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jetia13's review against another edition
4.0
A great quick and engrossing mystery-esque story. A few things that worked out a little too perfectly and tied up too neatly, but I still liked it.
dwm_1040's review
1.0
I picked this as a free read from Amazon. I did finish it but did not care for any of the characters. The plot was predictable, with upcoming action telegraphed in the earlier chapters. Ho-hum.
treparker73's review
3.0
Surprisingly good
I wasn’t fully invested when I first started reading this...multiple character perspectives can sometimes make reading harder. I stuck with it and like the way the story was resolved. Almost a mystery. Writing was good. I will check in with this author again.
I wasn’t fully invested when I first started reading this...multiple character perspectives can sometimes make reading harder. I stuck with it and like the way the story was resolved. Almost a mystery. Writing was good. I will check in with this author again.
bookishwithwine's review
3.0
My Mini Thoughts
If you like multiple points of view, then this is the book for you because there are six of them. The interesting thing about this book is the perspectives are from people of all ages. A high schooler, a mother, and a grandma to name a few.
This starts out with Norah being arrested for using a spa as a cover up for a prostitution ring. After her arrest a lot of the chapters focus on her daughter, Violet. Then we have a neighbor kid who everyone thinks killed his girlfriend, a cop whose brother is missing and his wife is cheating on him, a grandma who has a bag of cash but nobody knows where it came from, another neighbor who has a cheating husband and a big heart and more! Everyone is keeping a secret which makes you keep turning the pages. The author does a good job putting little clues in each person's chapter to help you figure out their secret. There are also a few secrets that are easy to guess.
At first I thought that six points of views was going to be hard to keep straight, but they all intertwine together nicely.
Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the #gifted copy. This one is out today!
Book Rating: 3.5
If you like multiple points of view, then this is the book for you because there are six of them. The interesting thing about this book is the perspectives are from people of all ages. A high schooler, a mother, and a grandma to name a few.
This starts out with Norah being arrested for using a spa as a cover up for a prostitution ring. After her arrest a lot of the chapters focus on her daughter, Violet. Then we have a neighbor kid who everyone thinks killed his girlfriend, a cop whose brother is missing and his wife is cheating on him, a grandma who has a bag of cash but nobody knows where it came from, another neighbor who has a cheating husband and a big heart and more! Everyone is keeping a secret which makes you keep turning the pages. The author does a good job putting little clues in each person's chapter to help you figure out their secret. There are also a few secrets that are easy to guess.
At first I thought that six points of views was going to be hard to keep straight, but they all intertwine together nicely.
Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the #gifted copy. This one is out today!
Book Rating: 3.5
h_with_a_feather's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
book_obsessed_secretary's review against another edition
5.0
Page turner!
I could not put this book down. The way this author brought everything together but kept you guessing was phenomenal!
I could not put this book down. The way this author brought everything together but kept you guessing was phenomenal!
andrearbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This Secret Thing by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is a story that is literally just secrets on secrets on secrets in the suburbs. There is a prostitution ring, a return from college, a girl just holding secrets of other neighbors, forbidden love, a mystery body, and just so many damn things. What I liked about the story was the multiple narrators who were holding multiple secrets from others who then shared what was really going on. For me though, there was almost too much going on. As I'm reflecting back, I almost feel like I read multiple books instead of just one! However, if you want a domestic thriller with literally all the twists, this is where you need to turn. Even though it was a lot, it kept me reading as I wanted to know how it all (and all was so much) played out. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this recent release!
dborhan's review against another edition
2.0
I know it a highly rated novel but I felt it is a bit too forced and not real like many issues and stories pushed up to create a web of secrets... I cannot say I regretted reading it but also wouldn’t recommend
jennywjordan's review
5.0
A million years ago...well maybe just 30+ years ago I watched the TV movie The Mayflower Madam starring Candice Bergen. Fascinated then by the idea that someone I might bump into could be a madam, I was even more intrigued by This Secret Thing. Violet is only slightly younger than I was when I watched Bergen replay Sydney Biddle Barrows famous arrest and is as bewildered by the idea of her mother, Norah, as a madam. As the story unfolds, it is much less about Norah's secrets and more about the secrets that all of us have. Whalen in drawing us into this idea of a woman running a brothel, unfolds the idea that each of us in our homes has more to our lives than we are sharing.
Whalen weaves a great connected story with Norah and Violet and Norah's estranged mother Polly, with Bess and her girls Casey and Nicole. With Micah and his family across the street, with Nico who's mourning his brother, with Eli, and all the others, we are sucked into our own communities with our own neighbors and connections. Little by little we discover that everything isn't as it seems. That those that are happiest may not be at all and those that are the most confident may be the most scared.
What I enjoyed the most about the novel was the friendships. As Bess explains "people did not tell you about when you got married and had kids; how important your female friends would become" and most of all that's what we see....how important the friendships of the females in the book become.
And I would be falling short if I didn't add that Whalen does. a fabulous job bringing the story full circle and helping us see why each and every person was important to the story. It was not the ending I was expecting it was even better.
And if you've read my other latest reviews -- this too has food in the story and concludes with a recipe for Poppy-Seed Chicken Casserole that I'm making for dinner this weekend!
Whalen weaves a great connected story with Norah and Violet and Norah's estranged mother Polly, with Bess and her girls Casey and Nicole. With Micah and his family across the street, with Nico who's mourning his brother, with Eli, and all the others, we are sucked into our own communities with our own neighbors and connections. Little by little we discover that everything isn't as it seems. That those that are happiest may not be at all and those that are the most confident may be the most scared.
What I enjoyed the most about the novel was the friendships. As Bess explains "people did not tell you about when you got married and had kids; how important your female friends would become" and most of all that's what we see....how important the friendships of the females in the book become.
And I would be falling short if I didn't add that Whalen does. a fabulous job bringing the story full circle and helping us see why each and every person was important to the story. It was not the ending I was expecting it was even better.
And if you've read my other latest reviews -- this too has food in the story and concludes with a recipe for Poppy-Seed Chicken Casserole that I'm making for dinner this weekend!