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3.1 AVERAGE
3.1 AVERAGE
This is the most enjoyable Sophie Hannah book I've read in several years. It has a twisty plot and intriguing, cartoonish characters. Even though it's a murder mystery, the book is not dark and gloomy.
A good thriller with uneven pacing made worse because I became desperate for clues and skimmed text. So, of course I had to go back and re-read sections in search of information I had missed. We can all be that sort of head-strong reader at times. Especially when the story is taut, tense, intricately plotted and the narrator/ protagonist is unreliable. If you crave that kind of thriller as well, try and learn from my mistakes and read as the author intended. It's a very good book and well worth the patience. You won’t be disappointed. - Suzanne R.
Thank you to William Morrow for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of Woman With A Secret.
Woman With A Secret (British version: The Telling Error, which is much better, more interesting and descriptive title) opens with a personal ad, thus beginning a twisty tale of murder, deception, and intrigue. The ad itself describes the murder scene at the forefront of the novel, and, immediately, the reader is brought into the investigation from what seems to be an insider; one cannot tell at this juncture whether the ad was written by the murderer or by an observer.
Each of Ms. Hannah’s Spilling CID novels take us through the dark, dank alleyways of our imaginations, deep into psychological mysteries that tend to focus on women at the center, as victims, as strong allies, and, sometimes, as perpetrators of the crimes involved. Woman With A Secret has several women who straddle the fence between victim and perpetrator, and, as usual, Ms. Hannah’s style of writing allows us to empathize with the female characters more strongly than the male stereotypes that appear in this story about murder, betrayal, and emotional abuse.
While we wonder if Nicki Clemens (whose sections are in first person) can be trusted as a narrator, mostly due to her perpetual lying to everyone in the story, including the police (could she be lying to us as well?), we also sympathize with her story, given her familial history as it slowly is revealed. Other, minor female characters also cause the reader to pause, and wonder about their believability and their motives; through the course of the novel, though, the male characters (besides our main CID detectives) seem to be more clichéd that nuanced: here, we have the doting husband(s), there, we see the misogynistic writer(s). Ms. Hannah has a deeper, more sophisticated hand writing one-off, single novel female characters than she does writing men.
That said, the Spilling CID male detective characters are fully developed, and each story brings more elements to each character, even the minor ones, such as Gibbs and Sellars. Unfortunately, in Woman With A Secret, there isn’t as much time spent on the Spilling CID main characters (Charlie and Simon) as in the past novels; one of the reasons this series is so enjoyable is the depth of detail and interest in these two flawed characters, and their relationship as it has developed over 9 novels and cases.
Without giving away any spoilers, it should be noted that Woman With A Secret is an interesting addition to the collection of the Spilling CID canon, with more slithery twists and turns than a basket of snakes, and more characters that turn out to be just as slimy.
Woman With A Secret (British version: The Telling Error, which is much better, more interesting and descriptive title) opens with a personal ad, thus beginning a twisty tale of murder, deception, and intrigue. The ad itself describes the murder scene at the forefront of the novel, and, immediately, the reader is brought into the investigation from what seems to be an insider; one cannot tell at this juncture whether the ad was written by the murderer or by an observer.
Each of Ms. Hannah’s Spilling CID novels take us through the dark, dank alleyways of our imaginations, deep into psychological mysteries that tend to focus on women at the center, as victims, as strong allies, and, sometimes, as perpetrators of the crimes involved. Woman With A Secret has several women who straddle the fence between victim and perpetrator, and, as usual, Ms. Hannah’s style of writing allows us to empathize with the female characters more strongly than the male stereotypes that appear in this story about murder, betrayal, and emotional abuse.
While we wonder if Nicki Clemens (whose sections are in first person) can be trusted as a narrator, mostly due to her perpetual lying to everyone in the story, including the police (could she be lying to us as well?), we also sympathize with her story, given her familial history as it slowly is revealed. Other, minor female characters also cause the reader to pause, and wonder about their believability and their motives; through the course of the novel, though, the male characters (besides our main CID detectives) seem to be more clichéd that nuanced: here, we have the doting husband(s), there, we see the misogynistic writer(s). Ms. Hannah has a deeper, more sophisticated hand writing one-off, single novel female characters than she does writing men.
That said, the Spilling CID male detective characters are fully developed, and each story brings more elements to each character, even the minor ones, such as Gibbs and Sellars. Unfortunately, in Woman With A Secret, there isn’t as much time spent on the Spilling CID main characters (Charlie and Simon) as in the past novels; one of the reasons this series is so enjoyable is the depth of detail and interest in these two flawed characters, and their relationship as it has developed over 9 novels and cases.
Without giving away any spoilers, it should be noted that Woman With A Secret is an interesting addition to the collection of the Spilling CID canon, with more slithery twists and turns than a basket of snakes, and more characters that turn out to be just as slimy.
I couldn't find even a shard of liking or sympathy for Nicki and that really colored my views on this book. All the lies just made my head spin.
I really liked the first 3/4 of this, but the last but seemed to go on forever! I will look for more from this author, though!
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Too many characters, too much drivel. Tedious is one description I saw for this book & I'd say that's accurate. It has a great outline for a story but it just doesn't quite get you there.
Kept my interest, but (as with The Monogram Murders) the plot was too convoluted and over-explained (which wouldn't be necessary were it not so convoluted). Still, I was very anxious to see the pieces fall into place.
More like 3.5; it was a little convoluted, but I still enjoyed it.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book. I generally enjoy Sophie Hannah's books and this was no exception. I would actually give it 3.5 stars. It's a great mystery/suspense novel that you won't be able to stop reading because you will want to know who did it. There were a few unnecessary plot points - that's what lead to 3.5 stars instead of 4. There was a lot of buildup about something traumatic in Nicki's childhood that didn't amount to anything and wasn't relevant to the story. I also found her husband's reaction to her confession unbelievable. It's a fast paced book that will keep you on your toes - if you enjoy a good mystery, this book is worth reading.