Breakaway Books

Authored by Jennifer Hillier; Published 2020; Thriller

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️

Little Secrets is halfway between a beach read thriller and a tell-all exposé of what it’s like to have a missing child. It didn’t precisely keep me at the edge of my seat—but it definitely had me by the throat.

Little Secrets follows Marin as she struggles to survive after the disappearance of her four year-old son. One year after the crime, she cannot give up hope, and when she discovers that her husband is having an affair, it sets her off on an escapade dabbling into the dark side of the law. There were points in reading this novel when I definitely thought: where is this going? I couldn’t see a clean resolution or a clear endpoint. But as soon as the final twist dropped, I could hardly put it down—the unraveling of the conclusion was just so satisfying. 

The characterizing feature of this novel is unquestionably raw emotion. Marin struggles repeatedly with thoughts of suicide, blaming herself for the kidnapping of her child. She participates in a group for families of missing children, and the interactions among the group are… tense. Reading those scenes made me uncomfortable at best, and yet I couldn’t help but feel that they were some of the most real in the entire novel. It is not pretty to witness the heart-rending grief and shame of the loved ones of the missing. I can’t say that I grew attached to the other members of the group, but I did feel a deep sadness for them. 

Marin’s husband, Derek, does not come off quite so sympathetic. Drawn in to an affair by a young woman looking for a payday, he comes off as alternatingly gullible and cruel. I was impressed by the author’s ability to portray the young woman who pulled off the con in a way that made me empathize with her. The stark divide between Marin and Derek’s wealth and her poverty feels exquisitely painful, even a little unfair. Truly, the author had me in the palm of her hand, empathizing with and hating characters at her will. The mystery itself is well done—as soon as the twist is revealed, my mind raced to reconfigure all of the pieces of the crime. Everything fit together so neatly in hindsight.

Little Secrets is a little too serious for a full-on vacation getaway, but you will certainly race through it.