The Secret Keeper

Book #30 Read in 2013
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

This was a book that the last 70 pages saved for me.  I could not figure out if I liked it or not.  But, I could not put it down as a "did not finish" book.  I am glad that I stayed with it; the last part of it made it all worthwhile.

During World War I, Dolly and Jimmy are a couple.  Dolly wants to be friend with Vivien, a rich woman who lives across the street from where Dolly works as a companion to an elderly wealthy woman.  When Dolly feels rejected by Vivien, she plots revenge and enlists Jimmy's help with her plan.  This plan has consequences that Dolly could never have imagined.  They culminate when Dolly stabs a man in her driveway, witnessed by two of her young children.  Years later, when Dolly is near death, those two children begin to investigate their mother's past, looking for the answer as to why their mother would have done such a thing.  The answers are complicated and unexpected.

This book alternates between present day and World War I time.  This was jolting to me at times because I was getting into one of the storylines and wanted to stay in that time period, but was forced into another time period.  The mystery was filled with twists and turns.  Some I figured out, some I never saw coming.  This book, at close to 500 pages, bogged down a bit in the middle, but overall was a good read.