Ponder Post: The Secrets She Kept

The Secrets She Kept ©2016 by Brenda Novak is a follow on novel to The Secret Sister which I reviewed in my post for April 9, 2018. Both novels occur on Fairham Island off the Carolina coast and share the same cast of main characters. I liked this sequel equally well as its predecessor and give it four stars, also. In this instance The Secret Sister should be read first.

Three siblings are featured in this book, Keith, Maisy, and Roxanne. The mystery revolves around the siblings' mother Josephine, a cold, controlling, beautiful, wealthy matriarch. Josephine is found dead. Is it suicide? Is it murder? If murder, who did not like her? Realistically, just about everybody on the island. I found it interesting that this romance thriller is told from the point of view of the male. Keith is estranged from his mother and has had no contact with her for the past five years. Her abusive relationship toward him as a child had forced him to stay away, lest he relapse into a drug addiction he had managed to kick. Yet it is Keith, who abhorred her so, who returns to Fairham Island and is the primary force in doggedly pursuing and uncovering the cause of her death.

The Secrets She Kept is a fast paced read that I complete in one fell swoop. Having familiar characters from the previous book who grew and became more complex was a welcome plus. There was enough romance to keep the book engaging from a personal relations point of view but The Secrets She Kept was mainly a mystery that had enough forensics and timelines in it to be intellectually challenging. I was not at all disappointed in my time invested reading it.