Part court room drama, part thriller, Helm’s novel places protagonist Georgia Sage in the position of courtroom artist. Georgia believes she can “see” the guilt or innocence of the people she encounters, but memories of her past have her questioning herself. A series of crimes committed in the present make Georgia wonder if choices she made in the past let a terrible evil go free to hunt and kill again and again. This is an intense, tightly woven thriller with an engaging and intelligent protagonist

"Atmospheric!"

Kate Helm's debut, THE SECRETS YOU HIDE, is a spellbinding taut, twisty blending of psychological, legal, and investigative crime thriller told from the perspective of the mysterious Georgia Sage—a courtroom artist with a dark, troubled past.

Georgia Sage has a gift: she can see evil in people. As a courtroom artist, she uses her skills to help condemn those who commit terrible crimes. After all, her brutal past means she knows innocence is even rarer than justice.

Georgia had a tragic childhood. Georgia comes to realize that everyone has their secrets. What happened twenty years ago? She was a tragic survivor. Her mother, and her brother Pip are gone, and her dad is in prison. Why was she saved?

She prides herself in helping put away criminals with her drawings in the courtroom. The courtroom scenes are vividly created, and the creation of Georgia's images are descriptive. Her skill in capturing poses and expressions has the potential to influence opinions and outcomes. Both good and evil.

When Georgia gets pulled into an old trial, she is determined to pursue justice.

However, she starts second-guessing herself with visions and hallucinations. Is she going crazy? Soon she learns she may be going blind with "Best disease."

About BEST Disease: Friedrich Best presented a detailed pedigree of the disease in 1905, Best vitelliform macular dystrophy, or Best disease, is hereditary retinal dystrophy involving the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE and leads to a characteristic bilateral yellow "egg-yolk" appearance of the macula.

Not a good thing for someone whose life needs her eyes to draw and perform her duties as a courtroom artist. The doctor said she had been using adaptive strategies as a workaround, but her site is slowly failing.

I LOVE legal and crime thrillers and courtroom dramas. This one also crosses into psychological as well as medical and literary fiction. The book is very well done, and the writing is superb. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Emma Powell, delivered an outstanding and engaging performance.

I also enjoyed the artistic side of the book with the portraits and the many layers, which serve as a metaphor and parallels with the characters' lives in the novel to be peeled back and unraveled.

The author keeps you glued to the pages, and as a reader, you are dying to find out what happened in Georgia's childhood and why she is haunted, changing her name and life. This part of the story was the most intriguing.

As a side storyline: Jim Fielding. Is he lying? Jim Fielding hero who rescued two kids from a fire in his house but could not save his pregnant wife. A fire his son went to prison for starting. Georgia is revisiting the storyline of Jim Fielding, a case from her past, to paint a portrait for a book commission (she has to revisit one of her first trials) where she was the artist.

Who was guilty, and did the right person go down?

Georgia uses her art to dig deeper into the case as a distraction technique from her life, slowly unraveling in front of her. She is a bit of an enigma and complex with survivors' guilt.

THE SECRETS YOU HIDE appears to be the author's debut crime thriller writing under Kate Helm, a pseudonym for author Kate Harrison. The novel is very deep and thought-provoking and enjoyed listening. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to #DreamscapeMedia and #NetGalley for an ALC (audiobook) to listen to, review, and enjoy and for introducing this talented author.

Blog Review Posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 Stars ✨✨✨✨💫
Pub Date: Sep 6, 2022
Sep 2022 Must-Read Books