Review: Secret Sisters

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Series: Standalone
Released: December 8th 2015
Publisher: Piatkus
Length: 352 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

They knew his name, the man who tried to brutally attack twelve-year-old Madeline in her grandmother's hotel. They thought they knew his fate. He wouldn't be bothering them anymore...ever. Still their lives would never be the same.

Madeline has returned to Washington after her grandmother's mysterious death. And at the old, abandoned hotel-a place she never wanted to see again-a dying man's last words convey a warning: the secrets she and Daphne believed buried forever have been discovered.

Now, after almost two decades, Madeline and Daphne will be reunited in friendship and in fear. Unable to trust the local police, Madeline summons Jack Rayner, the hotel chain's new security expert. Despite the secrets and mysteries that surround him, Jack is the only one she trusts...and wants.

Jack is no good at relationships but he does possess a specific skill set that includes a profoundly intimate understanding of warped and dangerous minds. With the assistance of Jack's brother, Abe, a high-tech magician, the four of them will form an uneasy alliance against a killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth....

When it comes to writing romantic suspence, Jayne Anne Krentz (who also writes as Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick) is clearly one of the best. You can’t possibly go wrong with one of her books – they are all exciting, romantic and excellently paced. She does, after all, fall into the same category as Nora Roberts, queen of the genre; and let me tell you, as much as I worship Nora, Jayne Anne Krentz has just as much to offer.

In Secret Sisters, Krentz brings us the story of two former best friends with a horrible secret that’s come back to haunt them after almost twenty years. The story mostly focuses on Madeline and her security consultant Jack, but a secondary story (and romance) is developed between Daphne and Jack’s brother Abe. Both these couples find each other right in the middle of so much danger and the bonds they create might just last a lifetime… if they somehow manage to survive.

Krentz knows how to pace a story, how to make us sit on the edge of our seats. Slowly and masterfully she builds suspense to almost unbearable levels. I had my doubts about the killer and I saw the red herring precisely for what it was, but I didn’t know for sure until the very end and it turned out that I wasn’t entirely right. It takes a lot to surprise me, and yet somehow, this book did.

The two main characters and the romantic relationship that developed between them took some getting used to. They are both fairly unlikeable people, hard and troubled, driven and very closed, but they saw each other precisely for what they were and they fit incredibly well together. Seeing two such introverts open up to each other was wonderful.

Jayne Anne Krentz (or Castle or Quick) is pretty much an auto-buy for me. She hasn’t disappointed me even once, and with dozens and dozens of novels behind her, that’s no small thing at all.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.