Raffiniert erzählt mit mehreren Ebenen/Personen, fesselnd und spannend. Dies ist mein erstes Hörbuch der Autorin, aber sicher nicht mein letztes...

gehört über NetGalley

Audio book review
A really excellent book - gripping story & couldn’t get through it quick enough. Will definitely read more from this author

The first book I’ve read by this author and what a rollercoaster of a read ! There were so many twists and turns which kept you guessing with a great twist at the end .

The narration was good and made it easy to listen too though I did find the narrator of the character of Neve to be a little bit robotic in places.

This is one of those thrillers that you just don’t see coming. There are a few different stories going on at the same time, they are technically all part of the main plot but they are going on from the perspectives of a few different people and they all come together nicely. I will warn you though that there are some triggers that some might be sensitive to. Suicide and domestic abuse among the top two,
Hollie and Niamh are best friends who tell each other everything. However, in the little village of Abingworth, every family seems to have its secrets and these two families may just have the worst secrets of all.
One day, Hollie tells Niamh a secret. She’s made a devastating discovery and swears her friend to secrecy. Then Hollie simply vanishes. No one in the village claims to know a thing but when Hollie’s body is found, the police know that someone is a liar and more than that, a killer.
This book is filled with secrets and lies. Niamh feels like she has to keep Hollie’s secret because she promised her she would and she intends to keep it even with Hollie gone.
I really enjoyed this story. Some parts, or one part, wasn’t entirely hard to figure out but then all these things happen and the secrets start coming to light. I didn’t see most of it coming and when it did I loved it.
I definitely recommend giving this one a read and if you get the chance or like audio books I recommend that as well. It’s a multi narrator audio so it really takes it to a whole new level.

I absolutely loved this! What a fantastic plot, beautifully written, intertwining the relationships between the characters in such an ingenious and realistic way.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was so unpredictable and twisty it was like a surprise around every corner.
Worked beautifully as an audiobook and was thoroughly gripping to listen to.

What a great listen this was and so many secrets it kept me hooked it covers suicide or is it murder ??
Child pornography and domestic violence
Its got everything
The chapters were the story from the characters side and the cross overs really had me thinking b=not only that they all seem to be hiding secrets.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Avon Books UK for letting me listen to this book

I enjoyed this book, it had all the expectations of a thriller, a tense narrative that left you needing to know more. It deals with some really triggering themes so just check the TW’s before reading but overall I thought the narration and the storyline was very gripping.

A cleverly woven murder mystery wrapped around family secrets. I really enjoyed it. Thank you to Debbie Howell, Net Galley and Harper Collins UK audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to this book on audio and it had me interested right from the start. Quite a dark and disturbing psychological thriller which explores some quite dark subjects - such as domestic violence, cooercive behaviour and child pornography (nothing explicit though) And it covers these subjects well. Nice short paragraphs which I always enjoy as they make a story romp along quite quickly. Bit of a jaw dropper at the end. Narrators were good too.

The Secret By: Debbie Howells This psychological thriller is narrated from 3 different POVs: Elise Buckley, an air stewardess, Niamh, her daughter and Jo May and Niamh, her daughter, a police officer investigating the death of a young woman in the village where the Buckley family lives. This audio book was excellent from start to finish and had lots of twists and turns throughout that just had me Hooked!.

I highly recommend this audio book especially as I listened to her book in two sittings whilst starting a new crochet project as I was desperate to find out who the murderer was.

Big Thank you to the publishers at Avon Books UK and Netgalley for this e-ARC of The Secret.

A compelling read. Content was sensitive and dealt with in a compassionate way. Twists and turns, definitely kept me on my toes.

Wow I loved this book.  It was so gripping that it had me at the edge of my seat throughout. Its a fantastic page turner that I had to binge read it as I couldn't put it down. I just had to know what was going to happen next I couldn't wait. Let's just say all my plans went out of the window and I had a very late night with this book. The storyline was epic and was packed to the brim with twists and turns you might just get whiplash. You just seemed to not be able to trust anyone in this book. They were all the suspect at one point or another. They all seemed so shady in one scene or another it was that well wrote cleverly leading us up the wrong garden path. It was WOW. And is definitely a book you find yourself saying well I didn't see that one coming. Expect the unexpected.  I listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator she was truly brilliant at creating such a wonderful sense of atmosphere and tension.  I could not of predicted how this book would end at all as you just couldn't trust anyone of the characters.  Yet you felt so connected to the characters to love and hate them in equal measures. This is definitely going to be the next big seller.  The end was wow but im guessing you would be just as shocked as I was. I can not wait to read more from this truly amazing author.  I really can't recommend this book enough it was a big stand out book and has to be in the running for some awards this year.
Many thanks to the author and publishing team for creating this magnificent action packed suspense thrill/ mystery book that just blew me away with its powerful sense of atmosphere that captivated me until the very end.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, kobo, amazon UK and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-secret-by-debbie-howells-hapercollins-audio-5-stars
Under either ladyreading365 or lady Reading365

