Best Kept Secrets
A Novel
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
A homicide detective must confront the darkest parts of her past in this “twisty, tantalizing” domestic thriller about best friends and siblings, driven to terrible acts (Karen Harper, New York Times–bestselling author).
Best friends tell each other everything.
Even their deepest, darkest secrets—pinky promise.
Right?
Morgan Jewell and Fay Ramsey are enjoying their last summer together before college. Fay is shy, with a controlling mother, and Morgan is the perfect, wild, loud-mouthed yang to Fay’s yin. But when Fay is found dead, Morgan’s entire world crumbles.
Years later, Morgan is still haunted by the abrupt end to her best friend’s life. She knew Fay held a secret in those final days, but Morgan, now a homicide detective, has failed to make a picture out of the crooked puzzle pieces she left behind. Nothing makes sense. The leads have run dry. Until she’s called to the scene of a murder: a woman whose body is left mangled, too similar to Fay’s to ignore.
Could it be? Morgan vowed to do right by Fay. This is the case she’s been waiting for to set her back on the killer’s trail. But the closer she gets, the harder it forces her to confront the memories of herself and her best friend. What was her secret? What got her killed? Maybe Morgan didn't know her at all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Det. Morgan Jewell of the Indianapolis Metro PD, the heroine of Phillips's underwhelming debut, is still consumed by the murder of her best friend, Fay Ramsey, 16 years earlier. Fay's death led Morgan to study "criminal psychology and law to try to make sense of what had happened to her friend," and it also caused memory loss that Morgan's psychiatrist, Dr. Taylor, has diagnosed as Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress syndrome; Dr. Taylor predicts the memories will someday return. Indeed, when the body of Hallie Marks, a successful designer, is discovered tied to a chair, having been tortured and severely beaten, the sight of Hallie's disfigured face does cause some of Morgan's repressed memories to resurface. After another young woman's body is found with similar injuries, Morgan believes that this case might be connected to the deaths of Hallie and Fay. The detective's erratic and self-absorbed behavior diminishes her ability to interview witnesses effectively or make logical deductions. The action builds to a surprising yet unconvincing finale. Hopefully, Phillips will do better next time.
