Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Publisher Unknown (1969)
Description
You have an affair. You finish it. You think it's over. You're dead wrong ...Miranda Cotton thinks she's put boyfriend Brendan out of her life for good. But two weeks later, he's intimately involved with her sister. Soon what began as an embarrassment becomes threatening - then even more terrifying than a girl's worst nightmare. Because this time Brendan will stop at nothing to be part of Miranda's life - even if it means taking it from her ...
Media reviews
[...] elegantly done: the French style is spare but intuitively feminine, poised but suffocatingly claustrophobic.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Fantasma
The Nicci French couple can always create stories with an opressive and anguished atmosphere. We are left with a not-so-good feeling.
This time we have a woman, Miranda, that after breaking up with a guy she went out with for 8 or 9 times, sees that she can't get rid of him. He starts going out with
Are they loosing their touch? The book lacks originality, we've seen all of that before... The twist at the end, predictable. Weak.
If this was the 1st book I had read by them, probably I would have a differente opinion, but after all the others, I wanted more, and different.
This time we have a woman, Miranda, that after breaking up with a guy she went out with for 8 or 9 times, sees that she can't get rid of him. He starts going out with
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her sister and telling a whole bunch of lies about her and their relationship to everyone. I couldn't help a feeling that she should have being stronger and tried to put a stop at that before being too late, as it turned out to be. Brendan was really a nasty guy and could charm anyone, but it seemed a little unbelievable that no one believed Miranda. No one! And isn't this repetitive? Haven't we seen the same situation in other books? Are they loosing their touch? The book lacks originality, we've seen all of that before... The twist at the end, predictable. Weak.
If this was the 1st book I had read by them, probably I would have a differente opinion, but after all the others, I wanted more, and different.
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LibraryThing member SyntaxE
I couldn't really read the first half of the book. I have the tendency to take on a story as if it is happening to ME, so it was really frustrating that no one believed me (Miranda, the main character) and that I couldn't think of a way to convince the people around me that Brendan was really
One thing isn't right about this story. I think a large majority of all people in Miranda's situation would have told someone about Brendan, before the stalking began. Obviously because anyone would feel a bit disturbed to find their boyfriend reading their diary. Miranda told nobody, so that Brendan could talk his way into all of their hearts. It's frustrating how sorry they all felt for Miranda, for not being able to let him go.
This story was too intense for me, so I promised myself never to read another Nicci French book, but I bet I'll be reading the next one by the end of this week because they're so addictive!
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stalking me.One thing isn't right about this story. I think a large majority of all people in Miranda's situation would have told someone about Brendan, before the stalking began. Obviously because anyone would feel a bit disturbed to find their boyfriend reading their diary. Miranda told nobody, so that Brendan could talk his way into all of their hearts. It's frustrating how sorry they all felt for Miranda, for not being able to let him go.
This story was too intense for me, so I promised myself never to read another Nicci French book, but I bet I'll be reading the next one by the end of this week because they're so addictive!
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LibraryThing member dannalora
Through the whole book I was thinking that this was just like another book by this author(s), however, I didn't see the end coming at all, so that was a nice surpirse.
LibraryThing member Carmenere
Miranda meets a guy, breaks up with him but he's a artful manipulator and somehow remains in her life. Many reviewers felt her stupid actually I think it is all those who surround her that are idiots and for some reason Miranda knows she can't share details with them because they won't believe her.
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Why? That's never really explored. Conclusion is a cop out and wraps up too nicely with no action. Show Less
LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
Although they have recently been concentrating on a series featuring a psychotherapist, the husband and wife writing team known as Nicci French are perhaps best known for their standalone novels of psychological suspense and THE SECRET SMILE was their seventh such release in 2003.
