Member Reviews
What happens when your sister's husband is murdered and you know she didn't do it? Natalie and Glenn are sisters with a horrible past--thier mother was accused of killing thier father--and they are trying to move on as adults. Natalie is a hard-drinking police officer and Glenn is a burgeoning cookbook blogger. Thier past begins to haunt them as Glenn's husband's shady deals start to surface. Twisty, turny, who-done-it with a super suspenseful ending. Definately recommended.
In 1995 the father of Natalie and Glenn Cavanaugh was murdered and a short time later their next-door neighbor committed suicide. It was a traumatic upheaval for the sisters. Now, Glenn is a blogger and soon-to-be published cookbook author, while Natalie works as a detective. They are still haunted by the secrets of their past and when a murder occurs it threatens to undo them all.
The Secrets We Share is a gripping book with a great cast of characters and a complex plot that is so very well-conceived and written. It is entertaining, suspenseful, and fast -paced, with twists and surprises that will be totally unexpected. I definitely went down a rabbit hole more than once.
This is the first book I’ve read by Edwin Hill, but it surely won’t be the last. I highly recommend it!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to review.
The Secrets We Share by Edwin Hill
Twisted tale of murder, abuse, secrets, lies, deceit and a desire for revenge by at least one character in the story. Riveting read!
What I liked:
* The writing style with short crisp chapters that drew me in and kept me hooked
* Slipping in the backstory in snippet-chapters throughout the book
* The neighborhood tract homes with only two built in the past when the first murder took place – reminded me of a tract home we lived in when I was four and another my parents looked at when I was in sixth grade and the age of some of the characters in this story
* That two generations of girls were locked into this story by the dead people they found
* The side story in the present that impacted everyone
* The twists and turns and red herrings
* Wondering who the mastermind behind everything was and what the motivation was behind what was happening
* Thinking about how and why the original murder had the impact it did on the various characters
* Thinking about my family and being thankful it was NOT like the ones in this book
* That I was engaged throughout the book
* Thinking about what age(s) of reader(s) might enjoy this story
* The police procedural aspects of the story
* Finding out “the truth” at the end of the story and wondering how the various characters would move forward in the future
What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like – and there were more than a few people and their actions to dislike
Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.
5 Stars
Thank you to the publishers at Kensington Books and Netgalley for this e-ARC of The Secrets We Share!
Told in alternating POVs, we get to see from Natalie and Glenn’s perspectives, two sisters; Jake, Glenn’s husband; Mavis, the daughter of Glenn; Angela White, Natalie’s lieutenant; Olivia, a local real estate agent; and the bad guy, who’s identity remains a mystery.
After Mavis is dared to enter an abandoned building near her school and discovers a decomposing body, Natalie and her partner Zane are first to arrive on the scene. Realizing she’s already too close to this case, Natalie decides to hide the identity of the girl who discovered the body, at least for now. But when her ex-boyfriend and sister get involved in this tangled web of murder and lies, Natalie is forced off the case. Of course, this won’t prevent her from lurking on the sidelines.
As the story progresses, we begin to see that nobody is who they say they are. Everyone is hiding something, and some of these secrets are connected to one another. Will Natalie reveal the killer in time, or are the Kavanaughs doomed to relive their bloody past?
I could not get enough of this fast paced thriller! The alternating POVs worked well for me, and it was exciting to discover stuff before the other characters. Hill did a great job of setting up this plot line. In many ways, I was shocked by the turn of events. It’s your classic ‘nobody is who they claim to be’ kind of story!
The Secrets We Share is available now wherever books are sold! Grab your copy today!
Read this if
🔪 you enjoy fast paced thrillers
👨👩👧 you like multiple POVs
🔎 you want a good whodunnit
👮🏻♂️ you read a lot of police procedurals
What a whirlwind. I wasn’t really expecting any of the twists in this book and I can normally figure something out. Loved the giant twists and turns, it kept me so interested.
Every single character is this is connected.
Literally every one.
Mavis, a little school aged girl, stumbles upon a dead body in a factory someone dared her into. Her mother, Glenn, is a famous blogger and sister to the detective investigating the case, Natalie.
The wallet found by the dead bodies belongs to a friend of Glenn’s husband and an ex-f buddy with Natalie. Oh lord could these people be more intertwined.
Twenty years earlier Glenn and Natalie’s father was murdered by his mistress he was having an affair with. Who took her own life shortly after.
This is insane. Everyone is connected in a fucked up way that makes you need to know what is going to happen next and figure out who the killer or killers behind these murders are.