Hollie and Niamh are best friends, living in the sleepy village of Abingworth. Both have secrets and unhappiness in their families. When Hollie is found dead, suspected of being murdered, the local police are stumped. As they try to investigate they come upon one wall after another. The police detective, Jo, knows something is going on in this little village and both Hollie's and Niamh's famiies seem to be in the middle of it. As the investigation unfolds, it becomes apparent to the reader that there is another investigation, a huge one that is linked to Abingworth and some locals, that will blow this sleepy little village out of the water and never leave them the same. How these two stories are linked will bring these two storylines together in an interesting way.

Told from the perspectives of Niamh's mother Elise, Niamh and Jo, the police detective. This is a crime story with suspense and a few twists that added to that suspense. There are a lot of secrets in this story that cause the police to take longer to solve both crimes. There are a lot of social problems brought to light in this book that may trigger some readers, but Debbie Howells deals with them in a sensitive way. There is suicide, child pornography, infidelity, spousal abuse and emotional abuse mentioned and involved in this story, although not in graphic ways. Elise's husband and Niamh's father is the local, well-respected doctor and he can say anything and is usually believed without question. This puts Elise between a rock and a hard place. She is living in fear and that adds one more storyline for the police to deal with. It is an easy story to follow, despite what appears to be several crimes and plotlines to deal with. The final twist at the end was a not unexpected and ended this story in the perfect way. The audiobook was narrated by cast including Claire Morgan, Helen Colby, and Antonia Whillans. This gave each of the characters narrating the story their own voice. Expression, emotion, and intensity were all brought out by the performers and added to my enjoyment of this story.

A gripping story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommend!
Thanks for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

Once again a book dealing with the difficult subject of abuse and secrets, coercion and survival. Ending with the question, how far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Nice but extremely sad little twist at the end

All it takes is the death of one teenager to unravel the lives of the people in the well to do village of Abingworth.
Hollie is found drowned in the swimming pool of a local mansion. Just before she died she told her best friend Niamh a shocking secret and made her promise to never share it. It’s a secret so devastating that Niamh can’t even reveal it to help the police find Hollie’s killer. But who would want Hollie dead? What exactly are the people of Abingworth trying to hide?

I really enjoyed the audiobook of “The Secret”. How best to tell you how much I enjoyed it? Okay here goes - I hate housework, it’s wasted reading time isn it? But half way through this audiobook, I couldn’t wait to spend a day sorting out the house if it meant hours of listening to this book. It’s THAT good.

With multiple narrators and more twists than your favourite rollercoaster, it’s entertaining from start to finish. Not only that but it’s got an incredibly sinister villain who seems capable of anything. It quickly became chilling, menancing and tense and I couldn’t get enough of it. .

I had a lightbulb moment with about an hour of the book to go when I worked out the ending and I couldn’t listen fast enough to work out if I was right.
My only criticism would be that I felt a couple of events were left unexplained in a way that did not feel deliberate. The last couple of chapters felt quite rushed but wow I didn’t see the last twist coming.

Overall, I was left with the urge to get my hands on another book by the author as soon as I could.

Thank you to Debbie Howells, Avon and Netgalley for an opportunity to review a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thanks to Avon & NetGalley for this book. This book is interesting and suspenseful enough to keep you reading through the first half, but the second half doesn’t give you the twist I feel it should/that you are expecting it to. The events of the second half are all just a bit too basic and expected. However, the story does cover some important issues such as domestic abuse and teen mental health. It just needs to be a lot more gripping. At the end, you just don’t sit back and say ‘what a story!’.

Quaint village. With a murder. What more could you want. I loved it. Was well written and well plotted. A little slow to start but once you got into it I couldn’t put it down.

Gripping and twisty thriller with a chilling end.

Hollie and Niamh are best friends, the only teenagers in a small village community. When Hollie disappears the police are convinced the residents must know more than they're admitting, and gradually layer upon layer of secrets are revealed.