Customer Reviews

Secrets She Left Behind

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a wonderful conclusion to the stories that began in "Before the Storm". As Chamberlain is known for, this storyline quickly pulls you in and doesn't let go until the very last page. I read it in a week (and that is saying something since I am a stay at home mom of two). I am actually sad that I am finished, I want to know more about what happens with the Lockwoods...maybe Diane Chamberlain will make this a trilogy? In any case, if you are a fan of Chamberlains' this book will not dissapoint.

Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this book; Chamberlain is an excellent storyteller. That said, there were a lot of points during the novel when I found myself feeling a little lost, and it wasn't until I was finished with the book that I realized the first half of the story was told in Before the Storm. As I hadn't read the first book, I definitely felt at a disadvantage during some of the action.

This book is an unflinching look at the consequences from our actions however big or small. It is also a story of forgiveness and redemption as almost every character has something to atone for, something to be forgiven. Keith is catapulted into adulthood by the fire which almost claimed his life and by the sudden disappearance of his mother Sara. His half-sister Maggie (who started the fire that almost killed him) is wrestling with a community unwilling to forget and her own unwillingness to forgive.

The structure of the story that bounces between diary entries that explain the complicated history these two families share and their present-day attempts to navigate through that history to find truthful answers. I did think the ending was a little contrived, and that ending, combined with the need to read Before the Storm first, dropped this from 5 stars to 4. All in all, a great read, especially I imagine if read as intended as a sequel.

I didn't find out that this book was a sequel to "Before the Storm" until I finished it and was flipping through the ads at the back. I open with that, because had I known that, and/or had I read the first book, my feelings about "Secrets She Left Behind" might be different.

Maybe then I might have understood more about why the characters took the actions they did, or if not, maybe I would have been more emotionally invested in them so that it didn't matter as much. This book is very soap opera like, but instead of having each plot point drawn out FAR too long (as in the soap operas I used to watch) major things like arson, rampant infidelity, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc just get skimmed over. It's like the author drops them into the plot to shake it up but then never lets us know why the characters do these things. (Again, had I read the first book, things may have been explained there, but at some point, this book needs to be strong enough to stand on its own.)

Maggie, one of the main characters, is released from prison in the beginning of the book. She served 12 months for arson, after setting (although not lighting) a fire in which several people died. The deepest explanation I have for why she did this is that her married boyfriend was a firefighter and she wanted him to succeed. The reader is not shown through any thoughts or flashbacks what type of relationship this was that led her to these actions. We are just told over and over that now she is sorry and now she is a good person. With a pretty healthy ego, I might add. When confronted by an angry group of adults during her community service, she thinks: "I brought out the mean side in them. How many of them knew me personally? Some did, I was sure of it. Some were probably the parents of my former friends - my friends before I flipped out. They'd probably wanted their kids to hang out with me back then, hoping a little of me would rub off on their own children. Now they thought I was crazy or dangerous. Maybe both." Keep in mind that she served one year for a fire that killed and maimed children and adults.

One of the most frustrating aspects of this book was the total lack of foreshadowing. Instead of carefully crafting a subtle arc of clues for a major reveal, at one point of the characters drops a bombshell that gives away the game for the reader, but then we are supposed to believe that Maggie doesn't notice. It's a spoken line that in the real world would have caused her to take a step back and she certainly would have started asking some serious questions, but the author expects us to believe that she just let the bombshell go by, and maybe, I don't know, saw something shiny. That's just lazy writing, and even worse, lazy editing.

I think there might have been one real story here. One about what led a young girl to commit arson and/or how she deals with her life after prison, or maybe the story of a boy disfigured by that arson and his attempts to rebuild his life, or one about the mothers of either the girl or boy and how they deal with their children in those situations. But ALL of these stories are here, plus about five others. It's too much, and as a result, there's too little. Too little character development, too little craftsmanship, too few insights. Had the author kept a focus - maybe there would have been less soap opera and more moments like this:

"Anyone could have been holding her at that moment, and she would have seemed just a peaceful. But it wasn't just anyone. It was me. And I felt strangely lucky to be able to hold her in my arms that way. She'd felt light that last time I'd held her here in her room. Now she seemed to become lighter by the second, and it took me a moment to understand the reason: circled by my arms, she was already turning to dust."

