in her 70’s. She is a widower living with her daughter and son in law who have moved in with her. She goes to a nursing facility to see her oldest find Carol who has significant memory loss. She leets a resident in her 90’s that claims that she murdered her father and others. Linda doesn’t know what to make of her - is she feeling the truth? She continues to visit and spends more time with Jenny and an interesting friendship ensues. Linda’s daughter has challenges with her husband and Linda does some dating. This is a fun story that plays out in a fun way and in the ends everything turns out as it should.

Linda Davidson is adjusting to her new life as a widower and her BFF Carol’s dementia. She visits Carol often at the Legacy where she meets Jenny Cooper. Jenny Cooper is a 92 year old, loud and obnoxious, lady with a secret that she kills people. Linda is intrigued and begins visiting Jenny, learning more about the people she’s killed and how. Linda also offered her daughter and husband to live in her house. It’s slow paced with a predictable ending. Thank you to the publisher for a copy.

When Linda’s best friend gets Alzheimer’s and moves into a memory care center, Linda tries to visit her as often as possible, but it’s quite difficult given that her friend forgot who she is. While visiting one day, Linda meets another resident, Jenny Cooper, who informs Linda that she has a secret - she kills people. Linda befriends Jenny and tries to decipher whether or not she’s being truthful.

I don’t think I’d call this a thriller, it’s more of a cozy mystery. It’s awfully slow, though it is entertaining. I guess I was hoping for a little more action. Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy.

Jenny Cooper Has a Secret
By: Joy Fielding
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Pub date: August 26, 2025

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An entertaining novel. Linda Davidson has lost her husband and her friend is suffering from dementia. Her daughter and son in law move into her home.

Tensions between the couple have Linda looking for an escape. She meets up with Jenny at Legacy Place where she is in the memory care unit. Jenny starts telling Linda that she has killed people, but how can Jenny believe this?

This novel deals with dementia, family drama, abuse and death but
also has humor. Life is so unpredictable and I found this novel a breath of fresh air even with the difficult subjects.

Poor Linda, when it rains it pours for her. Driven out of her house by her adult daughter and her estranged husband. she spends time a care facility and strikes up a friendship with a patient, Jenny. Jenny has an incredible story to tell but she has dementia and Linda isn't sure she can trust what the woman is saying. Still, her interest builds and soon her entire life is affected and falling apart. A fun thriller to read that quick and easy.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔? 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒖𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.

It's the year of the octogenarian! I am loving these elderly female MCs who teach us a thing or two about life. I was hesitant to read this title at first, fearful that dementia would be used as a cheap miscommunication trope. From the first few pages, I was invested, and it was hard to put this one down.

Linda Davidson is 76 years old, and she's still mourning the loss of her longtime husband and struggling to accept her best friend Carol's dementia diagnosis. Her daughter, who is pursuing her doctorate, and her son-in-law, who is getting a business off the ground, have temporarily moved in with her. But their constant fighting has Linda fleeing the sanctity of her home to spend more and more time at Legacy Place, the memory care facility that Carol now calls home. During a routine visit, she meets Jenny Cooper, a spry old woman who brags that she has a secret. And the secret is that she kills people--mostly men who have hurt her. And soon after, when a male resident dies, everyone writes it off as a natural death, but Linda can't help but wonder.

As Linda's personal life unravels with astonishing speed, she finds herself drawn to Jenny and her crazy stories that always have a ring of truth to them. Can she possibly be telling the truth? And if so, why is Linda so interested?

As much as I loved this book, I think it's a mistake to market it as a thriller. It was suspenseful, but the main themes were coming to terms with aging, family relationships, and struggling to be seen as a woman of a certain age. It was sad, funny, wistful, tinged with dark humor all wrapped in a layer of hope. I'm not sure what that genre would be, but if you go into this realizing it's not a thriller, I think you'll really enjoy it. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine Books for this early copy. Expect to see this one on August 5, 2025.

I just finished a great thriller. Joy Fielding has a hit in her latest book, Jenny Cooper Has a Secret. It's available later this summer.

Quirky and fun to read, Jenny Cooper has a Secret is a fast satisfying read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Loved this book! Such a fantastic book that was well written with really great characters and very clever dialogue! I enjoyed all the interactions everyone had with Jenny and found them so amusing! Really great story with a very satisfying ending!

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC! Good book… quirky, mysterious, engaging, and funny. I recommend any and all Joy Fielding books, but with these characters there was never a dull moment.

I’m disappointed with this book. I was expecting a gripping thriller, especially based on want the story was about. I really liked the idea behind this book. A dementia patient who holds a secret. Could she be telling the truth or is this all part of her disease process? At first, I couldn't wait to find out the "secret." The story line moved too slow, and Jenny was very annoying. While the book had potential, the story just didn’t deliver the tension or intrigue I was hoping for. The ending lacked any kind of twist that could have made this a great book . I was tempted at time, to just not finish it. This book just didn’t have that riveting psychological thriller feel to it.

# netgalley

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of Jenny Cooper Has a Secret by Joy Fielding due to be published August 5, 2025.

76-year-old Linda Davidson feels alone – she is a widow, and her best friend is in a memory care facility. When she goes to visit her, she meets a character, Jenny Cooper. Is she really a serial killer, or just “demented” as she says?

