Synopsis:
Charity has a past full of dark secrets that she keeps buried deep inside her cold heart. Samantha didn’t used to have any secrets, but that’s all about to change. And Roy, who seems to be caught in the middle, may have a haunting past of his own. When the small town they live in is hit with a devastating flood, the isolation, the danger, it will lead the three of them down a path they can never return from. One of them will have to go, for the others to survive.
Review:
I went into They All Had A Secret excited to see what happened with Bellany and I’d heard this was better than the first, but I preferred the first book. It was so interesting seeing someone trying to frame the main character for a murder they didn’t commit. This time you’re reading from the perspective of a killer. While still very interesting, the stakes didn’t feel as high this time.
You’re almost made to feel sorry for Bellany (Charity) at the start but then she starts being disgustingly fatphobic and that quickly goes away. As I said in my review of the first book, I hope this doesn’t reflect the views of the author and is used to show that Bellany is a bad person. This continues throughout the entire book and comments are made by several characters so I’m not sure. I’m really, really hoping this doesn’t continue in the rest of the series, I’ll give it one more book.
The very first time you meet Samantha, Roy’s girlfriend of three months, she assumes he’s interested in another girl as he’s holding the ladder she’s on and is apparently checking her out. These characters really love to assume things without having any information.
I never thought I’d read a book where I hate every character but here it is. Who are you supposed to root for in this situation? Charity is literally a killer, Roy is a terrible boyfriend and Samantha cheats on Roy with no consequence. They all suck.
A positive of They All Had A Secret is how quick it was to read. I finished the whole book in one sitting and for this reason, I’ve probably forgotten a lot of what happened because I didn’t give myself time to process anything.
Overall, They All Had A Secret was a solid read, but lacked tension. There’s only one instance where you worry about the safety of the characters and even then I didn’t like any of them enough to care. You kind of love to hate them though, which is why I am giving it a (very) generous three stars.
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