Review: Our Little Secret by Roz Nay

Title: Our Little Secret

Author: Roz Nay

Published: April 2018, St. Martin’s Press

Format: ARC Paperback, 272 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary:

“A cracking read…Our Little Secret builds to a deliciously dark conclusion.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in Cabin 10

Our Little Secret is a twisted tale of love, pain, and revenge that will stay with the reader long after they turn the last page.

They say you never forget your first love. What they don’t say though, is that sometimes your first love won’t forget you…

A
police interview room is the last place Angela expected to find herself
today. It’s been hours, and they keep asking her the same inane
questions over and over. “How do you know the victim?” “What’s your
relationship with Mr. Parker?” Her ex’s wife has gone missing, and
anyone who was close to the couple is a suspect. Angela is tired of the
bottomless questions and tired of the cold room that stays the same
while a rotating litany of interrogators changes shifts around her. But
when criminologist Novak takes over, she can tell he’s not like the
others. He’s ready to listen, and she knows he’ll understand. When she
tells him that her story begins a decade before, long before Saskia was
in the picture, he gives her the floor. 

A twenty-something young
professional, Angela claims to have no involvement. How could she? It’s
been years since she and H.P., Mr. Parker that is, were together. As
her story unfolds, it deepens and darkens. There’s a lot to unpack…
betrayal, jealousy, and a group of people who all have motives for
retribution. If Angela is telling the truth, then who’s lying?

My thoughts: There are some books that just call to you…and this is definitely that kind of book. As you know, I am a huge fan of psychological suspense/thriller type books – I read tons of them, and you might think I would get tired of them…reading them all the time. But when there are ones out there, like this one, that blow you away, it’s hard to stop reading in this genre…and to think that this is a debut novel!

This little book packs quite a punch…it totally sucks you in and while you might think not much is going on – you would be totally wrong! I think the true genius here is in the way it is crafted. Having the backstory framed by the interrogation allows the backstory in a sense to become “the story.” It’s here that we learn about all our players and just what has gone on – this is where the suspense slowly builds…it starts in the past and every so slowly takes us up to the present. And as we are getting all this, there are breaks, where we come back to the present and see Angela in the interview room with the detective.

This book is a slow burning tale that really takes you on quite a ride…and gets under your skin the further you get into the story. It toys with your emotions, allowing you to think it’s just an innocent love story until it veers off track. Then all of a sudden, things are a bit more complicated, and what was once light and cheery is now tinged with darkness.

What I loved is that you become so wrapped up in this story, you become invested in what is going on that you are pulled in all different directions as to what really happened…so much so that by the time you reach the conclusion, you are in for quite a surprise. At least I was! I definitely will be keeping Roz Nay on my radar – this debut shows that she is a writer that knows how to spin a tale and I cannot wait to see what comes next from her!