I couldn’t have picked up One Little Secret by Cate Holahan at a better time. Or a worse time? I’m hitting a point in my summer where an adult getaway to somewhere warm and relaxing sounds amazing. I can almost feel the sun on my skin while I’m relaxing on a white sandy beach with a drink in my hand.
But wait, my silence and relaxation is broken because in reality I’m sitting in my messy house and my children are yelling “dummy” at each other in the other room. Oh well, my mini fantasy vacay was so nice while it lasted.
And next month it’s off to Disney with the kids. That will surely be just as nice as a couple’s beach getaway, right? Haha. I’m looking forward to the trip, just maybe not in the exact same way. Although really a Disney vacation is much safer when I take into account how the weekend featured in One Little Secret went for those involved.
From the Publisher:
Everyone has a secret. For some, it’s worth dying to protect. For others, it’s worth killing.
The glass beach house was supposed to be the getaway that Susan needed. Eager to help her transplanted family set down roots in their new town—and desperate for some kid-free conversation—she invites her new neighbors to join in on a week-long sublet with her and her workaholic husband.
Over the course of the first evening, liquor loosens inhibitions and lips. The three couples begin picking up on the others’ marital tensions and work frustrations, as well as revealing their own. But someone says too much. And the next morning one of the women is discovered dead on the private beach.
Town detective Gabby Watkins must figure out who permanently silenced the deceased. As she investigates, she learns that everyone in the glass house was hiding something that could tie them to the murder, and that the biggest secrets of all are often in plain sight for anyone willing to look.
A taut, locked room mystery with an unforgettable cast of characters,One Little Secret promises to keep readers’ eyes glued to the pages and debating the blinders that we all put on in the service of politeness.
My Review:
When I first started reading Our Little Secret, I got a tiny bit confused about the characters. The narrator, Susan, was a high-powered lawyer turned stay-at-home mom. Rachel is a lawyer and Jenny is a doctor. And the latter too are beautiful. Although I got the feeling that Susan probably was too, it’s just that she didn’t see herself that way, so far removed from her former self.
I get that. I also get that unfortunately, many women of a certain age these days tend to look like they have it all on the outside–beauty, money, success and of course they are all also amazing mothers and wives. Of course, that’s just what we get from social media. Sometimes I find the prettier the picture that is painted, the greater possibility that underneath the veneer it’s a big old mess. But I felt like what I got of these women was more surface. I would have liked to see some different qualities because I had a hard time keeping track of them just with different names.
But I digress. The more I got into Our Little Secret, the more interesting it got. Because it isn’t just one little secret. Or maybe it started out that way, but it’s snowballed. And the whole book takes place during 24 hours on what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway. Well, not everyone returns home.
Our Little Secret was a quick read, good for when you don’t have the time to really chew on a book. It’s domestic suspense and I would recommend to fans of Jessica Strawser and David Bell.
Special thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for an egalley in exchange for my honest review. This one releases July 9, 2019. Get your copy:
Indiebound
Women in Trouble Book Blog 
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