Let's be honest here. If I had noticed 'school run revenge' I would never have picked this book up. I didn't even know that such a genre existed. But the opening is a letter from prison. The story has murder and disturbing psychological stuff. I'm okay with that.

Most of the story centres around petty gossip, spiteful actions, wide eyes and blanching, but the deeds become more menacing as the book progresses. The Secretary has a one-night stand with the husband of one of the parents of the school where she works. That betrayed parent also happens to be head of the PTA and very popular amongst the other parents and staff.

Both the eponymous mother and her eight-year old son suffer from extreme anxiety, low self-esteem and bullying, as well as other psychological issues from the past. This serves to hinder any attempts to deal with the current situation and at times it appears that the mother and her son are their own worst enemies.

The story is written in the first person, informal, raw and authentic, fast-paced and fairly believable in some instances. Ultimately this easy to read book is full of suspense, unpleasant, immature characters - and the perfect revenge trope. The inserted letters from prison are a great touch.

This is one of those books which is quite believable, which kind of scares me even more!

It’s Ruth and her son, Sam, against the world after her husband left them. Ruth makes the mistake of sleeping with a man and that mistake comes back to haunt her and she will go to any length to protect her son.

Ruth was a tricky person to have as a main character - I swung between really disliking her and rooting for her - mostly during the latter stages of revenge. What that says about me I'm not sure... but this is a roller-coaster ride for any die hard thriller fans!!

A fast paced story with a twist at the end that I did not see coming!I
I did find Ruth a bit of a strange person with the decisions she made, and a couple of the other characters seemed almost unbelievable, but overall the story was good, and like I said the end twist really got to me!
How far would a parent go for their children.
Thank you netgalley

Dark and twisty! Ruth has a perfect job as a school secretary. She is respected and hardworking until one day a situation brings personal and professional life together with drastic results. What follows is a story of revenge, secrets, whodunnits and scenarios erupting out of control. I didn't know if I was rooting for Ruth or not who was intent on keeping her son safe from the world. There were certainly worse characters... Really gripping and a stunning ending.

Very well written, realistic, and unique even though it’s a plot done many times! I didn’t have to suspend believe to understand, as I feel everything that took place, could defiantly happen in real life! The characters were well done, developed in a manner that made me want to finish their story! Lots of shocks, chills, thrills, and suspense! Definitely recommend this quick read that’s sure to grab your attention!

Will buzz up and review using low Amazon reviewer #!

This was an enjoyable thriller to read quickly. I liked the plot, the suspense and the characters.
Would read from the writer again.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

When single mum Ruth has a brief fling with Rob, she's mortified to discover that he lied to her. He lied to her, because he's married. Worse still, he's the husband of Janine, head of the PTA at the primary school where Ruth works as secretary, and when the truth of their fling is discovered, Ruth suddenly has a lot of enemies at the school gates. Threatening texts begin to arrive, rumours abound and the staff room becomes hostile. But when it also starts to affect her son, a student at the school, Ruth realises you can do anything if you convince yourself it's for the sake of your child.

As my blunt description of this states, I found this read very unlikeable. The plot is childish, from the description I thought it sounded childish but I was not prepared for how the adults behave throughout. There are moments where I liked the plot but they were fleeting and it soon returned to the ridiculous state. The plot is obvious as well which was a real shame. I keep saying this recently, but I want a thriller to be shocking and have something to make me sit up and take notice, sadly I saw the twist coming a mile away. To be honest, I debated rating this 2 stars but there was something that kept me reading this so I opted for the higher rating.

As well as the plot being unlikeable the characters are not likeable either, especially Ruth. I can handle some characters being unlikeable, I could even handle all of them being unlikeable if there was something to make me root for one of them, however this read had none of this. I did not care about any of them, I was not rooting for any of them and I did not really find them to be realistic either. Without going into details, there was a character I thought I would like but they were utterly wasted. I finished reading this and immediately thought what was the point of them, I feel Lea could have done so much more with the characters.

'The Secretary' follows a bunch of adults as they behave like children. I was very disappointed and cannot think of positives. If you want a thriller that borders on the ridiculous, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy.

Poor poor Ruth. She’s just trying to make her and her son’s life easy by making friends in the school playground (it’s what every mum tries to do and it’s not easy) … but she made a mistake… with drastic consequences and what follows is the fallout…

But Ruth is offered a stick to defend herself and boy does she use it. Janine and her clique have poked Ruth and she’s reacted. She’s protecting her son as any parent would and the lengths she goes to are ingenious and rather vindictive, given the hard time they’re both getting. And as events escalate, Ruth becomes more questionable and unreliable.

This is one of those books which is quite believable - although that would be rather worrying. Ruth was a difficult person to have as a main character - I swung between really disliking her and cheering her on - mostly during the latter stages of revenge. What that says about me I'm not sure, but I did quite enjoy the book, when I wasn't yelling at it.

The Secretary by Zoe Lea

I was invited to read this book by the publisher, and after reading the description I couldn’t say no. Also, this is my first book from this author.

The Secretary is a fast paced, well written, psychological thriller that I couldn’t put down. After reading the opening chapter I was desperate to find out what had happened, especially as the book open with an anonymous letter from a prisoner at the HMP Westmorland Prison. From there we follow Ruth a single mum who works as a secretary at her son’s school. Ruth’s life is then turned upside down with events that spiral out of control after a one night stand. Just as you think you know what’s going to happen the direction changes and you’re back to guessing what could happen next. However, saying that I did manage to work out part of the ending, which if was quite obvious a few chapters before the end, but I was definitely not expecting the final twist at the end.

