The Secret We Hide by Karin Slaughter: Gripping, Emotionally Layered, and Impossible to Second-Guess

I thought I could outsmart a Karin Slaughter mystery. I was wrong, happily and completely wrong.

Synopsis

The next thrilling mystery in the new North Falls series from Karin Slaughter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and the Will Trent Series.

Welcome to North Falls. A small town where everyone knows everyone. But nobody knows the truth.

1601 Iris Drive looks like any other house on the quiet, residential street. But rumors are rampant about the Vickery family, and what goes on behind closed doors.

When gunshots ring out, Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister, ex-federal agent Jude Archer, discover a devastating crime scene. Allison Vickery has been murdered in her own kitchen, and her teenage daughter is bleeding upstairs, left for dead.

Everyone thinks they know what happened. But secrets are buried everywhere in this small town.

And it’s up to Emmy Clifton to uncover the truth…

Audiobook review

5 stars

Kathleen Early’s narration was once again perfect for the story. Exactly the right voice, exactly the right tone.

I won’t write a long review, this being a crime and mystery novel and I refuse to spoil anything. But here’s what I will say.

I loved being back in North Falls. There’s something deeply satisfying about returning to characters who have become familiar, and I don’t mean just Emmy and Jude. The entire Clifton family, the crotchety aunt, the OCD cousin, all of them feel like people I know. The story gripped me from the first chapter and never let go, and I never, not once, guessed who the perpetrator was. We circle around suspects again and again until a breakthrough pushes Emmy and Jude in one direction, only for the rug to be pulled out from under us all over again.

The profiler layer that Jude brings to the investigation was one of my favorite things about this book. Watching her walk Emmy through criminal behavior, statistics, and how to read a crime scene was genuinely fascinating. I learned a great deal about how crimes are solved. I sincerely hope I never have to use any of it.

The emotional weight is equally heavy. The relationship landmines are everywhere: between Jude and Emmy, between Allyson and Mandy, the guilt of disappointing your child, the despair of growing up with an abusive parent, the long shadow of abandonment. Everything is intense, complex, and very sad.

Add to all this the contempt of some men for women, the way Emmy had to assert her authority on some of her men but also the hero worship that surrounded Jude and you get the gist of that incredibly efficient and compelling story.

I know that I will read all the Karin Slaughter books that I can and, boarding the fan base late, lucky for me I have a ton of books ready to be read!

Thanks for reading.

Sophie