The Darkest Secret: A Novel

by Alex Marwood Narrated by Beverley A. Crick

Overview

Real estate mogul Sean Jackson is throwing himself a splashy fiftieth birthday party, but trouble starts almost immediately: His ex-wife has sent his teenage daughters to the party without telling him; his current wife has fired the nanny; and he's finding it difficult to sneak away to his mistress. Then something truly terrible happens: one of his three-year-old twins goes missing. No trace of her is ever found. The attendees of the party, nicknamed the Jackson Associates by the press, become infamous overnight.


Twelve years later, Sean is dead. The Jackson Associates assemble for the funeral, together for the first time since that fateful weekend. Soon the barbed comments and accusations are flying. By the end of the weekend, one will be dead. And one of Sean's daughters will make a shocking discovery.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

…[a] cruel and cunning mystery…

Publishers Weekly

06/13/2016
In Edgar-winner Marwood’s compulsively readable if not wholly satisfying psychological thriller, real estate magnate Sean Jackson throws himself an elaborate 50th birthday bash in the posh British seaside town of Bournemouth one summer weekend in 2004. When Sean’s touchy second wife, Claire, fires the nanny before the weekend, the couple take charge of their three-year-old twins, Coco and Ruby. Then Coco disappears overnight from the room she shares with Ruby at the Jackson holiday home and is never seen again. Twelve years later, Sean is dead of a heart attack, discovered handcuffed to a bed with a woman who isn’t his fourth wife. Mila, one of Sean’s daughters by his first marriage, reluctantly identifies the body and later agrees to accompany Ruby to Sean’s funeral. The toxic Jackson family air soon envelops the half-sisters amid the lingering questions surrounding Coco’s disappearance. Marwood (The Killer Next Door) shifts time periods effortlessly and creates a noxious cast of characters, but keen readers may predict the final twist. Five-city author tour. Agent: Laetitia Rutherford, Watson, Little (U.K.). (Aug.)

From the Publisher

[A] cruel and cunning mystery. . . . Plot-twisting, mind-altering and monstrously funny.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“Perhaps the most heartfelt praise I can give the English novelist Alex Marwood’s unsettling new thriller The Darkest Secret is to report that it kept me up way, way past my bedtime . . . one astonishment follows another . . . [with a] cool eye . . . [Marwood] does a remarkable job of blending her sophisticated humor, her mordant view of the rich and the heartbreak of a missing child.” —Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post

“The Darkest Secret is no whodunit. In crafting what might be called a cutting ‘whodidn'tdoit,’ British novelist Alex Marwood takes aim at an entire social class for its self-directed, destructive ways.” —The Chicago Tribune

“Compelling. . . . Marwood delivers a gripping cautionary tale about how one person's dominating personality can infect those around him. . . . Marwood’s keen sense of suspense and observations of human fragility lead The Darkest Secret to a stunning finale.” —Yahoo.com

“Brilliant.” —The Atlantic

“Cutting expertly from past to present among a cast of deliriously unpleasant characters, Marwood’s devilishly plotted tale arrives at an unexpectedly moving, human climax before its utterly devastating epilogue. . . . As much a black comedy of contemporary bad manners as psychological thriller, The Darkest Secret is a triumph and a treat.” —The Irish Times

“A tense, poignant and ingeniously crafted mystery about a missing child, toxic relationships and family secrets.” —The Guardian (selected for “If you only buy one” crime novel for summer 2016)

“Unsettling . . . cleverly plotted and gripping.” —The Sunday Mirror 

“A riveting read. Alex Marwood [is] the killer thriller writer. . . . Rarely have I found a book so unputdownable.” —The Sunday Independent 

“Jackson, an identical twin, is just three years old when she goes missing. But, as the plot begins to thicken, it reveals  a far more complex story than simply one of abduction by an unknown person. . . . The mystery does not give up its secrets easily. . . . compellingly told.” —The Daily Mail

“Tightly woven, precisely detailed, and consistently involving . . . truly engrossing . . . exactly what a mystery novel should be: suspenseful, comprehensive, fast-paced, upsetting, and fulfilling. Marwood proves once again why she’s become so celebrated so quickly, as she packs her sophisticated yet gritty storytelling with characters that you’ll grow to hate and/or pity. . . . Without a doubt, The Darkest Secret will stay with you for a while.” —Pop Matters

“A book you will feel you have to finish as soon as you start reading it. A thriller with twists and turns that keep you fascinated right to the very end.” —The Mature Times
 
