While “The Secrets We Hide” might be the second thriller in Karin Slaughter’s new series, “North Falls,” you’d really never know from her careful plotting and reveal of information. Of course, with an extremely experienced writer of successful series like the “Will Trent” series, you’d expect nothing less, and Slaughter delivers. The first novel, “We Are All Guilty Here,” introduces the main characters and explains just some of the many secrets surrounding those in Clifton County, Georgia.
The main character in the series is Emmy Clifton, the current sheriff of Clifton County. Yes, the same Cliftons. The joke around there is that every other street is named for a Clifton, and the other streets are named for the other few families who lived in the county for generations and own most of it. In the south, your family matters, and in Clifton County, your family really matters.
Emmy’s father was the sheriff for many decades, and she went to work for him. She was his deputy before he was murdered, and her son Cole now works in the office as well. There are many in the sheriff’s office who are not happy that Emmy is sheriff, and when there is an explosive murder of a former police officer from a nearby town, Allison Vickery, an officer who had been a friend of Emmy’s, those rivalries come to the surface. Seriously injured in the event is Allison’s daughter Mandy.
The other main character is Jude, who returned to North Falls after leaving as a defiant teenager. She returned after her father’s death, and her mother is deep in the last stages of dementia. Emmy has been holding it all together with little help from her much older brother Tommy. Emmy is almost two decades younger than her siblings, and until the first novel, she thought that her older sister Jude had died, as had her other older brother. So when Jude returns to town, it’s a shock.
Jude is a retired FBI agent, a forensic psychologist. She has written textbooks and is well known to law enforcement across the country. She is also Emmy’s mother. We learn that in the first novel through flashbacks when we see her, with her newborn, arriving at her parents’ doorstep asking for help. They give her two options: to leave with the infant and never return or to leave the infant with them and never return.
Having a baby to raise does force Jude’s parents to change their ways. Gerald, the sheriff, was an alcoholic but has stopped drinking. Myrna, an English teacher, does her best and raises Emmy with love and affection. But even in this second novel, Emmy still does not know that Jude is her mother. While Jude wants to explain, the time never seems right. And now, with a huge murder investigation, the time isn’t right. Slaughter carefully creates a bond between the supposed sisters that is much more than sibling affection. Emmy feels the pull of her mother’s love, even when she doesn’t know it’s her mother.
And the murder that Emmy must solve has so many tendrils and suspects that without Jude’s careful support and guidance, it’s doubtful that Emmy would have been able to solve it. The title of the novel doesn’t just refer to the secrets in the Clifton family. It seems that there are many secrets in that part of Georgia just waiting to be uncovered. Some of those Emmy will expose over the course of her investigation.
What’s really amazing is that most of the novel takes place over just a few days. The constant action and uncovering of long-buried secrets really makes the pages turn. There are dirty cops, domestic violence (lots of it), a decade-old murder trial, hidden cash, and the trail of clues that Allison left for Emmy to find.
One of the outcomes of this novel is that Slaughter demonstrates clearly that domestic violence isn’t limited to “just” the people involved: the perpetrator and the victim. There are many others who feel the sting of violence from afar, including those who witness the violence or its aftermath, friends and family who feel powerless to intervene, law enforcement who can’t do anything until the victim is willing to press charges, and minors in the family who are witness to and perhaps also victims of the abuse.
There is so much going on (nonstop action), and so much information to digest (constant twists and turns), that when we (Emmy) finally discover(s) who the killer is, it’s a shock. This would be an amazing limited series because there could be a shock reveal at the end of each episode, as well as a cliffhanger ending. And Slaughter does provide a kind of cliffhanger at the end — a piece of information that causes us to question how that secret will be handled in future novels. This is definitely a fabulous addition to the series and one that will keep readers on pins and needles waiting for the next novel.
Please note: This review is based on the final, hardcover book provided by William Morrow, the publisher, for review purposes.