The Dirty Secrets Club (Jo Beckett) [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Meg Gardiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2008 | Series: Jo Beckett

Introducing the writer Stephen King trumpets as “the next suspense superstar”

Recently Stephen King devoted an entire Entertainment Weekly column to Meg Gardiner, proclaiming her “as good as Michael Connelly and far better than Janet Evanovich.” How is it possible, he wondered, that this Californian was published only in Britain? Starting now, suspense fans on this side of the pond can get their fix right here: Dutton is proud to introduce Gardiner’s brand-new series heroine, Jo Beckett, in The Dirty Secrets Club.

An ongoing string of high-profile and very public murder-suicides has San Francisco even more rattled than a string of recent earthquakes: A flamboyant fashion designer burns to death, clutching the body of his murdered lover. A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others.

Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim’s body but the victim’s life. Jo’s job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group—until she receives a letter containing a dark secret Jo thought she’d left deep in her past, and ending with the most chilling words of all: “Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An intelligent and stubborn heroine who's just emotionally vulnerable enough to be empathetic lifts this novel from Gardiner (China Lake), a Californian now living in London making her U.S. debut. Dr. Jo Beckett, a forensic psychiatrist (or deadshrinker), performs psychological autopsies to uncover the truths behind grisly crimes. Recruited to consult on the possible suicide of prosecutor Callie Harding, who drove her BMW off a San Francisco bridge and struck an airport minivan on the road below, Jo discovers this accident is the latest in a string of high profile murder-suicides. As Jo and the SFPD's Lt. Amy Tang dig deeper, they uncover the Dirty Secrets Club, a shadowy group of citizens whose members include a noted fashion designer and a football star, both of whom committed very public suicides. Still coming to terms with her doctor husband's recent death, Jo struggles to pinpoint the club's origins, realizing that a former member may be systematically driving the remaining members to their deaths. Gardiner should win new fans on this side of the Atlantic with this adrenaline-filled thriller. (June)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* San Francisco forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett doesn’t cut open victims’ bodies. She dissects their lives. It’s her professional duty to determine why the dead get dead. This time around, Beckett just might be in over her head. Residents of San Francisco, already edgy from recent earthquake tremors, have become further unhinged by a series of provocative—and very public—murder-suicides. They’re tied to the Dirty Secrets Club, a group that promises anonymity to high-profile citizens aching to confess their sins. U.S. Attorney Callie Harding was the driving force behind the club until the night she drove her BMW off a city overpass, ending her life and those of three others. The word dirty was scrawled in red lipstick across her upper thigh, a clue that ultimately leads Beckett and diminutive SFPD detective Amy Tang to a sadistic psychopath with vengeance on his mind. Beckett and Tang are close to collaring the culprit when Jo receives a threatening letter detailing a dark secret of her own. This is the U.S. debut for Gardiner, an American who makes her home in London. Stephen King has raved about her in print, and she proves more than worthy of that praise in this twister of a tale teeming with thrills and chills. --Allison Block --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (June 12, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0525950664
• ASIN: B001H31NGY
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Meg Gardiner writes thrillers set in California. The Evan Delaney novels, featuring a Santa Barbara freelance journalist, include 2009 Edgar Award winner China Lake. The Jo Beckett series features a San Francisco forensic psychiatrist. The Dirty Secrets Club won the RT Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Procedural Novel of 2008 and was chosen one of the year's Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers by Amazon.com. Originally from Oklahoma, Gardiner practiced law in Los Angeles and taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She lives near London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars `Each flash of the camera was a silent shriek', September 27, 2008

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dirty Secrets Club (Jo Beckett) (Hardcover)

This novel kept me turning the pages so rapidly that I didn't actually stop to analyse the story. Which is probably a good thing: I'm not convinced that the various elements hang together well enough to provide a totally satisfying whole. Does it matter? Well, not to me. I was looking for an escapist novel and this book delivered.

There is a lot of action in this novel: not always coherent and not always believable. That will matter to some readers, and ordinarily it matters to me. But sometimes, it is good to suspend reality and just hop onto the rollercoaster.

Jo Beckett is a forensic psychiatrist who profiles victim's lives in order to try to help solve their deaths. Lieutenant Amy Tang calls Jo Beckett to the crime scene after a high speed pursuit in San Francisco ends with four people dead and five injured. So, why did Callie Harding drive her car through a bridge railing? What is the Dirty Secrets Club, and what can Jo do to try to prevent what appear to be a related series of murder/suicides by high profile people? Jo herself looks to be an interesting character as do many of the other `good guys' in this novel.

This was the first Meg Gardiner novel I've read, and it probably won't be the last. I'm intrigued without (yet) being totally hooked.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skip this One, August 12, 2008

By 

Thriller Lover (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Dirty Secrets Club (Jo Beckett) (Hardcover)

Like a lot of readers, I decided to read Meg Gardiner's work at the recommendation of Stephen King, who has described her as "just as good as Michael Connelly" and the next "superstar of suspense." I've now read two of Gardiner's books, and I now wonder if King and I are reading the same author.

Gardiner is certainly a talented wordsmith, but her plots are so outlandish that I find myself rolling my eyes in disbelief. At least in CHINA LAKE, her debut novel, she had a likable main character and a good sense of pacing. But in THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB, her most recent standalone novel, she offers neither.

The title of THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB pretty much explains the plot: it involves a group of rich and powerful individuals who decide to share their dirty laundry with one another. Why they are stupid enough to do this is not convincingly explained. Unsuprisingly, someone begins blackmailing members of the group, many of whom start dying shortly thereafter. It is up to forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, Garidner's heroine, to get to the bottom of all this mayhem.

There is very little about THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB that I liked. The plot is languidly paced, and there are very few suspenseful scenes. Beckett is a bland, cookie-cutter type of heroine that I felt little affection for. The supporting characters mainly consist of stereotypes, and most of their dialog is flat and trite.

The plot of THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB also contains a lot of silly events and coincidences. For example, the main villain is in police custody in a certain scene, only to have a major earthquake strike the city at precisely the right moment! The lights in the room then black out entirely, and he's able to conveniently slip out in the darkness. He immediately runs down the nearest stairwell, and just happens to run into another character (walking upstairs by himself, of course) that he has a long-standing vendetta against! And so on. If you have no problem believing such an implausable chain of events, then you may just enjoy this book. For me, it was simply too much bad and sloppy plotting to swallow in one sitting.

If you want to try Meg Gardiner, my advice is to try CHINA LAKE. That novel was a mixed bag, but it was loads better than this misfire.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars, June 20, 2008

By 

AK "Bro" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dirty Secrets Club (Jo Beckett) (Hardcover)

A series of strange deaths requires forensic psychologist Jo Beckett to delve into a world hidden beneath San Francisco's psyche where she will discover the tie that mentally binds these victims together. They were all members of the Dirty Secrets Club, a place where nothing was too shocking, indeed, perhaps some things were not shocking enough, to confess. As her frenetic, yet methodical, quest to end the terror continues, Jo finds herself an unwilling member of the club, and thus, a potential victim. Now, she's fighting not only for the dead and for those who might join them, but to save herself as well.

**** Raw tension undergirds almost every page of this gripping thriller that takes you into a twisted maze of psychological suspense. Thanks to shows like Bones or series like Patricia Cornwall's, we are familiar with forensics, but I did not know about the psychiatric aspect of the science. It is by far more fascinating, making this a series that has greater potential than Kay Scarpetta's to seize the reader's imaginations and keep them up at night with all the lights on full force. ****