ladyconsumer's Full Review: Sandra Brown - Best Kept Secrets: Library Edition
Normally I really enjoy Sandra Brown's books. But Best Kept Secrets is not her best effort. The story, itself, was intriguing, but for the most part, the characters were a pretty sleazy group that I could not like.
Attorney Alex Gaither has a mission. Reopen her mother's twenty-five year old murder case. Orphaned when she just an infant, and raised by her cold, angry grandmother, Alex never knew a whole lot about her parents. But now Grandma is dying, and before she goes, she wants the real guilty party found. She tells Alex that one of three men killed her mother all those years before, and begs Alex to find the truth.
So Alex heads to Texas to confront the suspects: Reede and Junior, friends of her mother's since childhood, and Junior's father, Angus. Alex's investigation will start to uncover clues, not only to her mother's murder, but to a family's vault of secrets. Despite pleas to leave things alone, even despite threats to her life, Alex is determined to uncover the truth, no matter what harm is caused. And, along the way, as she gets to know these three men and develop attachments to them, she'll learn that sometimes secrets are best kept covered.
Like I said, the story was intriguing and I did want to find out what, exactly, happened to her mother all those years ago. There are plenty of twists and red herrings along the way that kept me engrossed.
But this cast of characters was ridiculous.
Reede and Junior were both in love with Alex's mother. Both wanted to marry her. Now, surprise, surprise, they're both going to fall in love with Alex. I find that all just a bit creepy.
Creepier still is Alex's attraction to at least one of these men (I won't tell you which of the men). I have a rule - if I have any suspicion at all that you might have murdered my mother, I'm not going to hop into bed with you. Clearly, Alex has no such rule.
Also creepy - all three of these men have very active sex lives. And I don't mean with spouses. One man spends an awful lot of time at the local bordello. How do I know so much about the sex lives of these men? Sandra Brown tells us all about it. In lots of detail. This book was full of sex scenes, which are fine, when they add to a story, but in this case there were so many of them, they seemed gratuitous.
On top of all of this, every one of these men will lie to Alex as easily as they breathe. Or, sometimes they don't lie, just simply "omit". In any case, none of them wants her to dig into the past. And they constantly berate her for "getting in their business". Can't they understand that it's her mother's death she's trying to resolve? You'd think they'd be a bit more understanding. As they constantly block her investigation, it's even more disturbing to me that Alex would hop into bed!
Basically, this was an intriguing story that definitely held my interest. Despite Alex's bad decisions as far as these men are concerned, I still cared about her, and wanted her to find out the truth about her mother. But I hated all of the other characters. I would give the story, itself 4 stars. But the characters being so hideous drags this book down to a 3. I still say you should read it, but don't expect greatness.
From the five-million-copy bestselling author of Slow Heat in Heaven comes a sizzling new novel set in today's Texas. Filled with passion and revenge,...More at HotBookSale
Alexandra Gaither is an attorney who finally has the power to get the justice she needs. Twenty-five years before, her mother had died a scandalous de...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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