Around every corner there’s a better twist.
Read it and figure out how it ends.
I read this book in one sitting, because once I started it, I could not put it down. This book was filled with so many plot twists and characters that had twisted backgrounds. Edwin Hill knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat with all the suspense. His characters were well thought out, and the story line was amazing. With an ending like this book had, it's no wonder many people applaud this author.
What a twisty, taut, can'tstopreading novel! I definitely didn't predict the way this story would unfold -- which is exactly what you want in a thriller/suspense novel!
This was a great mystery with a ton of twists and a lot to figure out. I really liked the cast of characters, they all had a lot of depth and uniqueness. There were a few parts that were a bit more gruesome than I liked but overall it wasn't too bad. I enjoyed the mystery and the story.
This book really hooked me at the beginning. It’s a very quick read featuring a lot of characters that have created a hot mess web of mystery. My main issue is the amount of characters. I read this in one day and was still confused I can’t imagine spacing it out more. The story was fine, nothing life changing. It didn’t leave me shocked at all, sadly. It was entertaining and very much a popcorn thriller.
Two sisters, Natalie and Glenn, are hardly alike. Natalie is a cop, Glenn is a cooking blogger/writer with a huge following. They both share a secret from their childhood. Twenty years ago, their father’s body was discovered in the woods behind their house. Someone who’s reading Glenn’s blog has been paying attention. When another body turns up things start to get tense. Natalie is concerned about Glenn’s social circle. Where do the secrets start and end between these two sisters?
How many murder victims should one person know? It does start to get suspicious after a while. When you are a cop and your dad was murdered, your niece finds another body, and the bodies continue to show up, you can look pretty shady. You should probably not keep any of that stuff to yourself. There were a lot of coincidences and a lot of stretches, but overall it was enjoyable.
The Secrets We Share is the first book I have read by Edwin Hill and I like his writing style. I'm impressed by the premise of two grown sisters getting caught up in a murder case that could be tied to a tragedy from their childhood. However, the complicated plot just became too exhausting. I wouldn't have thought a thriller could have too many plot twists, but this book did. There were so many surprises and coincidences, it became confusing and unbelievable.
I think a little less would have made this a better book. The story is intriguing, and I know some people will love it, but it just wasn't my favorite. I would rate it 3.5 stars. What I did like was the procedural aspect of the book and especially enjoyed the character of Lt. Angela White and the woman who did a lot of background research for her. I didn't realize they are characters from a series by the author, so I'm interested in trying one of those books.
I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Kensington Books. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.
Rife with secrets, suspicion, masked identities, and shady characters, this twisty thriller kept me turning pages with baited breath.
Although I have not read this author's series featuring Hester Thursby, I did notice that she appears in a cameo as a friend to the police Lieutenant Angela in this book. Her appearance here made me want to read his Thursby series.
Some aspects of the book were somewhat incredulous, yet it was a thrilling read with several diverting red herrings and plot twists. It proved to be a delightful blend of police procedural and domestic thriller.
In short, "The Secrets We Share" is an entertaining, fast-paced thriller that I really enjoyed reading. I'll be on the lookout for more books by this author.
Edwin Hill you’ve done it again. I liked this book as much as the last two even if Hester Thursby only had a little part. I thought I had it figured out but I was wrong. To quote a favorite book tuber this book was full of “dark and messed up people doing dark and messed up things”. If you haven’t read Edwin Hill yet, do your self a favor and pick this one up. It’s a stand alone so you won’t be missing anything thing.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.
4⭐️
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a fast paced thriller. I loved Natalie and Glenn's characters. All of the characters are phenomenal. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page trying to figure out what will happen next. I can already tell you I can't wait to read more books by this author in the near future. His writing style sucks you into the world from the first page. This book is every bit suspenseful. This book will be in stores on March 29 for $26.00 (USD).
Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review. This is the first book that I have read by this author. It is a fast paced book with lots of twists and turns. It is told in two timelines, past and present. It is a story with two very different sisters and their lives. It is a book that will draw you in and keep you guessing until the end.
Twenty years ago, Natalie and Glenn’s father was murdered in the woods behind their house. They are still trying to outrun the trauma when a dead body is found in an abandoned building near Glenn’s house. How well does Glenn know the people closest to her, is her family now in danger? Natalie is a Boston cop and is called in to investigate the murder, but when things hit too close to home she is called off the case. Natalie isn’t about to let that stop her and continues to investigate, but when the new case and her fathers murder start to look connected, the sisters must decide who they can trust and who they can’t even if it means each other. Fast paced and twisty, Hill balances the mystery and suspense perfectly.
