I've FINALLY finished another book. This one is The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. In usual Kate Morton style, it starts off incredibly slow, and builds up, has a twist and then ends. Unfortunately I did find it kind of anti-climatic. The build up was there, but it certainly wasn't a 'I can't stop reading this' kind of build up. It's more of a 'Oh my god, will this ever end?' Although I enjoyed the book, I can't say it's exactly my favourite.
This story is about a woman named Laurel who is dealing with her mother's end-stage dementia. When Laurel was a child, a man came and her mother stabbed him, killing him on the spot. This incident stuck with her all her life, and it wasn't until now that she decided to start digging deeper into her mother's past. She learnt a lot about what she was like as a young woman during the Blitz, spending time with her sweetheart Jimmy. Basically what ends up happening is that Laurel's mother Dorothy ends up befriending a woman named Vivien. One day Vivien slights her, and Dorothy decided to get revenge by sending a letter and photo anonymously to Vivien's husband (who is a jealous, abusive jerk). Vivien finds out that her husband actually had some sketchy characters come and beat the living crap out of the man in the picture (who ended up being Jimmy) leaving him for dead. Vivien was afraid for Dorothy's life, and went to visit her to tell her to run away so that she wouldn't be hunted down and killed too. Unfortunately what happens is that a bomb happens to drop on Dorothy's boarding house, killing Dorothy. But how is it possible that Laurel is alive then? Well, to save herself and get out of her abusive marriage Vivien takes Dorothy's identity and ends up living her life. Anyway Laurel ends up finding all this out, and when she tells her mother, her mother is then relieved and was able to pass away peacefully.
Hopefully my synopsis won't confuse you, but that's the basic gist. It's a well written novel, but honestly the twist wasn't all that great (still unexpected though), and I did find it anti-climatic. Anyway I'm off to read a new Jodi Picoult book! Until next time, Happy Reading!