Title: SECRET SMILE
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!
Book Description:
Miranda Cotton thinks she's put boyfriend Brendan out of her
life for good. But two weeks later, he's intimately involved with her
sister.
Soon what began as an embarrassment becomes threatening - then even more terrifying than a girl's worst nightmare.
Because this time Brendan will stop at nothing to be part of Miranda's life - even if it means taking it from her . . .
My musings:
WOW – what an intense book! I don’t think that Nicci French
books are good for my blood pressure! Anyone who chats with me on Instagram may
have read my rant as I was halfway through this book and in the grip of some
very strong emotion:
“I feel so outraged right now. Shocked. Sickened. Physically
ill. I have such a bad feeling about this!”
This was around the 50% mark and I have to say that the
feeling persisted until the very end, and I am still not totally vindicated.
Miranda may have believed that after a short and foolish
fling, she is finally rid of creepy Brendan for good, but now he has firmly
inserted himself like a big fat cuckoo’s egg right into the heart of her
family. Brendan is out for revenge, but no one believes her. They have all
fallen for his charm. Nothing good can possibly come from this ...
Take it from me when I say that this book is not to be entered
into lightly. Brendan may be one of the most sinister everyday characters I
have ever encountered. I am so glad that I am no longer in the dating game, or
I may feel tempted to take up a hermit’s life in a mountain cave with ten cats
because who would like to tempt fate? I felt intense anger through most of this
book and at one stage I vividly remember yelling out loud and having to put the
book aside for fear that my head may explode.
So why did this man get under my skin like this? Burrowed
his way into my psyche like a parasite? It’s no accident that I am a huge Nicci
French fan, because this writer duo sure know how to tap into our worst fears
and nightmares. With a keen eye for detail and an eerie insight into the dark
places of the human psyche, the story rolled out slowly but with such a
sinister undertone that I was feeling truly frightened for poor Miranda the
whole time. Miranda, who is the only one who can see where this is all headed.
Miranda, who everyone thinks is paranoid and a bit crazy. How terrible would it
be to see an imminent train wreck but everyone laughs off your fears? I shudder
at the thought. I found it interesting how Miranda blamed herself for
unleashing this evil on her friends and family – and saw it as her moral duty
to fix it. I think I would have run for the hills!
If you are a fan of slow burning mysteries that look deeply
into the dark places of the human heart, and enjoy an evil, psychopathic main
character, then enter this one at your own risk. I am still feeling a little
bit of simmering anger like a fire that has not been fully extinguished when I
think about this book. Such is the genius of Nicci French. Bye bye Brendan, I
may see you in my nightmares ...
Very highly recommended, but make sure to take your blood
pressure meds!
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