NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Sunday, June 13, 2021

The Secrets of Us by Lucinda Berry

 After a compelling start, this psychological thriller quickly fell into a "roll my eyes, shake my head but power through it" narrative of melodrama.

Two women who were foster sisters lived through some bad experiences as teenagers. After they escaped, one became a family court attorney and the other married the man of her dreams. So what compelled Nichole to set her house on fire and trap her husband behind a desk in their bedroom? Krystal tries to unravel the night in question and finds that Nichole is more than seriously disturbed.

This story is told in a "then" and "now" format with Krystal taking the voice on the current situation and Nichole relating the past portions. I immediately did not care for either of the sisters and I guess I just don't deal well with the explanations and excuses for who they are as adults. I couldn't buy into the whole premise nor muster up much sympathy or concern for the pair. There's not much to be said about other characters in the book who are completely flat stereotypes.

The whole event surrounding the fire and the explanations of Nichole's descent into drug-induced madness really disappointed me because I understand this author is a psychologist. All the voices in the head stuff just pushed me beyond my ability to suspend disbelief that her psychosis hadn't rendered her institutionalized long ago. There's no suspense, there's no big twisty anything that brings this to a recommendation level. I was happy when it was over.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this e-book ARC to read and review. I've read a couple of this author's other books that I liked much better so I may give her next one another shot but this is one I should have missed.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre - psychological melodrama, psychotic behavior, foster sisters

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