In this one moment, the author stops moving the characters around, and instead, keeps them still. And by doing so, finally moves the reader.

When I started reading Secrets She Left Behind I didn't realize it was the second in a series, but it didn't matter in this case because Diane Chamberlain, the author, is such a skilled writer she made it work in a convincing manner. She seems to be a master weaver of scenes, emotions and everything it takes to create fine reading material.

This is a complicated plot about Keith Weston, a tragic boy who is having a horrible year. He not only finds out that his biological father is the deceased husband of his mother's best friend, but he also gets caught in a fire started by his newly discovered half-sister Maggie.

Keith is badly scarred, bitter and very dependent on his mother Sara. If ever a kid needed his mother, it's Keith. She's all he has and when she suddenly disappears, what does he do? What can he do? How does he cope without her?

This book is a hornet's nest of complexities that leave tough, stinging questions and is a follow-up of the first book in the series, Before The Storm. In a seamless web of twists and turns that explain the characters' actions, we learn what happens to Sara. Her disappearance reveals a long history of secrets and deceit, forcing Keith to learn to be independent.

This is a bittersweet, tragic story. It was a page-turner that intrigued me from the beginning. Because my heart was breaking for Keith, I had to keep reading to make sure he was all right... A wonderful ending.

I recommend this book highly. I'm hooked on Chamberlain and plan to read the first book even though I wouldn't need to in order to understand this second one. I will read it simply because I want to. And I'll be following Chamberlain in the future, hoping she'll share more of these interesting characters in a third book.

Review by Betty Dravis, April 20, 2011
Author of "Dream Reachers" series (with Chase Von) and other books

Have you ever come fifteen minutes late to a meeting and spent the next hour and three quarters trying to fill in the blanks? Missed the introductions and the part where the chairperson summed up the situation to date? That's the feeling I had with Secrets She Left Behind. There seemed an odd lack of back-story and the characters knew each other's history while I was scrambling to figure it out. At last I realized that this book is a sequel, which had not been apparent from the editorial notes I read before ordering.

With that knowledge on board I just inferred what I could and took the story at face value. Maggie Lockwood, age 19, is being released from prison after a one-year incarceration for arson. Seventeen-year-old Keith, her half-brother, is badly scarred and in chronic pain from injuries he sustained in the fire. Keith's mother Sara (who is Maggie's mother Laurel's former best friend) goes to the store and doesn't come back. Keith nurtures his hatred of Maggie and manages on his own, but badly. Maggie's younger brother Andy, whose personality is clouded by fetal alcohol syndrome, is just trying to grow up with no more disasters in his life.

There are many more twists to the family relationships than I can possibly share here without giving the story away--but this is a story about passions of the past spreading misery to the next generation. Can Laurel's honesty about her troubled past bring redemption to her daughter and damaged son? Can she find happiness with her dead husband's brother who was a part of that troubled past? Will the truth about Keith's past heal his pain? What happened to Sara and will she be reunited with her son?

Author Diane Chamberlain's writing is absorbing and clear. She uses the voices of Maggie, Keith and Andy to tell their stories in alternating chapters, interspersed with sections from the missing Sara's journals drip-feeding the past to us. This alternating-narrator technique is quite popular and often effective, but in this case with one of the four narrators writing from the past, I found that it broke the pace of the story. In spite of that, once I understood the context of the book it was a good read--though disconcertingly complex and not served well by the ending which was too tidily wrapped up for my taste.

Read the first book first (Before The Storm). In fact, if you have a lazy vacation planned, take them both along. Read them while you're away from real life and can suspend your disbelief. You'll be entertained in an unchallenging way, and you can decide for yourself if everyone gets what they deserve. Three and a half stars.

Linda Bulger, 2010

I found this book only mildly interesting. Too many characters were in the story, and the author's style of writing each chapter around one character made the story line difficult to follow. If this had been a book from the public library I would have returned without finishing reading it. I might have found it more interesting if I had read the first book but I didn't know this was a the sequel.

