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Summary: IDEAL PAIRING OF VOICE AND STORY
Review: What can one do when something evil is happening yet you cannot speak of it because when you do your family and friends begin to doubt your mental stability? You're left alone to try to fight for your life and defeat the unthinkable that masquerades as kindness and charm.
That's the situation Miranda finds herself in as Nicci French (a husband/wife writing duo) roll out another spellbinder. An ideal pairing of voice and story are found in British native Anne Flossnik who gives an over the top performance as Miranda, a London based artist.
Life was humming along quite well for Miranda until the day she met a handsome fellow calling himself Brendan Block. At first she's taken in by his charm, his attentiveness and they embark on a brief affair - which comes to an abrupt end when she finds him reading her diary.
Imagine her surprise when sister Kerri pops up with a new boyfriend and it's the handsome, congenial Brendan. It's easy to see why Kerri, a rather shy miss, will believe every word he says, but the sisters' parents are also taken in. When he claims to have broken off with Miranda rather than the other way around, all believe him. It's not too long before Kerri and Brendan are engaged.
Although she knows better, Miranda agrees to let Kerri and Brendan live in her apartment until their home is ready. Bad move. Very much like an alien being Brendan is suddenly everywhere in Miranda's life, poking into her very private affairs, and turning those closest against her. She's repelled by the things he murmurs in her ear, and frightened of his debilitating contrivances.
As always, Nicci French delivers prime suspense laced with surprises.
- Gail Cooke
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Summary: Chilling Psychological Thriller
Review: Author French (LAND OF THE LIVING) chills readers with her latest psychological thriller when a love affair goes bad with alarming repercussions. Miranda is a house painter living in London and enjoying a new relationship with boyfriend Nick when she learns that her ex lover, Brendan Block, and her sister Kerry are now a couple. A true charmer, Brendan has won over Kerry's parents and claims that Miranda is still having trouble getting over him.
Brendan's continued presence in Miranda's life disrupts her relationship with Nick. When Miranda allows Brendan and Kerry to stay in her flat while they are house hunting for their own home and planning their upcoming nuptials, disturbing incidents have her questioning her own sanity as Brendan burrows further into her life. Though Miranda becomes suspicious of Brendan's role in the death of a family member, he is able to convince her family and the police that her behavior towards him is obsessive.
Twists and turns fill the pages of this expertly penned thriller. Fans of true psychological thrillers will be pleased at the unexpected outcome revealed with the breathless conclusion.
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Summary: Great creepy psychological thriller
Review: First Ihave read from this author (authors?)..whatever. Could not put it down...the mounting tension just keeps building...am checking out the previous,ones at the library--- read it, you won't be sorry!.
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Summary: Nicci French's best and creepiest thriller to date!
Review: I have loved Nicci French's work since Killing Me Softly. I recently found out that Nicci French is in fact a pseudonym used by a British couple. Well, they write awesome novels and I couldn't wait to pick up their latest work. Secret Smile is their best written and creepiest novel since Beneath the Skin. Miranda Cotton couldn't be happier with her life. She is a building contractor in London and her dating life is just as she likes it. But then an ex-boyfriend resurfaces, prepared to ruin her ordered life. He manipulates his way into her family's life to the point that she is not trusted among them anymore. To make matters worse, her friends and family are in danger and no one believes her when she tells them that Brendan Block is a raving psychopath. There are many twists throughout the novel.
I couldn't put this book down. The scenes are so palpable that they gave me goose bumps. The plot is executed in such a clever way. There were times in which I thought that Miranda was indeed delusional and that Brendan was not as bad as she made him out to be. The novel's conclusion is one of the best I have read in a long time. The characterization is excellent. Brendan's behavior is believable in that in real life there are people who play mind games not unlike the ones he played. I hadn't read thrillers in a while because the genre had become stale. Nicci French has satisfied my craving for a dark, intelligent thriller. Secret Smile reads like a twisted chick-lit. It's incredible and I cannot recommend this gem enough.
