Review | The Secret Keeper

Title: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Date Published: July 16, 2016

Dates Read: April 8-19, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.13/5

As promised, I've continued my read through/re-read of all Kate Morton's FANTASTIC books. This time I found one that I hadn't read before! Though it took me a little bit longer than usual to get through, I have to admit I think I like The Secret Keeper more than The Distant Hours. Both have their twist endings you never really saw coming and both are immaculately created with unique characters that each have their own unique voice, but something about The Secret Keeper has stayed with me longer than The Distant Hours has.

Also, I will do my best not to spoil this book (and any spoilers will be marked beforehand), but this book does touch briefly on spousal abuse and domestic violence. While there aren't any explicitly written scenes some scenes may be triggering to some readers. Please take care of yourself and your mental health and maybe skip this book if you are affected by those kinds of issues.

Laurel's London, 1960s | Photo by David Redfern

Ok, so what happens? During the 1960s, sixteen year old Laurel Nicolson witnesses something that has stayed with her for the rest of her life. While hiding away in her tree house Laurel witnesses her mother, Dolly, murder the strange man who has wandered onto their property. It is obvious from the fear on her mother's face that she knew this man, but its a secret she keeps almost completely to her grave.

Now, in 2011, Dolly is dying and with her dies the story of why she murdered that man. With her siblings gathered around her, Laurel decides to uncover the mystery and sifts through the clues her mother has left scattered throughout Laurel's childhood home. But as she learns more about the life her mother lead in London during the Blitz, she uncovers more than just Dolly's secrets.

Ok, so what did I think? This book is all kinds of shades of gray and I love it. We get to see Dolly the mother - a loving woman who wants nothing but the best for her children - and Dolly the young adult - a nosy girl who is easily offended by the smallest slights and consistently lives in a dream world of her own creation. We're introduced to Laurel the teenager - dealing with the emotional aftermath of witnessing a brutal murder - and Laurel the adult - a woman who has channeled her past experiences into a very successful acting career, but is now starting to fall apart at the seams as her mother gets sicker. We're also introduced to characters who are gone - Jimmy and Vivien - who's lives are so vibrant and rich that it's almost as though they still walk with Laurel and her siblings in the present day.

At first the story plays out how you would expect. There's a set up (the murder of the strange man) and the introduction to the mystery (why was Dolly afraid of him? Why did she kill him?) and then a shift to the past so that we can start to get the full picture of what went wrong, but as Laurel learns more of the story and Morton feeds us miniscule amounts of the backstory it becomes obvious that there is more to this than just a blackmailing attempt gone wrong.

Dolly was probably the hardest character to sympathize with. In the present day chapters of 2011, Dolly is in and out of consciousness and her memory is barely tethered to reality, but in 1940s London she is conniving and sometimes delusional. She is lost in a dream world of extravagance - something that made me a little uncomfortable as I can sometimes lose myself in imaginary scenarios similar to hers - and is easily offended when the objects of her focus seemingly slight her. In particular she becomes obsessed with the woman who lives across the street, Vivien, a woman she considers one of her dearest friends. When Vivien acts as though she's never met Dolly it fractures something inside of Dolly. She comes up with a plan to get back at Vivien, manipulating her boyfriend/fiancé, Jimmy, to help her. It's such a juvenile reaction that had me rolling my eyes, but it also wasn't totally unbelievable. How many modern stories have similar plots?

Morton does a great job pulling the rug out from under her readers. Is Dolly's offense warranted or is she just a little crazy? Does Vivien really not know the woman who lives across the street from her or is she just a bitch? Really the only person who seems easily readable from start to finish is Jimmy and the poor guy is pulled in a million different directions by those two women.

Dolly's London, 1940s

Let's talk about that ending - obviously spoilers ahead - Several years ago my husband and I went to go see Arrival in theaters. The reveal at the end was so spectacularly done that it felt like I had been waiting at the top of a rollercoaster and, now, the entire theatre was careening down the other side together. I had never had an experience in a movie theatre like that before, never had the same exact 'aha' moment that 50 other people had. While reading is obviously a lonely act compared to watching a movie, I felt that same feeling as Morton revealed the twist ending of The Secret Keeper. See, the entire book (and now this review) the readers are led to believe that the Dolly dying in 2011 and the Dolly trying to survive 1940s London are the same person, but they're not. In an effort to save 1940s Dolly from certain death at the hands of her abusive husband, Vivien visits Dolly at her lodging in the middle of a blackout while planes cruise above their heads. When a bomb explodes above the lodging, it is Dolly who is crushed by the debris and Vivien who survives. It was at that point that I realized where Morton was going and had my 'aha' moment. I could practically see the entirety of this book playing out in my head like a movie. I bet you if this ever were to grace the silver screen there would be a countless amount of theaters that had the same Arrival moment.

Long Story Short:

• What a twist!

• Again, Kate Morton = genius

• Men are so freaking helpless sometimes, aren't they?

My Rating: 5/5