The Deepest Secret

A Novel

By: Carla Buckley

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

What if you did something unforgivable - and had to live with it? This intimate, pause-resisting family drama for fans of Jodi Picoult explores the profound power of the truths we’re scared to face...about our marriages, our children, and ourselves.

Eve Lattimore is barely keeping things together. Her husband works 1,500 miles away, leaving Eve to juggle single-handedly the demands of their teenage daughter and fragile son. Tyler was born with XP - the so-called vampire disease: even one moment of sun exposure can have fatal consequences. So Eve does what any mother might do: She turns their home into a fortress. Every day, she watches the sun rise and fall, and keeps a close eye on her child. Friendships fall away. Her marriage is on the rocks. Her daughter’s going through something but won’t talk about it. Still, Eve believes that it’s all a matter of time before a cure is found, and everything can resume its normal course.

Until the night she makes a terrible decision, and it’s not only the sun she has to hide from.

Praise for The Deepest Secret

“A taut family drama...smart and thrilling.” (People)

“Elegant, poignant, and utterly riveting...a suspenseful tale of love, forgiveness, and sacrifice that will leave you asking how far a mother really should go to protect her family and wondering about the cost of the secrets we all keep, even from ourselves.” (Kimberly McCreight, New York Times best-selling author of Reconstructing Amelia)

“Exceptionally moving and unrelentingly suspenseful...everything a great novel, and thriller, should be.” (Providence Journal)

“Superb... The story offers the intricate suspense and surprise of a thriller, along with rich characterizations and nuanced writing.... A gripping read and a memorable reflection on the conflicting imperatives of love.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review])

“Carla Buckley masterfully portrays an ordinary family trapped in a heart-wrenching crisis.” (William Landay, New York Times best-selling author of Defending Jacob)

“Fans of Jodi Picoult will enjoy this compelling blend of ripped-from-the-headlines suspense and close-to-your-heart characters.” (Lisa Gardner, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Fear Nothing)

©2014 Carla Buckley (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] masterful thriller...as winding and treacherous as a slick road.” (Shelf Awareness)

“A mesmerizing page-turner for the era of Big Brother and constant surveillance: Who is guilty and who is innocent? Loved ones are not exempt from suspicion, as the devastating power of a mother’s love has unimaginable consequences. I was riveted until the very end.” (Melanie Benjamin, New York Times best-selling author of The Aviator's Wife)

“An electrifying and sensitive portrait of an ordinary family struggling with tragic circumstances, The Deepest Secret is a rich human drama that pulls on larger themes of life and what it means to be a family, one torn apart by tangled desires, grief, lost dreams, and a crime that threatens to sink them all. Every page aches with searing emotions that build to a heart-healing conclusion.” (Chevy Stevens, New York Times best-selling author of Always Watching)

Edge Of My Seat!

I loved this book. It held me tight. I loved all the twists. I will put this book on my all time favorites list.

One Wrong Choice

This book is a pot boiler of a novel, hugely character driven. All characters make innocent choices that appear bad, bad choices for good reasons, and choices for themselves and for others...
I liked the added element of Tyler's XP, being forced to grow up and be awake during the night. In some ways he embraces his identity as someone who's different; in others he chafes at it, as all teenagers do. I loved Eve as a mother, how she would protect her son, do whatever it took... and yet her daughter's rebelliousness went completely unnoticed. The family had serious cracks - cracks in communication, in intention, in unity - and yet they were good people doing wrong things for good reasons, speaking harsh truths even if the hearer didn't want to hear them...
I read this book in two days, and want to go back and read it again. well-written, well-narrated. It's complicated and messy and I loved it!

Great story!

I can't believe I almost missed this amazing book. The characters are so well developed that I feel like I know them personally and I will miss them! Even tho you know things early in the book, it kept me 2nd guessing all the way through. Loved this book!

What would you have done?

What would I have done,I kept asking myself as I was drawn into Eve's world during the aftermath of a horrific accident that would forever change the lives of the residents of a quiet suburban street.

Eve, the mother of an XP child, a condition where exposure to sunlight and uv light is eventually fatal, finds herself in the centre of the tragedy. This novel is about the choices Eve makes to protect her child as well as the effect of those choices on the rest of the family and the community.

An intriguing book which I couldn't put down. I will be looking out for more books by this author.

BLEW ME AWAY!

This book was perfect. I haven't enjoyed a book like this one in a very long time. It was just the right length, the narrator was great & the story wove together in such a way that made you crave the next chapter... then the next... I'm a book snob so when I say this one is truly brilliant, I absolutely mean it.

Engaging and Interesting Story

I found this book to be completely engaging. Aside from the focus of the plot, i.e. the mother-son relationship, the son's rare genetic disorder, the marriage, the teen daughter's angst, is the peek into the lives different neighbors, all seen at night through the eyes of the young boy. I thought this perspective especially creative and unique and for that reason along with the compelling story-line, I believe this book deserves 4 stars.

Gripping and Suspenseful

I have never read Carla Buckley before. This audiobook kept me engaged. I listened to it at work and while going to sleep, and also in the car.

Eve would and has done anything for her son. He was diagnosed with a very rare condition called XP which makes him completely intolerant to sunlight. He will die of cancer if he's exposed. Eve has tailored her life around his, being there for him in the day, setting up the perfect environment, living in darkness, etc. This constant care for her youngest son creates a strain on Eve's daughter Melissa and Eve's husband.

One awful day during a torrential rain storm, Even hits her neighbour's daughter with her car and accidentally kills her. The only thing she can think of is covering up the crime so that she can be there for her son, who needed her to survive daily.

The book continues to weigh Eve's conscience and while the police become hot on her trail, she does everything she can to make her look completely innocent and not suspected. Things start to spiral out of control though...

I loved the narrator and the book was great- with the exception of the ending which I found rather lame and it didn't really tie up the issues presented by the book. I would definitely recommend this though-

4 solid stars.

Not what I expected

What did you like best about this story?

I thought the son's illness and how the family led this upside down life to protect him was very interesting and a unique backdrop for the story.

If you could take any character from The Deepest Secret out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Holly....What is so wrong Holly? Holly's story would make a great follow-up sequel to this one.

Any additional comments?

What a great listen! I thought the narrator was excellent and I really had no idea what was going to happen in the end. Lots of twists, turns, interesting characters and relationships. I actually just purchased and am going to listen to another one by this author I was so impressed.

Review

Very much enjoyed the book love the twists and turns. Looking forward to more books.

Page Turner

This book had an interesting premise and was very engaging. I couldn't put it down. Great struggle in decision making and doing what is "right".