When a harmless quiz night ends with an act of shocking violence, the parents of Pirriwee Public School can't seem to stop their secrets from finally spilling out. Rumours ripple through the small town, as truth and lies blur to muddy the story of what really happened on that fateful night . . .
Review: wow this was a 15+ hour audiobook and I totally binge listened to this because I just HAD to find out what was going to happen next, talk about suspense! This author knows how to build a story, how to build up tension, like the worst kind of teasing but the best kind all the time same time! It's going to be really hard to talk about the storyline without including any spoilers but I'll trying my best.
The structure was just amazing. The whole book culminates and climaxes around this trivia night which the mothers at the kindergarten around which the story centres all attend. Each chapter beings with some witness statements from characters about what happened at the trivia night. We don't quite know who is who until we get further into the book and we don't know quite what they're talking about but each little statement and each chapter adds more and more to the plot and the storyline! Each section also tells you how long before the trivia night that section is going to be and so you're really clear how far along you are! Amazing!
The characters in the books were quite interesting. Essentially they are just normal mothers with normal children starting kindergarten for the first time. Some of them have a decent amount of money but they are the usual middle class mix that you would find at a lot of school gates, some working, some not, some with one child, others with older children, some divorced some happily married, but you know that their circumstances are going to turn out a lot more dramatic than they originally seem. The person who comes along to rock the boat and question their happy little existence is Jane. Jane is a young mum who seems to have some secrets in her past and these secrets gradually trickle out as the story progresses. You only get to find out how her secret really ties into the whole book right at the very end, literally and boy do you get a shocker-I'm saying no more about this apart from the fact that I gasped out loud in my kitchen and that for me is totally awesome!
There are some difficult issues dealt with in this book including domestic abuse, but as I've already mentioned the characters in the book are the kind you would typically find surrounding any school gate and so this is a very realistic thing for one of the parents to be experiencing. The book also deals with bullying and how parents and teachers deal with this. It was interesting for me because I'm always on the teacher side of this dilemma but this is mainly from the parents side and different characters had different takes on this so I enjoyed this part of the storyline and immersed in the world of these characters, I could see how things became blown up and magnified so quickly!
Overall I really enjoyed this book (incase you couldn't tell) and I think that there is something for every reader to like if they pick this book up. Because of the tougher issues dealt with in the book, it's not a light read but because of the structure and nature of the storyline it is incredibly fast paced. You will gasp at some parts, laugh at others and most probably cry during other parts but what you will get in return is a satisfying ending and a plot to make you think. I really like this authors writing and now intend on reading The Husbands Secret so get more of the fabulous suspenseful moments!
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