“She won an Edgar Award for her word of mouth bestseller The Wicked Girls and a Macavity Award for The Killer Next Door. Now Marwood intrigues with another tastily twisty thriller.” —The Evening Telegraph

“It's a cliché, but I really could hardly put down this excellent new thriller by Brit Alex Marwood. [A] twist- and passion-filled mystery.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The reader’s heart sinks and pulse races as the author . . . teases out the true story. Marwood is emerging as a first-rate teller of twisted tales and ‘don’t let it be so’ suspense. Think Minette Walters and Barbara Vine with a little Gillian Flynn thrown in.” —Booklist

“For readers who prefer their psychological thrillers dark, twisty, and filled with loathsome people, Marwood serves up the perfect dish.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Compulsively readable. . . . Marwood shifts time periods effortlessly and created a noxious cast of characters.” —Publishers Weekly

“The Darkest Secret is Alex Marwood's best book yet—no small thing when one considers that her first two crime novels were both award winners. Her plots are always top-notch—deft, twisty—but it's the humanity she grants all her characters that makes her one of our best. This story will grip you to the final page, but Milly and her troubled family may never leave you.” —Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of What the Dead Know and Every Secret Thing

“With the psychological acuity of Kate Atkinson and a dark wit all her own, Alex Marwood draws us into The Darkest Secret with utter narrative cunning, then surprises with its emotional wallop, its deeper resonances. In so doing, she demonstrates, without a doubt, that she is one of crime fiction’s brightest stars. Not to be missed.” —Megan Abbott, Edgar award winning authof of Dare Me and The Fever

“At turns suspenseful, chilling and deeply, unexpectedly moving, The Darkest Secret is a true tour de force. Alex Marwood's richly detailed, heartbreakingly human characters will stay with you long after the book's shocking conclusion. I loved it.” —Alison Gaylin, USA Today bestselling author of the Brenna Spector Series

“With The Darkest Secret, Alex Marwood has become one of my must-read crime writers.  It's an amazingly gripping book, and the structure is a thing of beauty.” —Sophie Hannah, internationally bestselling author of The Wrong Mother and The Dead Lie Down

“Simply tremendous, so tense and packed with pathos. I loved every page of it.” —Sarah Hilary, author of Someone Else's Skin and No Other Darkness

Library Journal

03/15/2016
After one of real estate mogul Sean Jackson's three-year-old twins vanishes at the glittery 50th birthday party he throws himself, Jackson is not the only one whose name is permanently tarnished; party attendees, dubbed the Jackson Associates, are regarded skeptically as well. Accusations are traded when they gather 12 years later for Sean's funeral, which ends with mayhem and a shocking discovery. Marwood's career has so far been resplendent; her debut, The Wicked Girls, won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, while the follow-up, The Killer Next Door, won a Macavity and has been optioned for film by James Franco. With a five-city tour.

Kirkus Reviews

2016-06-01
For readers who prefer their psychological thrillers dark, twisty, and filled with loathsome people, Marwood serves up the perfect dish in this story of very rich people, a missing twin, and an ill-fated weekend.When 3-year-old Coco Jackson disappeared from a huge, expensive mansion in one of Britain's toniest neighborhoods, she left behind an enduring modern mystery. The daughter—one of a pair of twins—of Sean Jackson, a millionaire land developer with a tendency to shed wives like old shoes, Coco vanished from her bed during her father's 50th birthday party, but the weekend was difficult even before that. Claire, Sean's wife and the mother of twins Coco and Ruby, fired the nanny in a jealous fit of pique before the party got rolling and spent most of her time feuding with her wandering spouse. Add in an unwelcome surprise visit from Camilla and India, the daughters from Sean's first marriage, and a mishmash of characters who include a teenager with an unhealthy crush on the birthday boy, and Marwood sets up a gathering that's unlikely to be remembered fondly by anyone present. The story shifts from the weekend Coco vanished in 2004 to the present, when the grown-up and still belligerent Camilla is notified that her father has been found dead in a hotel room, handcuffed to the bed. Camilla traces her difficult relationship with her dad while the flashbacks examine the hard-partying and irresponsible scene Sean and his friends indulged on the weekend Coco disappeared. Marwood introduces a boatload of characters early in the game, making for a bit of character soup, but she's a skilled writer who eventually turns a meandering narrative into a cohesive story. Marwood's tale proves unsatisfying and unsettling in equal measures.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170822591
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/30/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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