The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood.

Coco Jackson is 3 years old and she disappears from her parents holiday home at Sandbanks in Dorset. An email is sent out asking for help in finding her.

The Darkest Secret is a mystery about the disappearance of a 3 year old girl and the secrets people can keep. There was tremendous public speculation and doubt at the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a 3 year old British girl who disappeared whilst on holiday with her parents in Portugal in 2007. This novel works those doubts and throws little clues along the way. This is NOT a story about Madeleine but the background adds a familiarity to this novel.

I liked the start of this book with the email seeking information about the disappearance of Coco. This was followed by the transcripts of the Police interviews with all the characters in this story. Then the story set in 2004 begins with what I initially thought was a regular crime/thriller. But then suddenly the story jumps to the present day and it becomes a mystery surrounding The Darkest Secret.

I like Alex’s writing style which has a lovely flow that you can enjoy from interesting newspaper columnists, that feeling you get when someone is telling a good tale over a few drinks. Her style is very similar to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown of The Independent newspaper. Alex is so in tune with the British way of life, I found her writing very comfortable. I particularly liked the banter between her characters. Character development was good, with Milly Jackson being the brightest. It was nice how each chapter was from a different character’s point of view.

I enjoyed reading The Darkest Secret, it is a good mystery and exploration of how people can work together as part of a group. But I do have 2 misgivings about this book. The story jumps with alternate chapters back and forth between 2004 and the present day. I found this time changing very frustrating. Also as the mystery unfolds some characters know more than others and the way the story is told, sometimes the reader knows more than the character, so they are bumbling along and you become frustrated by their ignorance!

I found The Darkest Secret a good mystery and I picked up on the well placed clues so the ending was how I suspected. I liked how Alex regularly plotted little details in to keep your brain working the plot when you were away from the book. Alex has her reasons for telling this mystery in the way that she has, I just wish she could have told it without going back and forth in time. Surely the mystery could be revealed with a linear time frame, even if it meant a character would have to explain to someone what happened during that bank holiday weekend in 2004. Still, I enjoyed read this GOOD book which I will vote a 4 star read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Little Brown Book for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.