The Darkest Secret is a fairly recent release, only being published earlier in 2016, but I just couldn’t wait to read it! However, because of the amount of work I had to do, I made my way through it quite slowly, but my reading definitely had nothing to do with the gripping plotline!
Below is my review, plus a sneaky peak at the front cover and description and places to buy:
About The Book
‘The Darkest Secret’ by Alex Marwood
When three-year-old identical twin Coco goes missing during a family celebration, there is a media frenzy. Her parents are rich and influential, as are the friends they were with at their holiday home by the sea.
But what really happened to Coco during her father’s 50th birthday weekend?
Set across two weekends – the first when Coco goes missing and the second, at the funeral of Coco’s father, where at last, the darkest of secrets will be revealed…
My Review
The Darkest Secret is a mystery thriller book set in England, and follows several characters in their telling of different parts of the story. Set at different times, the weekend Coco goes missing and the weekend of her father’s funeral, the reader slowly gets to unravel the mystery from each character’s perspective. Everything that happens is logical, and everything added up at the end, which is always a satisfying end to any nivel, especially thrillers! Of course, with every good thriller comes unpredictability and the all important climactic ending, which both made a strong appearance in this novel! In fact, one major plot point that tied everything together happened on the very last page, which definitely kept the suspense going until the very end, literally!
There were so many characters involved, which sometimes made it difficult to keep up with who was who, but also madenit more exciting, because there were more witnesses with stories of their own to tell. My favourite characters were Milly/Mila and Ruby, because of their sisterly relationship that developed over the course of the novel, and the genuine nature of their characters. All of the characters were very well developed and felt quite life like, but it also helped that the circumstances in which everything happened was quite realistic as well.
I was always kept guessing throughout the book! It started off quite slow, and the main plot points didn’t really start to kick in until about half way through the book, but once they did I was turning every possibility over in my head. My favourite part of the book was when Ruby and Milly are going through the jewellery, as I found that to be the point where everything kicked off and really started rolling along a lot faster. The cliffhangers at the end of chapters were written particularly well, because the following chapter would always be jumping to the other part of the story on the other weekend, so it kept me reading to find out what was going to happen. It could also get quite emotional at times, especially towards the end when everything came to light.
I would definitely recommend this to any mystery fan, especially if you want to be hanging on until the very last page. Make sure you give this book the time it deserves, unlike me, as it would be very possible to read in one sitting because it is so gripping!
My Rating: 4.5 Muffins out of 5
Where To Buy
If you like the sound of the book, here is where you can buy the book (including, but not limited to):
Cover photo and description taken from Goodreads (view book profile here)
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