2 Stars

One Liner: Didn’t work for me

1970, Florida

Catherine and her taciturn husband, Dr. Frank Overbrook, arrive at the tiny island of Paradiso for Frank to take over the local practice from a friend. The couple attends a welcome party arranged in their honor, only for Frank to end up dead by the next morning.

Detective Quentin Jones is assigned to the case and immediately realizes that nothing is as it seems. Everyone is hiding a secret and could have a motive. He has to find them all to identify the killer.
The story comes in the third-person POV of multiple characters.

My Thoughts:

This is my first book by the author, and maybe I didn’t pick the right one.

Since I’m new to the writing style, I took my time to settle into it. Of course, the pacing was also slooow, so it’s not as if I could rush anyway. However, the narration didn’t improve as the story progressed.

While the characters were rather distinct and colorful, none of them made much impact. I could feel sad for Mariam for a while, but even that didn’t last. Sylvia was annoying when she should have been inspiring. Something about her cheerfulness seemed fake and forced.

Catherine had potential like David. She did manage to make a better impression in the last quarter, but it was too late by then.

The inspector, Jones, was so darn annoying. For all the talk about him being good at his job, the dude was pretty clueless and hormonal like a teenager. Though the book was set in the 70s when the police didn’t have a lot of modern technology, the mystery was pretty boring. Given that he was trained for the job, much of it sounded like amateur sleuthing.

I did like the various backstories and the setting. But that’s it, I guess. It’s not often that I debate on DNFing a book multiple times. I would have if this wasn't an ARC.

The detailed author’s note was quite informative and helped me understand why the book ended up the way it was. As much as I admire and respect the emotions and hard work that went into the project, I can’t say I enjoyed the end product. Sorry!

To summarize, The Secrets of Good People is a slow-burn mystery with an interesting premise. A lot about the book didn’t work for me, but it may give better results for you. Check out the other reviews too.

Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

#NetGalley #TheSecretsOfGoodPeople