Book Review: The Secret Keeper

I've heard so many good things about this book that I was anxious to read it. It might not have been the best timing to read it over the CBLI encampment. I had a hard time getting into it and sticking with it. I don't think this is a reflection on the writing, but rather on the timing and distractions. I wasn't a big fan of the method of skipping back and forth between the past and the present, although I do understand why the author chose to tell the tale in that manner. It was easier to tease out the truth of the tale a little bit at a time that way.

I believe I liked the ending more than anything else about the book. The story was going along quite nicely and then I got to a part that I hadn't expected and it turned the story into something a bit more likeable. I guess I was having a hard time getting behind the actions and behaviors of one of the key characters and when the truth was finally teased out, it made the whole journey more worthwhile.

Young Laurel Nicolson witnesses a crime when she is sixteen. Now, some fifty years later, she is trying to come to terms with what she saw and make some sense out of it. She must embark upon a trail of clues which will lead to the answers to her many questions. Who is her mother? Who was the man she saw murdered? Why was he murdered? How are the lives of Vivien, Jimmy, Dorothy, and Henry intertwined?

I would be willing to give another Kate Morton book a try. I liked the time period and the character development. While I never really felt drawn to any of the characters in this story, I believe the author has the ability to sweep the reader into the story and into the characters' lives.