Thursday 14 March 2013

Book Review: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

I’ve been feeding you teasers from this book while reading; now I’ve reached The End, and am happy to report that it did not disappoint. The story kept me captivated all the way, and I gladly give it five stars.

*****

1961: Hidden in a tree-house on a summer day, sixteen-year-old Laurel happens to witness something that she’ll never be able to forget; and the explanations given and officially accepted never quite satisfy her.

The thought came suddenly: the house remembered her.

2011: Fifty years later, as her mother is nearing the end of her life, Laurel revisits the family home (a farmhouse in the countryside). She finds herself still haunted by the shadows of the past, and together with her younger brother Gerry she makes an effort to piece history together.

Perhaps all children were held captive, in some part, by their parents’ past.

Shifting between the present, the early 1960s and the early 1940s (the mother’s youth in wartime London), The Secret Keeper is a spellbinding story of mysteries and secrets, love and deceit.

‘And what’s next? What can possibly compete with the eating habits of teenage galaxies?’
‘I’m creating the Latest Map of Everything.’

Parallell with Laurel’s research into her mother’s past, the reader also learns about events back in the 1930s from other perspectives. This serves to keep up the suspense and to remind us that a snapshot never tells the whole story. (Compare my Teaser Tuesday quote earlier this week.)

9 comments:

  1. I read a different title by this author and it was ok; maybe I will try this one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't yet read Kate Morton but this one certainly seems interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  3. These quotes are really good and almost chilling!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Since I've enjoyed another of Kate Morton's book before, I am quite sure I'd really like this one, too, and your review has confirmed this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I liked this one, but not as much as I liked her earlier ones. Perhaps dislike of some of the main characters was the reason, I'm not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i have been rating my books from kindle as i finish them. i gave a book five stars, and when I saw the other reviews, someone wrote hated the book could not even finish it, and it was one of my favorites.so i am thinking the reviews don't mean as much since it depends on whom likes what....

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I see that a book I'm wondering about has got both five-star and one-star reviews on Amazon, I usually take a peek at both. Negative reviews can sometimes be as helpful as the positive ones to decide whether I think I might be interested in a book or not - that depends on the kinds of reasons given by the reviewer. The total number of reviews may also be enlightening. As for my reviews here on the blog, if I include a star-rating in my reviews it's usually the spontaneous one I give (or would give) on Kindle. (I'm not sure if they actually collect my ratings to their statistics, as the "share" function is not active over here.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well Monica at least now I have her on my list and when I get around to the first in the series I shall be able to form an opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GB, in case I have not pointed it out enough, Kate Moton's novels are not a series. No need at all to read them in any particular order.

      Delete

Communication is what makes blogging fun :)
... but all spam or suspected spam will be deleted.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...