A Guilty Secret

Reading the anxiety-fuelled classic Safe And Sound a few years back made Philippa East a must read author for me. I've read all of her books and read each new one asap.

A Guilty Secret is a cracker. It's also rather unconventional as ex-husband and wife Finn and Mhairi are drawn together in grief and to investigate the sudden death of their old friend Kate. Mix in a remote Scottish boarding school where something happened in the past and you can start to see the potential.

Told in multiple perspectives and timelines, including Finn in 2019, one of the girls at the school in 2003 and that another of another ex-pupil in 2019, Philippa East expertly weaves an intricate and unpredictable plot. The characters are well crafted, the scenes are well-set and you are never left confused. It keeps you alert and thinking but never leaves you puzzled.

It gets dark, and rather anxious, there are secrets to reveal and truths to be told.

I've read plenty of 'old school friends, now adults, trying to keep the past hidden' thrillers and this is definitely one of the better ones. It's the way you tell 'em...

A Guilty Secret is very skilfully layered and structured and held me in rapt with tense curiosity from start to finish.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ

A very dark read. So many secrets and twists that made the story great. A very good book that had me hooked till the end

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy to read and review.

What can I say about this book? It was an unputdownable book!!! The story is told over two different timelines, 2003 & 2019, and through different characters. It begins with Finn and Mhairi meeting for the first time since their divorce for the loss of their friend, Dr Kate Fallon. They go on a rollercoaster whistle-stop trip to solve a mystery that Kate had started when she took on a client called Carrie G! They are led down through their adventures by following leads that ends up with an explosive finish at St Michael's in Scotland. The characters were well written and the locations were so descriptive. I will be recommending this book to my book friends.