What a fabulous book – one of the best I have read in awhile! Jenny Cooper is who I want to be when I am ninety-two – funny, outspoken, and obnoxious! The relationship she has with Linda, her new best friend, is one of a kind. Linda’s daughter, Kleo, and her husband, Mick, also have a significant role and part in her life since they live with her. But, it is her relationship with Jenny that is the core of the book – Jenny is a hoot. I found myself laughing out loud at their back-and-forth banter. I highly recommend this one-of-a-kind book! Loved it!

#NetGalley #JoyFielding #JennyCooperHasASecret #RandomHousePublishing

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
What a book! Linda’s husband has died, her best friend has dementia, and her daughter and husband have moved in with her. In visiting her friend at the memory care home she meets Jenny who has endless stories of the people she has killed—- or has she. Linda finds herself returning often to listen to her stories to escape the fighting between her daughter and husband. Can Linda find purpose in her life? Can her daughter’s marriage be saved? And what about Jenny? Are those stories real?

Linda is devastated when her lifelong friend, Carol is diagnosed with dementia and is now a resident of Legacy Towers. Although Carol now has no recollection of Linda, Linda feels obligated to continue her visits. On one of those visits, she meets Jenny Cooper, a 93-year-old resident who also has dementia or at least that's why the nurses think she's a resident there. Visiting Jenny becomes addictive for Linda who is battling grief over her husband's death, the loss of her BFF and the ongoing arguing and deterioration of her daughter's marriage. Jenny provides an escape for Linda in her rambling stories of having murdered several husbands and others in her long life using her "special recipe." One minute, Jenny seems perfectly lucid and the next, she's tripping Linda up with verbal gymnastics and convenient memory loss.

Both humorous and tragic, it takes her friendship with Jenny for Linda to understand that she's in her 70s and has yet to really live her life. Did Jenny really murder all those people? She'll take that secret to her grave, but perhaps Linda may know the truth.

A real mix of emotions and laughable moments which afford readers an understanding of what it is like for the friends and family of those diagnosed with dementia.

Linda Davidson's friend Carol is in a facility for those suffering dementia. Linda visits her regularly even though Carol doesn't recognize her. Linda develops a friendship with another dementia resident named Jenny Cooper. Jenny is alone--no family and Linda is drawn to the outlandish stories she tells. Are they stories or do they contain the truth? As Linda struggles with problems of her daughter and son-in-law's failing marriage, she comes to find that Jenny's tales may have solutions in them. A good read, a bit of a thriller. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

Quirky but absolutely engaging.
Linda Davidson goes to visit her best friend Carol, who now resides in a memory care facility.
As she steps off the elevator, she is greeted by 97 year old resident Jenny Cooper who starts
the entertaining tale off with "I've got a secret". And as she reveals the secret to Linda,
nothing will ever quite be the same again.
Intriguing story of the fine line between reality and fantasy that so many people are forced to navigate
everyday as aging friends and family face receding memories and loss of familiarity.
Linda is a widow whose married daughter and son-in-law are living with her as she struggles to finds her way in
her new role as single woman whose best friend no longer recognizes her.
Surprisingly, she finds comfort in her visits to the home with her new burgeoning relationship with Jenny Cooper
who has taken a shine to Linda.
Their repertoire is often as funny as much as shocking and scary.
Very good read with Fielding's usual mysterious touches of the extremely unusual.

*Jenny Cooper Has a Secret* is a smart, slyly suspenseful mystery that blends domestic drama with a deliciously dark twist. Joy Fielding masterfully crafts a layered and empathetic protagonist in Linda, whose grief and loneliness make her the perfect—if reluctant—detective. The eerie charm of Jenny, a ninety-two-year-old with a chilling confession, adds a wonderfully unsettling edge to the story. As the line between delusion and reality blurs, Fielding keeps readers guessing with deft pacing and clever misdirection. This is a compelling, character-driven thriller that explores aging, vulnerability, and vengeance with nuance and heart. A page-turner with a surprisingly wicked bite.

I really liked the idea behind this book. A dementia patient holds a secret. Could she be telling the truth or is this all part of her disease process? At the beginning of the read, I couldn't wait to find out the "secret." I expected some twists and turns, maybe a turn at the ending that I didn't see coming, but it just wasn't there for me. Those are things I look for that are important to me in a psychological thriller. While it was a good read, I found it to be a little "lack luster." With that said, I would read more books by this author and look forward to that opportunity in the future.

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc. This is my honest and personal opinionated review.

I went into “Jenny Cooper Has a Secret,” expecting a gripping mystery or thriller, especially based on the blurb, but what I got felt more like domestic drama with only hints of suspense. While the premise had potential, the story didn’t deliver the tension or intrigue I was hoping for.

The characters were fine—somewhat developed but not particularly memorable. What left me most confused was Linda’s intense obsession with Jenny. It didn’t feel fully justified or believable, and that thread just didn’t pay off in a satisfying way.

This isn’t a mystery, and it’s certainly not a thriller. It moves slowly, and even the ending lacked the kind of punch or twist that could have redeemed the rest. I was left disappointed, especially after the blurb made it sound so much more exciting than it turned out to be.

Thank you NetGalley and the Ballantine for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.