It all starts out with the respective couples dropping their kids off at camp. Louis Murray is a successful ER doctor, while his beautiful wife Jenny is a physician turned ESPN TV personality. Nadal Ahmadi is the CEO of a tech start-up on the verge of being the Next Big Thing, and his mousy wife Susan is a former attorney now stay-at-home mom with their twins, Jamal and Jonah, the latter of whom suffers from autism. Finally, there's Ben and Rachel Klein. Ben is a former NFL star who is now a stay-at-home dad/novelist, while his petite blonde wife Rachel is a somewhat reviled powerhouse defense attorney. Nadal and Susan are the new kids on the block, literally, having recently moved to Westchester from Washington State to pursue growing Nadal's company and, in addition to trying desperately to make friends with their neighbors and fit in, Susan has been struggling with her self-esteem, since she has left her successful career as a lawyer. She enjoys Jenny's company, because she is fairly down-to-earth, despite being a bit of a local celebrity, much to her own husband's chagrin. Ben and Rachel seem like the couple with everything - looks, money, success, and a gorgeous family, but not everything is as it seems. When the wine bottles come uncorked, the inhibitions come down and the secrets start to reveal themselves.
The story plays out over the day of the couples' arrival at the beach house and the few days to follow, going back and forth between The Day Of and The Day After the murder. Because it flips between days, you are given snippets of the story and you begin to get a clearer picture of the relationships between not only the married couples, but also the "friends" and neighbors and, believe me, they are quite intertwined. There are affairs, legal attacks, spousal abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and, of course, a murder. Sgt. Detective Gabby Watkins is called in to investigate when the body is discovered the morning after the arrival of the couples' to the beach house. This murder is on the heels of a drunken beach house party where an 18-year-old au pair is drugged and raped. Needless to say, this kind of stuff is bad for tourism and pretty rare in these parts, so the pressure is on for her to solve the case. Little does Gabby know, but the two incidents are not only loosely connected, but will also weigh heavily on her as well.
One Little Secret is quite the page-turner and will have you hooked until the very end. Not every villain is crystal-clearly marked, but that just makes the story more interesting. This is my first time reading Cate Holahan, but it won't be my last. If you are looking for a great thriller/mystery for a vacation read, check out One Little Secret, which I think would be more aptly named Secrets and Lies. Highly recommended.