It tells the story
For this type of novel to work best the reader has to be invested in the characters to whom awful things are happening. At least enough to want the bad things to stop happening and the nasty person to get their comeuppance. In this case for most of the book I didn’t really care if Brendan managed to turn Miranda into a jibbering basket case. Or worse. That I found Miranda irritating and many of her actions plain stupid wasn’t the biggest issue. The thing that impacted me most was that I never quite believed the entire premise. Don’t get me wrong – I know there are evil bastards like Brendan out there. But Miranda’s family were too quick to side with him. Every member of her family (and her best friend too) took Brendan’s word over Miranda’s from the get go. “Really?” I kept thinking. We’ve had some arguments over they years but I’m confident my brother would still take my word against that of a complete stranger in any scenario I can imagine. As I would his. Even if that stranger was uncommonly charismatic. I suppose the book was trying to create a sense of Miranda against the world but, for me at least, this had the opposite effect of ratcheting up the tension. For this story to work better for me Miranda would have to have been more naturally isolated at the outset, i.e. if she’d never had anyone to turn to for support, or have at least one member of her circle on her side. I think Brendan’s evilness could have continued virtually unchecked in such a scenario but Miranda’s circumstances would have had more ‘truthiness’.
I guess my other issue is that I realised early on that I knew what was going to happen for the whole book. Of course there were individual “bad stuff happens” incidents that I couldn’t have guessed at but the story arc is a very simple one and there were only two possible outcomes. Perhaps if the characters had engaged me more this wouldn’t have been as much of a problem but as it was I really was a bit bored and felt the story dragged. If I were going to recommend a suspense novel with this kind of theme I’d nominate Elizabeth Haynes’ INTO THE DARKEST CORNER instead.
It tells the story
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of twenty-something Miranda Cotton. While ice-skating one afternoon she meets Brendan Block and the two start seeing each other. But only a couple of weeks into their fledgling relationship Miranda comes home from work one day to find him in her flat. She is unhappy (she hadn’t given him a key) and when she sees him reading her private diary (which he would have had to search for) she breaks off the relationship. Two weeks later her sister invites her out for dinner. Kerry has news. Kerry is in love and wants Miranda to be happy for her. Kerry hopes Miranda will be able to deal with the fact her sister’s new love is Brendan. Brendan quickly makes it clear to Miranda that he is playing some kind of twisted game but to everyone else he is the very definition of charm and no one can understand why Miranda begins behaving oddly and trying to turn people against the delightful Brendan.For this type of novel to work best the reader has to be invested in the characters to whom awful things are happening. At least enough to want the bad things to stop happening and the nasty person to get their comeuppance. In this case for most of the book I didn’t really care if Brendan managed to turn Miranda into a jibbering basket case. Or worse. That I found Miranda irritating and many of her actions plain stupid wasn’t the biggest issue. The thing that impacted me most was that I never quite believed the entire premise. Don’t get me wrong – I know there are evil bastards like Brendan out there. But Miranda’s family were too quick to side with him. Every member of her family (and her best friend too) took Brendan’s word over Miranda’s from the get go. “Really?” I kept thinking. We’ve had some arguments over they years but I’m confident my brother would still take my word against that of a complete stranger in any scenario I can imagine. As I would his. Even if that stranger was uncommonly charismatic. I suppose the book was trying to create a sense of Miranda against the world but, for me at least, this had the opposite effect of ratcheting up the tension. For this story to work better for me Miranda would have to have been more naturally isolated at the outset, i.e. if she’d never had anyone to turn to for support, or have at least one member of her circle on her side. I think Brendan’s evilness could have continued virtually unchecked in such a scenario but Miranda’s circumstances would have had more ‘truthiness’.
I guess my other issue is that I realised early on that I knew what was going to happen for the whole book. Of course there were individual “bad stuff happens” incidents that I couldn’t have guessed at but the story arc is a very simple one and there were only two possible outcomes. Perhaps if the characters had engaged me more this wouldn’t have been as much of a problem but as it was I really was a bit bored and felt the story dragged. If I were going to recommend a suspense novel with this kind of theme I’d nominate Elizabeth Haynes’ INTO THE DARKEST CORNER instead.
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LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
Although they have recently been concentrating on a series featuring a psychotherapist, the husband and wife writing team known as Nicci French are perhaps best known for their standalone novels of psychological suspense and THE SECRET SMILE was their seventh such release in 2003.
