The Darkest Secret
A Novel
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4.0 • 6 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
“If there has been a better mystery-suspense story written in this decade, I can’t think of it . . . transcend[s] the genre.” —Stephen King
“A cruel and cunning mystery . . . Plot-twisting, mind-altering and monstrously funny.” —The New York Times Book Review
The latest gripping psychological thriller from Edgar Award winner Alex Marwood
When a child goes missing at an opulent house party, it makes international news. But what really happened behind those closed doors?
Twelve years ago, Mila Jackson’s three-year-old half-sister Coco disappeared during their father’s fiftieth birthday celebration, leaving behind her identical twin Ruby as the only witness. The girls’ father, Sean, was wealthy and influential, as were the friends gathered at their seaside vacation home for the weekend’s debauchery. The case ignited a media frenzy and forever changed the lives of everyone involved.
Now, Sean Jackson is dead, and the people who were present that terrible night must gather once more for a funeral that will reveal that the secrets of the past can never stay hidden. Perfectly paced all the way through its devastating conclusion, The Darkest Secret is one that fans of Gillian Flynn and Liane Moriarty won’t be able to put down.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Edgar-winner Marwood's compulsively readable if not wholly satisfying psychological thriller, real estate magnate Sean Jackson throws himself an elaborate 50th birthday bash in the posh British seaside town of Bournemouth one summer weekend in 2004. When Sean's touchy second wife, Claire, fires the nanny before the weekend, the couple take charge of their three-year-old twins, Coco and Ruby. Then Coco disappears overnight from the room she shares with Ruby at the Jackson holiday home and is never seen again. Twelve years later, Sean is dead of a heart attack, discovered handcuffed to a bed with a woman who isn't his fourth wife. Mila, one of Sean's daughters by his first marriage, reluctantly identifies the body and later agrees to accompany Ruby to Sean's funeral. The toxic Jackson family air soon envelops the half-sisters amid the lingering questions surrounding Coco's disappearance. Marwood (The Killer Next Door) shifts time periods effortlessly and creates a noxious cast of characters, but keen readers may predict the final twist. Five-city author tour.