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Summary: NOT HER BEST WORK
Review: I LOVE HER STYLE OF WRITING, I HAVE READ EVERYTHING SHE HAS WRITTEN. THIS IS DEFINATELY HER WORST BOOK. THERE WERE SO MANY THINGS ABOUT THE PLOT THAT WERE JUST PLAIN STUPID. IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING FROM JERRY SPRINGER. THREE WOMAN WHO ARE CLOSE TO EACH OTHER ALL GO OUT WITH THE SAME GUY. TWO OF THEM AGREE TO MARRY THIS GUY IN A MATTER OF WEEKS. THEN THE MAIN CHARACTER MIRANDA GETS TALKED INTO LETTING THIS PSYCHO MOVE IN WITH HER. WHEN THINGS GET REALLY BAD SHE DOESN'T EVEN TELL THEM TO MOVE OUT SHE IS THE ONE THAT MOVES. OK SO SHE FINALLY GETS THIS GUY OUT OF HER LIFE AND WHAT DOES SHE DO. TRACKS HIM DOWN AND PULLS HIM BACK INTO HER LIFE!! THEN THERE IS AN INCIDENT IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM WHERE THE POLICE LET THE LAWYER OF THE ACCUSED INTO HER CUBICLE TO YELL AT HER ABOUT WHAT A LIAR SHE IS. THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. IT GOES ON AND ON. ALMOST EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PLOT IS RIDICULOUS. IF YOU WANT TO READ A REALLY GOOD BOOK BY HER GET "KILLING ME SOFTLY". I WOULDN'T BOTHER TO READ THIS ONE.
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Summary: success sells
Review: I rank mystery writers into three classes: I'll check the book out of the library; I'll buy the paperback; I'll spring for the hardback. With Nicci French, I just crossed over into category 3 and ordered Secret Smile.
It's about a plausible psycho who infiltrates a woman's life. Wait, no, that's The Safe House. There's a police officer who (maddeningly) won't take the woman's peril seriously. Oh, gee, that's the first third of Beneath the Skin. OK, a London woman has a terrifying experience and none of her friends believe. . . . Sorry: Land of the Living. Well, there's a seemingly loving guy who only the main character really sees for what he is and the book's called Killing Me Softly.
Right. All the Nicci French books are great. And this is all the Nicci French books rolled into one. And less. Even if you are a fan, take my advice: get it from the library.
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Summary: fantastic psychological suspense
Review: Miranda is the pretty self-confident one that most people envy because she has her life together dating whom she wants and working at a job she loves. At a party she meets Brendan Brock and they go out together eight times before she decides to end it because there is something about him that makes her uneasy. One night she comes home to find him in her room reading her diary; she ends their relationship right then.A few weeks, Miranda's sister Kerry asks her to meet her for lunch. At the restaurant Kerry tells Miranda that she is in love. Brendan enters and tells her they are a couple and not to be angry with him because he broke up with Miranda. She lets the conversation slide and the next thing she knows the two of them are moving into her apartment until they could find one of their own. Miranda realizes that Brendan is obsessed with hurting her because she dumped him but even she doesn't know that he will turn her whole family into believing she is crazy person. Or that he will kill those she loves and nobody will believe her. SECRET SMILE is the story of a sociopath who insinuates himself into the life of a fairly happy family and destroys them because one of the members rejected him. Readers will find him scary and at times so convincing they will question their own sanity. Nicci French is brilliant at creating characters one loves to hate and pity but she also excels at telling a story that is frightening in its normalcy, a key theme for a fantastic work of psychological suspense.
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Summary: Scariest of All Her Books
Review: Partly because Miranda, the decorating heroine of SECRET SMILE, is in some ways more vulnerable than this writing couple's previous heroines. She's a little bit rough and tumble and also feels loved less than her other siblings. She's vulnerable when Brendan meets her, and vulnerable when he next takes up with her sister. When Brendan does something terrible to her little brother, Troy, her anguish knows no bounds. You have to love her! Especially when she starts showing some gumption and begins, slowly at first, to fight back against the face of evil. It's always good when they start fighting back, especially when this involves putting one's clever hat on and going back to investigate the secret past of the enemy. In Brendan's case, there is no end to the horror of his being. But by this time Kerry is wise enough to deter the serpent . . .
It's amusing to see some of our Top 100 reviewers accidentally revealing themselves with this book. As anyone who has read the book knows, the name of one of the main characters is misspelled on the book jacket copy. Some of our reviewers, well, it doesn't look like they've read the book at all because guess what? They discuss the part of the plot that was on the book jacket using the wrong spelling of the name! Oh well, what do they say, "marry in haste, repent in leisure."