It tells the story
For this type of novel to work best the reader has to be invested in the characters to whom awful things are happening. At least enough to want the bad things to stop happening and the nasty person to get their comeuppance. In this case for most of the book I didn’t really care if Brendan managed to turn Miranda into a jibbering basket case. Or worse. That I found Miranda irritating and many of her actions plain stupid wasn’t the biggest issue. The thing that impacted me most was that I never quite believed the entire premise. Don’t get me wrong – I know there are evil bastards like Brendan out there. But Miranda’s family were too quick to side with him. Every member of her family (and her best friend too) took Brendan’s word over Miranda’s from the get go. “Really?” I kept thinking. We’ve had some arguments over they years but I’m confident my brother would still take my word against that of a complete stranger in any scenario I can imagine. As I would his. Even if that stranger was uncommonly charismatic. I suppose the book was trying to create a sense of Miranda against the world but, for me at least, this had the opposite effect of ratcheting up the tension. For this story to work better for me Miranda would have to have been more naturally isolated at the outset, i.e. if she’d never had anyone to turn to for support, or have at least one member of her circle on her side. I think Brendan’s evilness could have continued virtually unchecked in such a scenario but Miranda’s circumstances would have had more ‘truthiness’.
I guess my other issue is that I realised early on that I knew what was going to happen for the whole book. Of course there were individual “bad stuff happens” incidents that I couldn’t have guessed at but the story arc is a very simple one and there were only two possible outcomes. Perhaps if the characters had engaged me more this wouldn’t have been as much of a problem but as it was I really was a bit bored and felt the story dragged. If I were going to recommend a suspense novel with this kind of theme I’d nominate Elizabeth Haynes’ INTO THE DARKEST CORNER instead.
It tells the story
Show More
of twenty-something Miranda Cotton. While ice-skating one afternoon she meets Brendan Block and the two start seeing each other. But only a couple of weeks into their fledgling relationship Miranda comes home from work one day to find him in her flat. She is unhappy (she hadn’t given him a key) and when she sees him reading her private diary (which he would have had to search for) she breaks off the relationship. Two weeks later her sister invites her out for dinner. Kerry has news. Kerry is in love and wants Miranda to be happy for her. Kerry hopes Miranda will be able to deal with the fact her sister’s new love is Brendan. Brendan quickly makes it clear to Miranda that he is playing some kind of twisted game but to everyone else he is the very definition of charm and no one can understand why Miranda begins behaving oddly and trying to turn people against the delightful Brendan.For this type of novel to work best the reader has to be invested in the characters to whom awful things are happening. At least enough to want the bad things to stop happening and the nasty person to get their comeuppance. In this case for most of the book I didn’t really care if Brendan managed to turn Miranda into a jibbering basket case. Or worse. That I found Miranda irritating and many of her actions plain stupid wasn’t the biggest issue. The thing that impacted me most was that I never quite believed the entire premise. Don’t get me wrong – I know there are evil bastards like Brendan out there. But Miranda’s family were too quick to side with him. Every member of her family (and her best friend too) took Brendan’s word over Miranda’s from the get go. “Really?” I kept thinking. We’ve had some arguments over they years but I’m confident my brother would still take my word against that of a complete stranger in any scenario I can imagine. As I would his. Even if that stranger was uncommonly charismatic. I suppose the book was trying to create a sense of Miranda against the world but, for me at least, this had the opposite effect of ratcheting up the tension. For this story to work better for me Miranda would have to have been more naturally isolated at the outset, i.e. if she’d never had anyone to turn to for support, or have at least one member of her circle on her side. I think Brendan’s evilness could have continued virtually unchecked in such a scenario but Miranda’s circumstances would have had more ‘truthiness’.
I guess my other issue is that I realised early on that I knew what was going to happen for the whole book. Of course there were individual “bad stuff happens” incidents that I couldn’t have guessed at but the story arc is a very simple one and there were only two possible outcomes. Perhaps if the characters had engaged me more this wouldn’t have been as much of a problem but as it was I really was a bit bored and felt the story dragged. If I were going to recommend a suspense novel with this kind of theme I’d nominate Elizabeth Haynes’ INTO THE DARKEST CORNER instead.
Show Less
Awards
Hebban Thrillerprijs (2003)
Original publication date
2004
Other editions
Secret Smile by Nicci French (Paperback)