"The Secrets You Hide" by Kate Helm is one of those books you really want to keep reading and not want to stop, it's easy to read, clearly written and with an exciting premise it really does keep you hooked from page one. The opening chapter was brilliant at grabbing the reader's attention and once read, it becomes a very compelling story.
I liked the unusual premise of using a court artist as the main protagonist who believes she can feel and sense evil in people. I liked her a lot and it was interesting to see how court artists actually feature in a courtroom having myself seen artists' sketches in the media before during trials. I was particularly interested in the footballers rape trial that she was working on during the first half of the book and felt it was handled exceedingly true to life.
The author has also done her medical research, as I was very intrigued by a diagnosis made during the story which promptly made me google the conditions and symptoms. Understanding these conditions really helped with making the book more realistic for me, as I'd never heard of anything like it before.
There isn't a lot of action in the story, it is very character driven from the point of view of Georgia the main character, but the ending is fast paced, tense and very unexpected and I liked how the denouement fully pulled together the many threads of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading how it all played out.
I liked all of the characters especially Oli the barrister and ex boyfriend of Georgia and I truly felt for Suzanne/Georgia's tragic childhood background, especially after she explained properly what happened that day with her family and how she reacted to her younger brother too before it all happened. Very sad and I did sorely feel for her guilt.
I can see why this book would be recommended for fans of Clare Mackintosh, as the slow burn feel to the novel just accentuates every twist and turn until you really don't know who to trust. Very clever and excellently written.
The author Kate Helm has previously published successful books under the name Kate Harrison but this is her first thriller under her new pseudonym and what a debut it is too!
A very cleverly plotted and thought out thriller, I'd have no hesitation in recommending and I really do hope there'll be more by Kate Helm again in the future.
5 stars
I liked the unusual premise of using a court artist as the main protagonist who believes she can feel and sense evil in people. I liked her a lot and it was interesting to see how court artists actually feature in a courtroom having myself seen artists' sketches in the media before during trials. I was particularly interested in the footballers rape trial that she was working on during the first half of the book and felt it was handled exceedingly true to life.
The author has also done her medical research, as I was very intrigued by a diagnosis made during the story which promptly made me google the conditions and symptoms. Understanding these conditions really helped with making the book more realistic for me, as I'd never heard of anything like it before.
There isn't a lot of action in the story, it is very character driven from the point of view of Georgia the main character, but the ending is fast paced, tense and very unexpected and I liked how the denouement fully pulled together the many threads of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading how it all played out.
I liked all of the characters especially Oli the barrister and ex boyfriend of Georgia and I truly felt for Suzanne/Georgia's tragic childhood background, especially after she explained properly what happened that day with her family and how she reacted to her younger brother too before it all happened. Very sad and I did sorely feel for her guilt.
I can see why this book would be recommended for fans of Clare Mackintosh, as the slow burn feel to the novel just accentuates every twist and turn until you really don't know who to trust. Very clever and excellently written.
The author Kate Helm has previously published successful books under the name Kate Harrison but this is her first thriller under her new pseudonym and what a debut it is too!
A very cleverly plotted and thought out thriller, I'd have no hesitation in recommending and I really do hope there'll be more by Kate Helm again in the future.
5 stars