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Summary: A Diabolical Story of Obsession, Twisted Love and Pure Evil
Review: SECRET SMILE by Nicci French is a diabolical story of perception, obsession, twisted love and pure evil. The tale begins at the end of what is really a short acquaintanceship between a young woman and a young man. Their affair began in the traditional way: girl meets boy, girl and boy date, girl realizes she's not interested and calls the whole thing off. "I looked at Brendan and already he seemed to be receding into the distance. I was thinking how to say it, as cleanly and finally as possible. You can say, I don't think this is working anymore, as if the relationship was a machine ... or, I don't think we should continue, as if you were both on a road together. You can say, I don't want to keep on seeing you. Only of course you don't mean see, but touch, hold, feel, want. [Then] ... almost before I knew what I was about to do, I said the words. 'I don't think we should go on with this. I'm sorry Brendan. I really mean it.' " Miranda's "relationship with Brendan had been so brief that [her] best friend, Laura, had been on holiday ... and it was entirely over and in the past ... when she got back and rang me. [She] didn't [even] bother to tell her about Brendan." At the start, she has no idea what her meeting, and then subsequent rejection, of him will do to her life and the lives of everyone she loves. No one could possibly foresee the venom he will spread. Miranda is surprised when her sister, Kerry, calls out of the blue to invite her to dinner. The older woman is very excited and tells Miranda that she has some fantastic news. "[Miranda] arrived at La Table at about one minute past eight and Kerry was already there. She looked illuminated from the inside and it showed through her eyes. Almost everything about her was different." At first, in the cross-talk Miranda gets the sense that Kerry is pregnant. But that is not the news; rather, Kerry wants to announce that she has a new boyfriend. But Miranda wonders why she chose to "announce it in such a formal way." Kerry goes on to explain: "It's a bit awkward. It really shouldn't be a problem at all, if we don't let it become one. You see my new boyfriend is 'Brendan,' she says. Isn't it amazing? He's about to arrive. He said he thought it would be good if we all got together." As if on cue, Brendan appears at the restaurant. Shock! Disbelief! Confusion! Outrage! Miranda suddenly feels propelled into a parallel universe where everything is the opposite of what it should be; where all familiar objects, settings and loved ones are distorted, as if she had walked through a glass darkly. But what can she say? For the first time in so long Kerry is beside herself with joy and the ever-smooth, ever-charming, ever-confident Brendan, who can change personalities as easily as a chameleon changes color, is very attentive to his new "love." Miranda tries to tell her sister that Brendan didn't dump her --- that she was the one who broke it off. Her parents plan a Sunday brunch so they can all celebrate Kerry's new love and "help Miranda get over her heartbreak." Brendan, who is so suave and believable, has told them a story that Miranda simply has no power to refute. She is very happy for Kerry. Too much time had been wasted as she watched her older sister withdraw and wither in the shadow of broken loves and dreams destroyed. According to the Oxford American Dictionary, diabolical means "like a devil, very cruel or wicked" and "fiendishly clever or cunning or annoying." Brendan Block fits both of these descriptions, and his deceptive charm mesmerizes those he preys upon, who then cannot escape his pathological exploits. To further peek between the covers of SECRET SMILE would be unfair to readers. Be assured nevertheless that this novel is rich in psychological suspense, and the characters are carved with attention to the finest detail. The plot may seem simple, but it is not. Nicci French is one of those rare writers who takes a subject and, not unlike a forensic pathologist, slowly dissects it, examines it and explores its essence, which gives readers a tight, exciting and bone-chilling snapshot of the evidence. In this book the author slowly peels away the layers of lies and miscommunication that leads to the haunting of one young woman. SECRET SMILE is a contemporary novel with roots in the oldest stories about obsession, and in this case Miranda is thrust into a deadly plot that ends in death and irredeemable destruction. Readers should beware of only one thing: you will want to read this book in one sitting. So plan well and enjoy! --- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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Summary: Dangerous stalker or unreliable narrator?
Review: The premise is not original: Girl meets boy, girl dumps boy, boy turns out to be psychopathic stalking menace. But the British duo who write as Nicci French ("The Red Room" "Killing Me Softly") bring the dark, intimate thrill of the head-game to this timeworn scary story and from the first page, you're hooked.
Narrator Miranda Cotton, 26, the middle child, is the one with all the confidence and independence. She works as a builder-decorator, lives in a small London flat and likes her single life. The day Brendan Block lets himself into her flat and she catches him reading her diary is the day their brief relationship is over.
But the next thing she knows he's enraptured her shy, insecure sister, Kerry. He's insinuated himself into her family, told everyone, in the most sympathetic terms, that Miranda's reaction is just her broken heart talking. French winds the tension up, beat by beat. There are whispered obscenities, malevolent promises, unprovable invasions of her privacy. No one sees any of it but Miranda and as the scale of invasion escalates, her own family begins to turn aganst her. New boyfriends vanish in the face of her obsession. Even the reader begins to wonder - is Miranda an unreliable narrator?
As always French's characters come alive on the page. Even Miranda's new boyfriends have the same freshness of possibility for us as they do for her. Her pleasure in her life, her growing revulsion and helplessness, her increasing desperation, all ring true in this gripping psychological thriller. Not French's best but still head and shoulders above the rest.
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