It is always disappointing to find out deep into a book that it is a sequel when I haven't read the first. I went through three stages reading the first half of this book. The first thought was, what an interesting way to present the story. Then, this has a very extensive back story. And finally, this has got to be a sequel. I looked it up, and yes, this is a sequel to Before the Storm. This book doesn't stand alone that well. It is too heavily based on said back story.

Judged on its own merit, it has some other serious flaws - the 'surprise' at the end wasn't surprising, and a major player acts totally out of character in the end. The ending wrapped up by solving the mystery based on something a major character would simply never do, and that smacks of laziness. The author, Diane Chamberlain, knows how to write. It was well paced, and very easy to read. But there were too many unlikable characters. Overall I do not recommend Secrets She Left Behind if you haven't read Diane Chamberlain's Before the Storm, and give only a cautious recommendation if you have.

This book was way too long. I didn't know when I decided to read it that it was not a stand alone book to begin with and therefore, I obviously missed some of the story. Maybe it would be more likeable if I had read the previous book in the series but I don't even want to read it.

The characters weren't good. What kind of mother leaves her seriously injured child to fend for himself?! I didn't even WANT to know what happened to her! I didn't like how the book was written, in diary entries for some characters in some parts of the book and narrative for some in other parts.

I can read a long Stephen King novel, no problem, but this book wasn't interesting enough to make me want to keep reading it when it was so long. It took me over a month to finish it... I have 2 kids and better things to do!

Caution....one page in you are hooked and cannot leave the book without pondering the mysteries and intrigue. Chamberlain writes mainly in dialogue which speeds the tale along, leaving one breathless at times. Told through voices of the main characters, we learn there was a tragic fire that left some burned badly and others dead. Maggie is the culprit ,but only serves one year in jail for her crime....many are outraged at this sentence, but after reading Maggie's side the reader feels definite empathy. Also empathy for Keith who is victimized by hideous scars and pain of surviving. And his mother, Laurel, who cannot figure out how to tame Keith's rage or care for him financially.

Secrets abound in this book; suspense is in every chapter. Why did Laurel leave Keith without telling him.....where is she? Who is Jen really, appearing to be a friend of Keith's and Maggie, but playing them both against each other? How is anyone to heal with all the treason and treachery about?

I like the writer's style so much. Apparently there was a prequel to this book that tells a lot more of the back story, but I wasn't aware of it. I read this as a stand alone book and didn't feel confused or disappointed. However, reading the first book might behoove the reader as to background information.

I will definitely be looking for more of this novelist's work as she is a compelling, adept writer.

This novel was an excellent multi-layered story. I loved how the point of view changed with each chapter so that the reader got to hear from each character in the novel. Although this is a sequel to Before The Storm, you do not need to have read it to appreciate this book.

Maggie has spent a year in prison for her intent to set a fire in order to allow her boyfriend to advance in the fire department. Her half brother, Keith was severely burned in the fire and was the one who tossed a lit cigarette into the fuel that caused the conflagration. Another half brother, Andy, was initially thought to be the culprit, but he was since absolved of any responsibility. These siblings, related through their mothers and their fathers, have a complicated relationship.

The story begins with Maggie's release. She returns home to find that the townspeople can't forgive her for the fire and the subsequent deaths. She has to do community service as part of her release, but everywhere she goes, she's scorned and dismissed. Keith, in severe pain from his burns, has taken to beer and Percocet for survival. Andy, with his fetal alcohol syndrome, is finding life difficult juggling a girlfriend and dealing with his sister. At the start of the story, Keith's mother disappears and he is left on his own to deal with both Maggie's release and his own well being. Enter a stranger who quickly endears herself to the fearful Maggie and to the lonely Keith. Who is Jen and why is she not being totally honest with these siblings?

The plot is revealed by chapter as Sara, Keith's mother, explains her life and dilemma. When she disappears, Keith has no choice but to accept financial help from Maggie's mother and uncle -- but he hates them! Their convoluted relationship baffles and distresses him -- but all the while he wonders why and where his mother has gone. Maggie, Keith and Andy all share the details of how they come to grips with the aftermath of the fire and their lives.

This is a wonderful novel and one to be savored. You don't need to have read the previous book to "get" this story but I can imagine that it would only add to the total enjoyment. The characters are well developed and the reader is drawn easily and completely into their lives.

Recommended!