Although the plot was great and the characters were well developed I can’t say that I personally liked them. At times I found their actions a little petty and ridiculous, but at the same time I have witnessed some of the behaviours while having both worked as a volunteer at several schools and while dropping off and picking up my nieces and nephews at school.

This was a very addictive read and it really got me thinking about how far a parent would go to protect their child. And trust me after reading this book you’ll really learn how far they are willing go!!!

Definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fast paced psychological thriller!!!

A big thank you to publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I nearly gave up on this book at about 40% but read some reviews so kept on going. I’m sorry but I didn’t grow to like it any more and feel I could have spent those three hours more productively. None of the characters are likeable and the main protagonist is totally ridiculous and unbelievable. The motivations are spurious at best and downright incredible at worse. This story had the bones of a good psychological thriller but was handled clumsily and the ending was trite.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An enthralling and suspenseful thriller from an immensely talented author. What I loved about this book is the gradual air of menace that builds up in Lea's masterfully constructed narrative. This is no crash-bang-wallop tale full of gimmicks and sops to readers who like their stories hard and fast with all the subtlety of a literary sledgehammer. 'The Secretary' is a psychological thriller in its purest form. It is essentially a twisty tale of a one night stand gone wrong. Correction: very wrong indeed. Usually, such fleetingly inconsequential events are happily consigned to the dustbin of one's history, but not for the main protagonist of our tale, school secretary, Ruth. The other-half of their brief sexual encounter is Rob, and Rob is not the single man he purported to be at the time. Far from it. Indeed, Rob is the husband of Janine, head of the school's PTA committee. Gleefully for the armchair voyeur, the readers of Lea's tale, Janine finds out about her husband and Ruth's shenanigans and the story begins to take a dark turn. With Ruth rapidly becoming an object of hate amongst the parents and teachers associated with the school, the circle is squared, Ruth is now the focus of every angst-ridden wife's ire. Quickly events spiral out of control in a wickedly delicious way. Though, it must be said, not in the way I expected. Lea still had a few tricks up her sleeve, and they were utilised to great effect in her pitch-perfect plotting. But let's just say for arguments sake that not everyone is who they seem. Yes, we may have an unreliable narrator[s] in our midst, a spectre that dials up the wickedness of 'The Secretary' more than a few notches. I absolutely loved it.

I really enjoyed this book, I read it in a couple of days as I was reading it every time I could. Really great and strong characters, well written and definitely recommend! Superb!!

I enjoyed this book. Ruth is the school secretary at the primary school her son attends. She is a single parent and has a very troublesome relationship with her ex husband. After a one night stand with a guy called Rob, who tells her he is single, she discovers that he is actually married to Janine, the chair of the PTA. When it becomes common knowledge what happened, Ruth finds herself the target of staff and other parents at the school. It also becomes obvious that she herself is a bit unhinged. A good page turner, though I felt the ending was a bit contrived. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

What an amazing, unputdownable read, I was utterly gripped, the ending was just amazing. Definitely 5 stars from me!

There's a lot that goes on in this book and it was incredibly fast-paced, thrilling, and left my jaw on the floor.

Incredible! Highly recommended!

Fast paced
Unpredictable
Addictive
Plenty of twists and turns
And a plot that keeps you guessing
What's not to like
Would I recommend it
Definitely

Thank you netgalley, Zoe Lea and Little, Brown Book Group UK for allowing me to read and review this book

The Secretary opens with a letter from HMP Westmorland Prison, you don't know who is writing the letter, who it is to or what they have done but it grabs your attention - you then skip to seven months before the letter and into the lives of Ruth and Sam. Ruth is a single mum working as the secretary at Sam's school as she wants to be closer to him as he suffers from anxiety. Ruth's life is turned on its head when she comes face to face with her one & only one night stand in the school car park. Events quickly escalate and spiral out of control, and the chapters are interspersed with more mystery letters from prison.

Just as you think you know where the story is heading it changes direction, and you are kept guessing as to what has happened until the very end.

A very addictive read.

I was given a copy of The Secretary by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an honest review.

The Secretary is a fab thriller that shows you that no matter what you will do anything to protect your child.
Ruth is a single parent to Sam and is a secretary at his primary school, she was married to Will but he had an affair and the relationship ended, life is lonely for Ruth and gets cajoled into going to a valentines night where she meets Rob, he’s single, good looking and she has a one night stand with him. Time passes and Ruth finds out that Rob is actually married to Janine, the most popular mum at the school and head of the PTA. Janine finds out and Ruth’s life goes into freefall. Trying to protect her son from a classroom bully and herself from Janine and all her friends doing awful things to her sees her life get out of control and when Will says he’s going to apply for custody of Sam, Ruth sees herself getting deeper into trouble.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth is a single parent to her 8 year old son Sam. After splitting up with her ex husband Will, Ruth had a one night stand with Rob who she met on Valentine’s evening, while out with her friend Becky. When he gives her a fake phone number she does not expect to see him again.

Ruth is horrified when Rob turns out to be a parent at the school where she works as a secretary, worst still his wife is the head of the PTA and when their fling is discovered Ruth suddenly has a lot of enemies and her job is at risk. When the situation spirals into her car being vandalised she needs to find out who the culprit is!!

This book shows that a parent will do anything to protect their children, especially as Sam is already being bullied and suffers with anxiety. We see that Ruth will stop at nothing as she seeks revenge.

This book had me on the edge of my sofa wondering what Ruth will do next and the ending was ...well you will have to read it. But let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed!!

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.