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A review by athravan
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
4.0
This book reeled me in from the start with vivid and engaging descriptions of selfish, narcissistic, egotistical people. The vast majority of the characters are simply despicable, but not overdone - part of the creepy vibe that followed as I read came from the brutal realism. In high society, populated by millionaires, politicians, doctors on call to the rich, their mistresses and wives, you just know deep down that these characters aren't over exaggerated. There is a world like this out there, and it is their children who suffer.
In The Darkest Secret, we follow a whole host of characters, but the main story feels as if it's told from the point of view of Mila, and Ruby, two half sisters who barely know each other, bound together by an absentee father who never seemed to like either of them, too involved with his latest wife and his newest children. It jumps back and forth from the present time, at the funeral of their father, and to the past, to a horrible weekend when Ruby's twin, Coco, went missing. The story unravels slowly as we see first hand exactly what happened, whilst alternately jumping forward to the present time to see the ramifications this weekend had, even a decade in the future.
This book isn't really that big a mystery. I guessed at the outcome fairly early on, and we're told right from the start, from the front cover in fact, that "They lied" about what happened that night. The pleasure - if you can call it that - I took from reading this book was similar to that I imagine people feel as they pass a car crash. I knew it was going to be bad, I knew it was going to be horrible, but I wanted to know what had happened and why. But throughout it all, the story seemed almost secondary - simply a staging post for this host of narcissistic, immoral people, and a look at how innocent children are affected. A well written journey of darkness and deceit.
In The Darkest Secret, we follow a whole host of characters, but the main story feels as if it's told from the point of view of Mila, and Ruby, two half sisters who barely know each other, bound together by an absentee father who never seemed to like either of them, too involved with his latest wife and his newest children. It jumps back and forth from the present time, at the funeral of their father, and to the past, to a horrible weekend when Ruby's twin, Coco, went missing. The story unravels slowly as we see first hand exactly what happened, whilst alternately jumping forward to the present time to see the ramifications this weekend had, even a decade in the future.
This book isn't really that big a mystery. I guessed at the outcome fairly early on, and we're told right from the start, from the front cover in fact, that "They lied" about what happened that night. The pleasure - if you can call it that - I took from reading this book was similar to that I imagine people feel as they pass a car crash. I knew it was going to be bad, I knew it was going to be horrible, but I wanted to know what had happened and why. But throughout it all, the story seemed almost secondary - simply a staging post for this host of narcissistic, immoral people, and a look at how innocent children are affected. A well written journey of darkness and deceit.