Book Tour Review: The Deepest Secret by Carla Buckley

Title: The Deepest Secret
Author: Carla Buckley
Genre: general fiction
Series: N/A
Pages: 448
Published: February 4 2014
Source: TLC Book Tours for review
Rating: 

A riveting, poignant family drama perfect for readers of Defending Jacob and The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which explores the power of the secrets people keep-the darker, hidden facets of our lives, and what happens when they come to light.

Diagnosed with XP, a rare medical condition which makes him lethally sensitive to light, Tyler is a thirteen-year-old who desperately wants just one thing: to be normal. His mother Eve also wants just one thing: to protect her son. As Tyler begins roaming their cul-de-sac at night, cloaked in the safety of the darkness, he peers into the lives of the other families on the street-looking in on the things they most want hidden. Then, the young daughter of a neighbor suddenly vanishes, and Tyler may be the only one who can make sense of her disappearance…but what will happen when everyone's secrets are exposed to the light?

A taut read, The Deepest Secret makes for some exciting reading for a book about families on a cul-de-sac. Carla Buckley's latest novel is about secrets and lies, but it also shows that what we keep hidden is never completely gone. Using a compelling plot that leads to many unforeseen twists, this family drama is carefully written and intricately imagined/

Broken into days rather than chapters, The Deepest Secret keeps a rotating point of view for its characters. Using third person, the reader gets to see inside the thoughts and workings of Tyler, his mom, his dad  --- and really see what goes on inside the houses of the various families. Over the course of the seventeen days depicted in the novel, readers are inextricably drawn into the complicated mess that surrounds the lives of Tyler, Charlotte, and his mother.

One of the most chilling things about this book is how cleverly it illustrates how little you can really know someone else, despite even years of familiarity. You never know what anyone could be hiding - sexual fetishes, illegal contraband, more -- under their social veneer. And as tensions escalate, the neighbors learn more and more about each other. It makes for a fascinating fly-on-the-wall reading experience for the duration.

The shortchange in this deal is the characterization. When I say it's minimal, I mean minimal. The majority of the characters are defined by one main trait - Tyler's XP, Eve's extreme dedication, David's remoteness - and it makes it incredibly hard to invest. I was always interested in the story but in a bystander-seeing-a-car-crash way --- I didn't care about them personally, I just wanted to see how everything ended up for curiosity's sake alone.

Quietly compelling, The Deepest Secret is a page turner. It begins slowly but it really builds into something you can't stop reading. Carla Buckley can write cleverly, and it's reflected here.