WOW! I was totally blind-sighted and shocked by the intense, and mysterious events in “The Secrets We Share” by Edwin Hill, Author. This is one captivating, intriguing and suspenseful novel. The genres for this novel are a mystery, crime novel, thriller, suspense, and fiction.
The timeline for this novel spans over 20 years, and the current crime/s is reminiscent of 20 years before. The author describes his dramatic and colorful characters as complex and complicated. Some characters are not who they appear to be. There are betrayals, lies, deep dark secrets, and moments where certain characters have to “watch their backs”. There are threats, danger, kidnapping, and murder. I love that Edwin Hill has the element of surprise, and vividly describes the characters, and events in this novel.
Two sisters have different perspectives and memories of life 20 years ago when a tragic murder changed their lives forever. Natalie is a Police officer, and Glenn has just written a book and craves publicity. As the secrets of the past start to unravel, threatening and alarming events have a feeling of deja-vu.
I could not put this book down! There are clues and “red herrings”, and I honestly can say that I was caught off guard, again and again. I highly recommend this amazing and impressive novel.
Sisters Natalie Cavanaugh and Glenn Abbott could not be more different. Natalie is a 40-something Boston detective, and Glenn is a food blogger who is on the cusp of significant success with a book coming out in a few days. Loner Natalie passes out every night from drinking too much and seems to have no one who cares about her other than her mentee on the force, Zane Perez, and her sister. Glenn appears to have everything in control, with her husband Jake and 12-year-old daughter, Mavis. There is a lot of trouble in Glenn's paradise, however.
The secrets that the two sisters share go back to the murder of their father years earlier. Alan Cavanaugh was murdered in the woods behind their house in suburban Boston. It appears that he was murdered by their next-door neighbor, who had an affair with him. She even confessed to it before killing herself. As a result, her two children were broken up and sent into the foster system. Natalie and Glenn were never separated, but many townspeople still believed that their mother, Ruth, was actually guilty. All the disparate threads of the murder of Alan come back to haunt them.
Hester Thursby, librarian and researcher extraordinaire, and her veterinarian husband, Morgan make a brief appearance (along with their daughter, Kate, and various assorted canines). Their friend, Detective Angela White, is prominently present, who takes the investigation away from Natalie when Glenn's daughter Mavis discovers a grotesquely murdered body in an abandoned warehouse. All the clues seem to point back to that earlier murder of Alan Cavanaugh. The Secrets We Share is Hill's best work, full of head-spinning twists and turns that kept me up late. When the final solution to the puzzle was revealed, I was astonished. Hill's portrayal of Mavis, intelligent, focused, and fierce, placed in considerable danger, is also a stand-out.
I highly recommend The Secrets We Share. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.
The Secrets We Share by Edwin Hill is a highly recommended twisty thriller.
Sisters Natalie Cavanaugh and Glenn Abbott are very different from each other but they share a traumatic past. In 1995 when they were 14 and 12 their father was murdered. The two have moved on now and don't discuss it. Natalie is a police detective who drinks too much. Glenn is a food blogger who is about to release her first book. When Glenn's daughter 12-year-old daughter, Mavis, discovers a body in an abandoned building near her school, the two sisters are pulled into another murder investigation, but this time the questions and new information keep piling up and pretty soon almost everyone is a suspect.
The pluses are The Secrets We Share is a truly twisty, unpredictable novel that will hold your attention and keep you guessing throughout. The minuses may be the extraordinary number of twists and the plethora of new information uncovered that changes everything. It all begins to feel a bit excessive by the end. Your enjoyment may very well be contingent upon your tolerance of a copious number of new revelations. It is a well-written novel and all the twists are integrated into the plot. There might be a few that cause some head shaking, but basically the twists work.
The characters are all portrayed realistically, but they are almost all suspects at one time or another, so don't get too attached to anyone, with the exception of Mavis (and maybe Natalie). You are allowed to care for her while reading on to see how everything else plays out. It's best to go into this one without a lot of additional information beyond knowing that it is definitely worth reading.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Kensington via NetGalley
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, Google Books, and Amazon.
This is an intriguing and twisty read. I read it in about a day. The book includes dual timelines, the 1990s and present, both that tell about lots of drama and secrets. I’ve enjoyed one of the author’s Hester Thursby novels, it was nice that she made an appearance. Living close to Boston, I also enjoyed the setting. This is a great murder mystery/detective novel.