The Dead Secret

Rating:
Summary: not bad, but nothing great
Review: The story begins with a deathbed scene in which the dying Mrs. Treverton , racked with guilt for some mysterious secret she has been hiding, forces her maid, Sarah, to transcribe her confession and instructs her servant to give it to her husband so he will finally know the truth. Because Sarah is implicated in the secret (although we are not initially told how), she circumvents this final request, too frightened to give her master the letter, but also too frightened to destroy it, and consequently ends up locking it away in a room in a forgotten wing of the mansion. Fifteen years magically elapse, and Sarah assumes that the secret will never be discovered... until, of course, she finds out that Rosamond Treverton (the dying woman's daughter) has recently married and plans to renovate the mansion, including the forgotten wing in which the mysterious letter is hidden. While The Dead Secret is an amusing and fast read, there are some holes in the story (missing details such as the fact that we are never told why Sarah's ominous husband was so awful or what happened to him, and more troubling aspects, such as the characters' reactions to the unraveling of the secret, which, to me, were not nearly as complex or as convincing as they perhaps could have been). I'd recommend this book to someone with a penchant for Wilkie Collins - others would probably be better satisfied reading one of his greater and well-known works, such as The Woman in White.

Rating:
Summary: Charming Predecessor to _The Woman in White_.
Review: This is the last of what critics refer to as Collins's "apprentice novels", meaning that this is the last novel he wrote before he achieved fame with _The Woman in White_. Many of the themes Collins used in _The Woman in White_ seem to have been tested here, most notably the question of the identity of a mysterious woman, but the themes of legitimacy and secrecy play important parts as well. Collins also has a non-British character with a prominent part in this novel, but the German Uncle Joseph is as endearing as the Italian Count Fosco is sinister. Andrew Treverton and his servant, Shrowl, provide comic relief in a manner similar to Frederick Fairlie -- they exhibit the type of antisocial behavior that is irritating in real life, but is somehow rendered amusing in print.

Unlike _The Woman in White_ or _The Moonstone_, there are no real villains in this novel. There are no intrigues to gain fortunes. There is, however, a ghost. Or is there? The mystery of this novel is of the commonplace variety; it is a question of a domestic secret rather than that of a stolen Indian diamond or a woman's sanity. Despite all of this, the novel is still a page turner. Even after the story became a bit predictable, I couldn't put the book down until I knew for sure what happened to Rosamond Frankland and Sarah Leeson.

As usual, Collins has assembled an interesting bunch of characters: the sea captain, the actress, the misanthrope, the mysterious maid, and the young married couple. I found Sarah Leeson to be at once the most interesting and the most sympathetic character. This woman has obviously had a tragic past, a past which torments her, and it is only at the novel's close that Collins reveals what happened to destroy her happiness.

All-in-all, this is a charming, fast-paced read that would be perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: Charming Predecessor to _The Woman in White_.
Review: This is the last of what critics refer to as Collins's "apprentice novels", meaning that this is the last novel he wrote before he achieved fame with _The Woman in White_. Many of the themes Collins used in _The Woman in White_ seem to have been tested here, most notably the question of the identity of a mysterious woman, but the themes of legitimacy and secrecy play important parts as well. Collins also has a non-British character with a prominent part in this novel, but the German Uncle Joseph is as endearing as the Italian Count Fosco is sinister. Andrew Treverton and his servant, Shrowl, provide comic relief in a manner similar to Frederick Fairlie -- they exhibit the type of antisocial behavior that is irritating in real life, but is somehow rendered amusing in print.

Unlike _The Woman in White_ or _The Moonstone_, there are no real villains in this novel. There are no intrigues to gain fortunes. There is, however, a ghost. Or is there? The mystery of this novel is of the commonplace variety; it is a question of a domestic secret rather than that of a stolen Indian diamond or a woman's sanity. Despite all of this, the novel is still a page turner. Even after the story became a bit predictable, I couldn't put the book down until I knew for sure what happened to Rosamond Frankland and Sarah Leeson.

As usual, Collins has assembled an interesting bunch of characters: the sea captain, the actress, the misanthrope, the mysterious maid, and the young married couple. I found Sarah Leeson to be at once the most interesting and the most sympathetic character. This woman has obviously had a tragic past, a past which torments her, and it is only at the novel's close that Collins reveals what happened to destroy her happiness.

All-in-all, this is a charming, fast-paced read that would be perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: early Collins work shows promise..
Review: Wilkie Collins has written some brilliant crime/mystery novels during his career, most notably The Woman in White / No Name / The Moonstone. His earlier works are almost unknown nowadays. But such obscurity is unwarrented, at least in the case of The Dead Secret.

The Dead Secret tells a simple story of a mystery surrounding an untold secret of a dying wealthy woman. This woman's secret is shared only with her servant. Despite the woman's dying wish, the servant does not divulge the secret ... with unpleasent results. Eventually the secret is revealed and all is understood.

The novel works well mostly because it is fast paced, and it has all the richness of a Collins novel (ie, it is well-written). No, it isn't as clever or suspenseful as Collins's later works. But Wilkie Collins fans should place The Dead Secret on their 'must read' list.

Rating:
Summary: early Collins work shows promise..
Review: Wilkie Collins has written some brilliant crime/mystery novels during his career, most notably The Woman in White / No Name / The Moonstone. His earlier works are almost unknown nowadays. But such obscurity is unwarrented, at least in the case of The Dead Secret.

The Dead Secret tells a simple story of a mystery surrounding an untold secret of a dying wealthy woman. This woman's secret is shared only with her servant. Despite the woman's dying wish, the servant does not divulge the secret ... with unpleasent results. Eventually the secret is revealed and all is understood.

The novel works well mostly because it is fast paced, and it has all the richness of a Collins novel (ie, it is well-written). No, it isn't as clever or suspenseful as Collins's later works. But Wilkie Collins fans should place The Dead Secret on their 'must read' list.

Rating:
Summary: An early Collins work with a taste of greatness to come
Review: Wilkie Collins wrote "The Dead Secret" early in his career as a novelist, and his inexperience shows here--but the Collins aficionado will welcome the opportunity to see how his gifts first manifest themselves in this relatively simple story. He gathers together all the usual suspects: a wealthy family, an old house, a charming child, and the member of the house staff who harbors the secret in question. While Collins falls short in his effort to sketch an unrequited yearning (I can't go into more detail if you haven't read the book), he does a beautiful job of portraying the subtle class differences and behaviors in this particular house.

Rating:
Summary: An early Collins work with a taste of greatness to come
Review: Wilkie Collins wrote "The Dead Secret" early in his career as a novelist, and his inexperience shows here--but the Collins aficionado will welcome the opportunity to see how his gifts first manifest themselves in this relatively simple story. He gathers together all the usual suspects: a wealthy family, an old house, a charming child, and the member of the house staff who harbors the secret in question. While Collins falls short in his effort to sketch an unrequited yearning (I can't go into more detail if you haven't read the book), he does a beautiful job of portraying the subtle class differences and behaviors in this particular house.