The Secret by Katerina Diamond #BookReview @AvonBooksUK @TheVenomousPen

About this book…

Can you keep a secret? Your life depends on it…

Bridget Reid has a secret, one that could get her killed… If she can escape the man who is keeping her locked in a basement bedroom.

DS Imogen Grey is good at keeping secrets – truths she’d never reveal to her colleagues at Exeter Police. She worked hard to get where she is – she nearly died for it. Now her past is catching up with her…

As DS Grey and her partner DS Adrian Miles search for Bridget, they uncover a terrifying web of abuse, betrayal and murder. And they realise that some secrets are better left buried…

My review…

I recently shared my review of  The Teacher by Katerina Diamond again in preparation for the publication of The Secret as I wanted to remind myself and other of how gloriously gruesome and compelling it was! I said in that review that I was keen to see DS Imogen Grey team up again with DI Adrian Miles as it was their chemistry and intriguing backstories that really made The Teacher for me. I also followed the blog tour tour for that book where Katerina Diamond shared a little snippet of a short story featuring this pair on a different blog everyday and I just loved that! So there’s been a little bit of hype (finger in a cupcake anyone?!) doing the rounds on social media about The Secret and I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. And these covers are amazing! They are some of the best around at the moment as they are totally eye-catching but does the inside match up to the stunning outside?

The answer is a big fat yes! For me, The Secret is even better than The Teacher! I feel that the author has settled down into her style and delved more deeply into her characters psyche so they are well developed, more rounded and totally believable. There’s still that little frisson of chemistry between the DSs but there is so much going on in Imogens life that she is going to need that friendly shoulder to cry on when things start to become much more personal that she could ever have expected. I absolutely adore this pairing of police officers and again felt as though they have been around for years.

The story here is just as gritty and topical as before. Be prepared for bad language, drug abuse and graphic content but the whole plot determines these necessary and give the book it’s feeling of realism. I loved the fact that the plot wasn’t predictable, there were plenty of twists and turns so that the reader is pretty much discovering reveals the same time as the police do. We find out so much more about why Imogen transferred to Exeter from her previous force and there’s also a few shocks in store for Adrian, one of which I’m sure needs a book all of its own! The pair are looking into the disappearance of an undercover police officer who is being kept “safe” by one of the creepiest characters I’ve read about in a while. The flashback technique is used to great effect here as we observe the journey from young boy to psychopath within the family from hell!

This is another cracker of a read from Katerina Diamond. I enjoyed it from start to finish. It’s uncomfortable reading at times but totally gripping throughout and on the strength of The Secret, I will be preordering her next book as soon as its available.

I received a copy of this book via netgalley and have chosen to write this review after reading.

The Secret: The petrifying new crime book from bestseller Katerina Diamond unpublished by Avon Books on 20th October and is available to buy her from Amazon UK

About the author…

Katerina Diamond was born in Weston in the seventies. She moved to Thessaloniki in Greece and attended Greek school where she learnt Greek in just 6 months. After her parents’ divorce, they relocated to Devon. After school, and working in her uncle’s fish and chip shop, she went (briefly) to university at Derby, where she met her husband and had two children. Katerina now lives in the East Kent Coast with her husband and children.

Her debut novel, The Teacher, was a No.1 bestseller in ebook, and a Sunday Times bestseller in paperback.