I’m a huge fan of Michael Robotham’s tightly constructed thrillers, and The Secrets She Keeps didn’t disappoint. Michael Robotham has a great gift for characterisation, so the reader is quickly drawn into the very different lives of two women. Agatha thinks that Megan Shaugnessy’s life is perfect. Megan is beautiful and married to Jack, a successful TV presenter, and they live in a perfect house, with two perfect children and another on the way. Megan has a popular mummy blog and lives a life that seems charmed. By contrast, Agatha works at the local supermarket, and we slowly learn about her troubled background. Her partner is in the navy and away at sea, and Agatha envies Megan’s flawless life – the sort of life that she wants for herself. But Megan’s life is far from perfect, and the secrets they both hold close will soon bring them on a collision course.
This is an excellent character-driven novel with plenty of psychological suspense. Agatha is arguably the most complicated character, but she becomes someone you care for despite her actions. And we are drawn into Megan’s ‘perfect’ world, to find a caring marriage that has lost its shine, but will hopefully have enough love in the tank to face what they will be forced to endure as the book progresses. It’s difficult to say any more without giving the plot away, but with the course of events, both Agatha and Megan learn a lot about themselves and the people they love. And they will be forced to re-examine what they perceive as the ‘perfect’ life at the end of it all.
This is Michael Robotham’s twelfth novel, and once again he delivers a book that is suspenseful and that tugs at the heart strings. The Secrets She Keeps is first rate writing from an accomplished author who knows what he is doing.
REVIEWER: Karen McKenzie
TITLE: The Secrets She Keeps
AUTHOR(S): Michael Robotham
PUBLISHER: Hachette
RRP: $34.99