"The Darkest Secret" by Alex Marwood

I admit that I have gotten away from writing about novels, i.e. works of fiction, that I read because (a) I read a lot of the things, (b) for the most part, such books that I do read fall under the classification of escapism and entertainment, or, as an old co-worker of mine called, it, "mental junk food", and (c) many of them become instantly forgotten after I've read them.  But not this one.  I stumbled across "The Darkest Secret" in one of those Kindle Bargains emails that flood the inbox all the time, and it looked interesting, so I sprung for the $4.99 deal.

At a weekend house party in 2004 celebrating the 50th birthday of British millionaire real estate mogul Sean Jackson, Coco Jackson one of his three year old twin daughters (to his second wife) disappears.  Because of Jackson's wealth and connections (a member of Parliament, high end attorney and publicist husband and wife team, and a celebrity doctor), a nationwide search that soon becomes an almost world wide search begins for the little moppet, but she is never found.

Twelve years later, Jackson, now on his fourth marriage, dies under somewhat shady circumstances, and the family and the so-called "Jackson Associates" gather again for the funeral.  It falls upon the now 27 year old semi-wastrel Camilla Jackson, a daughter from the first marriage, to identify the body, collect her 15 year old half-sister Ruby, Coco's twin, and deliver a eulogy for the father from whom she has been estranged for almost all of her life.  The novel is told through Camilla's eyes, as she struggles with the emotional scars left upon her by her father, gets to know Ruby, whom she hasn't seen in years, and tries to make sense of what happened those twelve years before.  However, in alternating chapters, we learn in flashbacks everything that happened during that fateful four day Bank Holiday Weekend twelve years before.

Along the way, we are exposed to themes of the privileges that the wealthy take as their birthright and the arrogance that that brings about, the emotional damages that can result from multiple divorces, affairs, and how having so many step-parents and step-siblings can just wreak emotional and physical havoc upon families.  There are some hints about back stories that never get told or explained that I would like to have known more of, but maybe by NOT telling them, author Alex Marwood (whose other novels now become books to look for and read) just makes the story all the more compelling.

This seems like it  would be a perfect "book club book" to discuss over all of those book club lunches and/or bottles of wine.  Without putting too much effort into it, I could probably come up with at least a half dozen or so discussion questions.  I am anxious for Mrs. Grandstander to read it so that she and I can dig into a meaty discussion about it.

The Grandstander gives it a sold Three and One-Half Stars, and please be aware that "The Darkest Secret" is still out there on Amazon for $4.99 for your Kindle.