The Secretary

A Novel

By: Renée Knight

Narrated by: Victoria Hamilton

Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

Renée Knight follows up her international sensation Disclaimer with this shivery tale of psychological suspense, featuring a character as disturbing and compelling as Mrs. Danvers in Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.

From her first day as personal assistant to the celebrated Mina Appleton, Christine Butcher understands what is expected of her. Absolute loyalty. Absolute discretion. For 20 years, Christine has been a most devoted servant, a silent witness to everything in Mina’s life. So quiet, you would hardly know she is there.

Day after day, year after year, Christine has been there, invisible - watching, listening, absorbing all the secrets floating around her. Keeping them safe.

Christine is trusted. But those years of loyalty and discretion come with a high price. And eventually, Christine will pay.

Yet, it would be a mistake to underestimate such a steadfast woman. Because as everyone is about to discover, there’s a dangerous line between obedience and obsession.

©2019 Renée Knight (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

A bit of a slow start but very good

It starts slow but I believe on purpose. The author letting you glimpse the toxicity little by little. Then you can’t stop listening. Very good. Excellent narration.

Enthrallingly excellent

This was a fascinating book. I was completely sucked into the story from the beginning. What really did it for me was the excellent choice made by the producers to have Victoria Hamilton read it. You don't feel like she is reading anything. You feel like she is talking directly to you. Or that she is writing down in a diary everything that she says. This was well done.

subtly creepy

moves at a moderate pace and has a sort of claustrophobic effect, which I found very consistent with the character of the narrator. I liked it. It was almost a cautionary tale about a manipulative and self-absorbed boss.

not sure what to think

This is a decent book but I felt something was missing. not sure what it is. It's not a bad book but also not a great book.

The poor cat!

Among the many, many British thrillers read by ladies with lovely accents, this stands out as a fascinating study of two women bound together by professional need. One takes endlessly; the other gives in the same way. Can that table turn? Recommended, although you will tire of the adjective “fra-GILE.” Quite engaging. Lovely narration.

Superb -Gripping - page turner

The Secretary is a fast moving and compelling story. The narration by Victoria Hamilton perfectly moves the story along. I highly recommend this book.

Wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was.

Easy to listen to and great observations. The narrator was great and was perfect for this reading. I will need to re-listen to a couple of chapters as I listened to it overnight.

FANTASTIC

Definitely a great listen and we'll worth a credit. The characters, the narration, the ending..... So freaking good!

Not what I expected

It took a bit for me to get into this book. It felt dragged out at first but then I was engrossed into the book and forgot about the beginning of the book. Stay with the story. It gets good. Really good. It is twisty and engrossing and a perfect listen while you cook for thanksgiving. I really enjoyed this book. I listen to quite a lot of books and I am always searching for ones that make me think about them when I have to turn them off to sleep or to do life things. This was one of them. The narrator was magnificent. Her voice is lovely.

Great story!

I liked this book. I can't decide on whether I love the ending or not. It was quite sad.