Want to Know a Secret by Freida McFadden

 

Everyone has secrets.

YouTube baking sensation April Masterson knows the secret to the perfect gooey brownies. Or how to make key lime squares that will melt in your mouth. But if you keep watching her offline, you may find out some other secrets about April. Secrets she’d rather you didn’t know.

Like where did her son go when he snuck out of the house? What was she doing with the local soccer coach behind fogged windows?

And what’s buried in her backyard?

Everyone has secrets. Some are worse than others.

April’s secrets are enough to destroy her.

I’ll make sure of that.

I have had a mixed experience with Freida McFadden books, The Housemaid had me gripped but the others I have read haven't quite hit the mark that is until I sat and read Want to Know a Secret where once again I was swept along with a storyline that had me suspecting one character one minute then firmly accusing another one the next only to have me weaved into a web of twists and turns not knowing who to trust.

In the first half of this book which is told by April POV we get to know April who I began to see a little as a people pleaser, using her amazing cooking skills to form a sense of connection and security with people. Through April we meet her new neighbour Maria who she helps to introduce into the neighbourhood and the school mums including April's best friend Julie. In the beginning it feels just like easy reading cosy neighbourhood community vibes but gradually little things begin to make me suspicious and this is when I started collecting clues and suspicions on the women began to arise.

This book I guarantee will be an unpredictable read for every reader because one revelation literally hits so unexpectedly it was completely random. This is a fast paced thriller as we have come to know and expect from this authors books and is what I love as rather than a slow burn it keeps me on my toes right up until that very last page.

Available to purchase here

Dear Debbie Freida McFadden

 

Sometimes, enough is enough...

Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.

Or at least, she did.

These days, Debbie's life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie's done being the bigger person. She's done being reasonable and practical. It's time to take her own advice.

And now it's time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.

One thing I can always guarantee when it comes to a Freida McFadden book is that it will be quick paced and I will be completely blindsided and that was certainly the case when I sat down to read her new release Dear Debbie this morning and finished it in one greedy sitting!

I have never read another authors books whose storyline feels so unbelievably predictable only to be thrown a complete curve ball and a twist that I never see coming which bumps a 3 star read right up to a 4!

Debbie is certainly a bad ass character who will do whatever it takes to defend and protect her family in the most extreme ways, it became apparent quite early on that she is a character not to be messed with. The chapters alternate between Debbie, her husband Cooper and her friend Harley so we get to know these characters too and the brain starts looking for clues already trying to work out who we trust and whose motives we should be suspicious of.

This book is great for anyone who loves an unpredictable thriller that has revenge, long held secrets and deception at the heart of the book.

The Crash by Freida McFadden

 

The nightmare she’s running from is nothing compared to where she’s headed…

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realise she’s heading straight into a blizzard.

She never arrives at her destination.

Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle occurs: she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.

But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realise she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.

And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself – and her unborn child.

This is only my second book by Freida McFadden I was drawn in by the cover and when I read the synopsis it had me gripped so I instantly picked it up to take home with me and start reading straight away whilst it was still relatively new so had no spoilers floating around the socials to ruin it for me.

This author has such a speedy writing style that picks you up and pulls you along for a ride that you can't get off making it a book that is easy to read in one sitting so if you want a thriller to get lost in on that plane journey this is the book for you!

This was a thrilling storyline and one that I thought at first was looking a little predictable when it was told from Tegan's point of view but only for that to be flipped on its head when the books suddenly switches to Polly's point of view then everything I thought I had worked took a different turn and I thought this was really clever way of writing and it just drew my attention in even more.

Where the book is predictable in parts there are also other parts with one in particular that I didn't predict coming from a mile off and I loved having the wool pulled over my eyes.

I can't tell you any other thriller authors who manage to create so much drama in such a fast paced storyline I am so used to thrillers being a slow burn as they try and create an air of mystery but half the time my attention drifts and I become bored rather than absorbing the suspense they are trying to create whereas this author gives a feeling of urgency which keeps me on my toes more trying to work out clues and solutions quickly before something else happens and I am all for this.

I think this book is a great one to start your thrilling reading journey on because it isn't challenging but it is fast paced and action packed.