Her Secret Past: A completely gripping and heart-stopping crime thriller

by Kerry Watts

• ISBN10: 1786817969
• ISBN13: 9781786817969
• Publish Date: 22 January 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bookouture
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 308
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Thank you to Bookouture for letting me take part in this tour and for my copy of this book via netgalley. This is the third book in the Detective Blake series but each one can be read as a standalone.

In this book, we follow Jessie Blake as she tries to uncover the truth in the murder of the Angus'. Jessie is an easy character to root for. You can tell she has a dark past before it's even revealed. She is a determined and hard-working detective. We find out more about her past in this instalment and I hope that even more will be revealed in the next book.

Another favourite character of mine is Jessie's partner Dylan. Dylan is a good man, he's an excellent father and a hard-working detective.

The story itself had lots of twists and turns. It kept me guessing all the way through. As well as uncovering the murderer this book also deals with lots of other issues domestic abuse, sexual abuse and mental health. Kerry deals with these issues in a sensitive way while still showing the seriousness of these.

Kerry had me gripped from the prologue to the epilogue and I cannot wait to return to the world of Jessie Blake!

[zooloo1983]

Ms Watts never fails to amaze me! This is the third book in the Jessie Blake series and it shows no signs of slowing down! Each story has so many mini-stories to keep you guessing to how they are all linked with the main story. I guessed a couple of things in this book but rather than it disappoint me, it made me so happy!

After such a brutal beginning, exposing us to the horrific murder of an elderly couple that happened in 1991, I just couldn’t see where we were going with this. Fast forward to present day with another elderly couple being murdered, it made me wonder if history is repeating itself?

Watts usual makeup of a small pool of characters to provide a well-rounded point of view and information just works wonders. I am never bored when reading her books, more frustrated that I have to do adulting. Watts’ books do need to come with a warning, once you start reading you don’t want to stop! A bit like a Pringle!! I started the book crazily at midnight but had to go to bed and I couldn’t sleep for ages because I wanted to get back to the book but I knew I had to do some adulting, so instead, I devoured most Her Secret Past in a 2-hour car journey! Tsk!

At the start, you can’t see how all the pawns in the book would fit it, but boy does it get juicy and taut when you do, each moving around a chessboard until it is checkmate! When past and present collide there are a lot of fireworks. However, it’s not just the case that is causing problems for Jessie, it’s when her past is catching up with her and that is also truly terrifying especially as it seems history really does repeat itself!

I really can’t praise this series enough. The first two both hit my books for the year, as I just love the writing style and structure of Ms Watts writing. She has a magic formula where she has struck gold. You are kept on the edge trying to figure out the jigsaw puzzle of people. You are drip-fed information until the right time and then bam! You wish you had more warning. It makes the book flow so fast-paced and it sucks you in. It whispers to you to keep reading just another chapter…go on you know you want to!

Jessie is a strong woman, so strong that it has taken three books before she finally considers confiding to someone her past. She takes this strength and realised that the past can’t hold her back anymore and that everyone is not the same. It drives and pushes her forward in a more determined state to solve this mystery, more so when it encroaches into her personal life. *shivers*

This book I think might just be the darkest one yet with all the topics covered and used to drive Her Secret Past. Abuse in all forms, mental illness and alcoholism are at the foundations of the characters, all dictating how everything will play out. The ending left me with some chills because it’s open-ended and it will be interesting to see what explosions we have in book four. I love that Ms Watts can keep surprising me with every book and I am excited to see what will happen in the next book! Just hope I don’t have to wait too long.