The Secret Shopper's Revenge (Secret Shopper)

by Kate Harrison

Imagine shopping for a living, going undercover in the lingerie department, homing in on size-zero haute couture . . . and shopping the shop girls who think service is a dirty word. Welcome to the world of the Secret Shopper.

New mum Emily wants revenge on the stick-thin assistants who laugh at her post-baby tummy and post-baby budget. But frumpiness has its advantages when you're wielding a secret camera - and sending the damning footage straight to head office.

Store manager Sandie has a lifelong love of the world of retail - the glitz, the glamour, the stockroom. Then she's fitted up by an ambitious assistant and secret shopping is the only way to keep her one passion alive.

Glamorous widow Grazia can't leave behind the high life, despite her chronically low bank balance. The more she's buying - and spying - the less time she has to mourn her husband or her fair-weather friends who've dumped her.

They're Charlie's Shopping Angels, controlled by a mysterious figure who sends them assignments. But when they're sent to stitch up a doomed shop owned by Will, the angels begin to feel divided loyalties . . .

• ISBN10: 0752893882
• ISBN13: 9780752893884
• Publish Date: 27 November 2008 (first published 12 June 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

Kate Harrison isn’t a new author for me, I’ve previously attempted to read a few of her other novels, but I’ve never managed to get past the first chapters, not for any particular reason, just because I always put them down and picked up something else. However I’ve had The Secret Shopper’s Revenge sitting on my shelf for quite a while now and, for lack of anything else to read, I decided to give it a whirl particularly since the third book in the series is out next month. I’m so pleased I read the book as it was a total pleasure and I’ve clearly been missing out by not reading any of Kate’s books to the end.

I absolutely love the plot for The Secret Shopper’s Revenge, it’s a totally wonderful plot and I’d love more than anything to become one of Charlie’s Shopping Angels. I’m sure everybody in their life has had to put up with a snobby or persistent shop assistant and getting to get revenge on them would be a dream come true for me. I loved going on the assignments with Emily, Sandie and Grazia, but that isn’t all the book is about because the girls have troubles to deal with. Emily’s dealing with becoming a single mother to Freddie, her son and keeping the fact she’s split with her husband Duncan from her parents. Sandie’s desperate to clear her name after getting sacked from her job and the glorious Grazia is dealing with debts up to her eyeballs after her husband’s death.

The girls aren’t alike at all, but working for Charlie forges a bond between them which does eventually lead to a friendship of sorts. Because the book is told in first person, switching from Emily to Grazie to Sandie, we manage to get to know each girl fully. I was a bit worried how Kate Harrison would pull that off, making each girl’s voice distinctive but she’s managed it well and I felt like I knew each of them personally. All three characters had likeable points, and I was surprised by how differently I liked them. Strangely enough I felt an affinity most with Emily, she spoke to me most I would say and I wanted her to tell Duncan to just get lost. Sandie is very tough, very independent but she has a vulnerable side, too, and I liked her very much. As for Grazia, she portrays herself as a bit of a black widow, and I must admit it did take me a while to warm to her properly, but turns out the black widow act was just a front. But the character I loved most was young Fredster, Emily’s son, he doesn’t speak much but I fell in love with him.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Secret Shopper’s Revenge, as well as there being some wonderful revenge on deserving people and introducing us to some wonderful characters, there was also some romance, too! The even better thing about the book is that the book reads easily as a standalone, with no horrible cliff-hanger despite there being a sequel out (and a third book on the way). However, I am still looking forward to reading The Secret Shopper Unwrapped (and The Secret Shopper Affair), as there’s so much more we can learn about our three angels. I also seriously hope that Charlie is unmasked, despite liking the secrecy, I also would very much like to know who he is. Just for curiosity’s sake. I would definitely recommend the book to all, it’s a brilliant concept for a novel and makes a change from all the hairdresser’s/PA’s/nanny’s we see in Chick Lit (not that I am complaining, I love hairdresser’s/PA’s/nanny’s) and I thought it was executed brilliantly.