I Know Your Secret by Ruth Heald
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 8th January 2021
Published: 10th June 2020
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
You’re not who you say you are. Neither is she.
She thinks she knows me.
She believes my marriage is falling apart at the seams, that my husband can barely look me in the eyes. She thinks I’m desperate for a baby, that my longing for a family keeps me up at night. As much as I hate to admit it, all of this is true.
She thinks I listen to her advice, that I care about her opinion. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Because she has no idea who I am. She has no clue that I know everything.
I know her secret. I know that she did the unforgivable. I know how many lives she ruined.
I know exactly what she did. And I’m here for her.
An utterly gripping, addictive and shocking read about the dark secrets we’re ashamed to admit, and the lengths people go to for revenge. Fans of K.L. Slater, My Lovely Wife and The Wife Between Us will be racing through the pages, gasping at the twists, and reeling from the explosive ending of this unmissable page-turner.
MY REVIEW:
“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
Beth is a therapist who specialises in marriage guidance counselling. But she wasn't always a therapist. Fifteen years ago, she was an art school teacher but was then fired after it was discovered she had crossed the boundaries between teacher and student without proper protocol. As a result, and the loss of the love of her life Nick, she had a mental breakdown and referred herself to a psychiatric unit for treatment.
Beth has never gotten over Nick, and yet she married another. Richard, also a therapist, was her tutor where she was training to be a counsellor. Red light much? When she fell pregnant with Charlie it was a surprise but one they welcomed and embraced. Now despite suffering her own heartbreak and losses and deciding to help others through therapy, Beth cannot save her own marriage. After having a meaningless fling, Richard moves out and Beth's life begins to crumble. She feels eyes watching her. She believes someone is following her. Her life is slowly falling apart. History, it seems, is repeating itself.
Is this who you would want to be your therapist??
As it happens, it turns out that she is exactly the therapist Danielle wants. But why?
New client Danielle has issues of her own. With bad facial scars from a fire a year before, she comes to Beth for marriage counselling...only her husband Peter did not turn up. Danielle claims he feels therapy would benefit her moreso than him and in her words, refuses to come. And yet, she is trying to save her marriage. As a successful and hardworking lawyer, Danielle yearns for a baby of her own but apparently her husband isn't so keen. They'd recently taken a break from their marriage but reunited soon after, deciding to work on the problems in their marriage. Yet...why isn't Peter attending the therapy sessions with his wife?
Beth begins to suspect Danielle is keeping something back. But then she isn't surprised as most clients do for fear of exposing themselves too much. However, Beth prides herself on being able to read her clients and be able to tell when they are keeping something from her or not being completely honest. But Danielle has her hoodwinked.
Then Danielle reveals how she sustained her third degree burns on her face a year ago. Beth is shocked. And when Danielle confesses that she is scared of Peter's temper, of what he might do should she end their marriage, Beth feels she cannot abandon her client in need. Despite blurring the boundaries as a teacher and knowing the fine line between clients and therapists, Beth crosses it anyway. If Danielle is in danger...
And then things go terribly wrong. If Beth thought her life was crumbling before, then it is completely falling apart now. Everything she has built in the fifteen years since she lost the love of her life and her job was disintegrating before her very eyes. And she has no idea how to stop it or who would do something like this. It appears Beth has been reported for misconduct with a client in befriending them. Not only that, someone has also reported her to social services for negligent care of her four year old son Charlie. Someone is stalking her. Someone sent her photographs of Richard with the woman he had a fling with and now she is convinced she knows who that someone is. Who wants to destroy her life and make her suffer? Who wants her to lose everything?
Richard is worried about her but she doesn't believe him. Why would he be worried about her when he was the one who left her and is now selling the house out from under her?
Is Beth imagining things? Is she delusional again? Who would go to so much trouble to orchestrate everything to change her life direction? Who would hate her that much?
Feeling completely alone, Beth cries and pours her heart out to Nick's photo, wishing that he was still here with her. How different her life would have been had he lived.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!
Secrets and lies. Lies and secrets. Deception, deception, deception. Ruth Heald has crafted a perfect psychological/domestic thriller with two unreliable narrators in such a way that we don't know who to believe. Both appear to be strong women with successful careers but BOTH have a lot to hide. Danielle is not who she says she is but then Beth isn't as honest as she pretends to be either. So what are they hiding? Unlike Beth, Danielle knows exactly who Beth is and why she has sought her out. Beth remains oblivious...as does the reader for a good portion of the book. But I'm a little more savvy than Beth. Although I was puzzled to begin with, I soon figured out their roles in the past and how they were linked.
Both women are clearly unstable. Whilst Danielle maintains an air of normality, no sooner has Richard left that Beth has pulled out her former lovers photo and places them on display in pace of her husband...the man she shared a life with and created a child with. Richard may have cheated on her but how could he compete with a ghost when Beth makes no secret of the fact that Nick was the love of her life?
And then there is Danielle's marriage. Her husband Peter really appears to care for her but she keeps pushing him away. Why? He clearly states that he doesn't think a baby is the answer to their problems and yet Danielle is so sure that it is. But she has a deeper secret that she has kept even from him. What will he do when he discovers the truth?
Told from the alternating perspectives of Beth and Danielle throughout, I KNOW YOUR SECRET may be Ruth Heald's third domestic thriller but she is cracking the genre with the likes of Kim Slater and Shalini Boland. I thoroughly enjoyed the guessing game she had us playing as I endeavoured to puzzle it all out. A bold and unique thriller, I KNOW YOUR SECRET is fast paced and edge of your seat throughout...and I loved every minute of it.
A brilliant read that is entertaining and addictive right from the start, I KNOW YOUR SECRET will have fans of Kim Slater, Shalini Boland and Sheryl Browne flipping the pages at the speed of light.
I would like to thank #RuthHeald, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #IKnowYourSecret in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Ruth Heald is a psychological thriller writer from a suburban Buckinghamshire town. She studied Economics at Oxford and then worked in an eclectic mix of sectors from nuclear decommissioning to management consulting.Seeking a more creative environment, she found a role at the BBC and worked there for nine years before leaving to write full time. Ruth is fascinated by psychology and finding out what drives people to violence, destruction and revenge. She’s married with one daughter and her novels explore our greatest fears in otherwise ordinary, domestic lives.
To keep up to date with Ruth’s work you can sign up to her mailing list on her website and follow her on these social media accounts.
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