The House of Secrets

By: Brad Meltzer, Tod Goldberg

Narrated by: Scott Brick, January LaVoy

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

A priceless book, hidden in a corpse.

A family secret, handed down through generations.

And a woman with no memory of her past.

Number-one best-selling author Brad Meltzer returns with The House of Secrets

When Hazel Nash was six years old, her father taught her: Mysteries need to be solved. He should know. Hazel's father is Jack Nash, the host of America's favorite conspiracy TV show, The House of Secrets.

Even as a child, she loved hearing her dad's tall tales, especially the one about a leather book belonging to Benedict Arnold that was hidden in a corpse.

Now, years later, Hazel wakes up in the hospital and remembers nothing, not even her own name. She's told she's been in a car accident that killed her father and injured her brother. But she can't remember any of it because of her own traumatic brain injury. Then a man from the FBI shows up, asking questions about her dad - and about his connection to the corpse of a man found with an object stuffed into his chest: a priceless book that belonged to Benedict Arnold.

Back at her house, Hazel finds guns that she doesn't remember owning. On her forehead she sees scars from fights she can't recall. Most important, the more Hazel digs, the less she likes the person she seems to have been.

Trying to put together the puzzle pieces of her past and present, Hazel Nash needs to figure out who killed this man - and how the book wound up in his chest. The answer will tell her the truth about her father, what he was really doing for the government - and who Hazel really is.

Mysteries need to be solved. Especially the ones about yourself.

©2016 Brad Meltzer and Tod Goldberg (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Not worth the time

Book goes on and on without understanding where it's going. Looks likes it' was written as a tie in to other books. It should have been a giveaway book then.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

Nope.

This was totally convoluted. I expect more from this author. Ranks right down there with my least favorites. The narrators were the saving grace.

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

A real mess!

Of course all fiction is made up as the writer goes along. However in this case we have two writers. The book is so disjointed that you can visualize these two guys sitting in a room and tag teaming the story in an effort to outdo each other in nonsense, This is a really bad book!

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

House of Secrets

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I bought the book becasue Brad Meltzer is listed as the author. This can not be true! I was not familiar with Tod Goldberg. I did finish it because I kept thinking some big mystery would be revealed. It was not. The characters were never developed. I didn't like any of them. I listen to a lot of audio books. Some of them are better than others but as far as I am concerned this might be the worse book that I have bought.

Has The House of Secrets turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

What didn’t you like about Scott Brick and January LaVoy ’s performance?

I guess the performance should be rated higher because they did not have much of a story to work with.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The House of Secrets?

I would not cut any scenes. There was not "enough" of a story. The beginning was good but there was no middle or ending........

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

I bumped my head I can't remmmmmmm

I continuously thought the story just went around and around in circles in order to prolong the leangth of the the book. I could not relate to this story very well, because I just felt the dialogue just pandered and pandered around in a way that convinced me the story was not well planned, and it's general direction was fabricated on the fly.

Amnesiac girl has a background that cannot be confirmed, brother that cannot be confirmed, and maybe she is an archeologist, or maybe a killer, but that is the same premis for most characters in this book and I really got tired of the double talk.
I apologize if this is your style story,but for me I get upset with myself when I feel like I chose poorly on one of these books. That's how I see it on this one.

18 of 20 people found this review helpful

Confusing story that seems only half-developed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This book was okay. The story was uneven and not well developed. With a mix of flashbacks and present storylines, it felt like the reader is dropped into the middle of the story and must struggle to understand who is who and why they should care. The big reveal and the supposed driving force of the whole story was underwhelming. I actually didn't understand why it was such a big deal, what 'sins' had to be atoned for. The main character has some weird sort of amnesia that made no real sense but whatever. But the amnesia is supposed to tie the reader to the character to figure out what is going on. If confusion was the goal, they succeeded. Why the main character Hazel is who she is and does what she does was never really explained in any way that made sense.

What do you think your next listen will be?

This book kinda burned me out on mysteries right now so I'm probably going to read something scifi or fantasy.

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick and January LaVoy – was your favorite?

The performances were good. But it couldn't save crappy writing so none of the characters were my favorite. They were all half-developed and no real emotional connection was made to them. I didn't really care what happened to any of them. And the guy who was killing people, what? They explained who he was at the end and I still was left wondering why the heck he had any connection to the events, let alone driving them along in a way.

Did The House of Secrets inspire you to do anything?

Inspired me to not read any more Brad Meltzer books for awhile.

Any additional comments?

Skip this book. Narrators did a good job with what they had but the substance and story are not there.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

No no no

I would not recommend. Story was lost to me. It seemed to take forever to get to the point. The end result was not worth the time.
Sorry

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

The Secrets Remain

Don't know where the book was going till the end, then missed it, I guess.

Not a fan of the dual narrator arrangement either.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Choose another book..

I listen to audiobooks all the time, particularly mysteries. This premise of the story was simply ridiculous overall, and on top of that it was not well written, as the story didn't fit together well. Chose another book...

12 of 14 people found this review helpful

Ray L

I love Brad Meltzer's books. BUT this book is TERRIBLE! I would not recommend this one to anybody.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful