The day before I went on holiday, I popped in the library looking for a good book or three. To my delight a Nicci French hard back sat there facing me. I have read a couple of books by Nicci French before and found them quite engaging. So I was really looking forward to this one.
With a SECRET ... Read review
The husband and wife team that is Nicci French have always produced psychological ... more
thrillers of tremendous assurance and acuity, and Secret Smile is no exception. Miranda Cotton is incensed to return home to find her new lover, Brendan, deep into the pages of her diary. She angrily gives him his walking papers. But (in an eerie reminiscence of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love), the spurned (and threatening) lover has no intention of leaving his erstwhile partner alone. Some weeks later, Miranda is listening to her sister Kerry enthusing about the new man in her life and learns, to her dismay, that the Brendan her sister is praising is her own ex-lover. Soon, she finds herself in a terrifying war of nerves with an opponent who knows how to wield the most lethal of weapons in psychological warfare. Eventually the mental conflict moves towards a physical threat that's every bit as dangerous as the preliminaries. French's novels work so well because of a perfectly judged combination of well-honed narrative (nary a wasted incident) and sharp, truthful characterisation. Here, Miranda and the implacable Brendan are truly memorable creations. --Barry Forshaw
Postage & Packaging:refer to website Availability:Check Site.
Advantages: Learn what a single girl eats and wears. Disadvantages: It could annoy you.
...this one.
With a SECRET SMILE I picked it up.
Nicci French is in fact two people, a husband and wife team, journalists. Nicci Gerrard and Sean French.
Nicci French is their pseudonym.
The Daily Mail states on the front cover how ‘French is excellent at building up suspense and elegantly exploiting all our worst fears’
I noticed this comment again when I was up to page 155 and thought hmm! ... ...310 pages for the whole book so I was rather baffled.
The story
In the first chapter, Miranda, our heroine starts with what appears to be quite a strong personality, coming home and finding her new boyfriend reading her diary, she throws him out and the relationship is over.
A couple of weeks later the boyfriend reappears in the story as Miranda’s sister’s boyfriend. So he is still very much in her life. ... more
The day before I went on holiday, I popped in the library looking for a good book or three. To my delight a Nicci French hard back sat there facing me. I have read a couple of books by Nicci French before and found them quite engaging. So I was really looking forward to this one. With a SECRET SMILE I picked it up.
Nicci French is in fact two people, a husband and wife team, journalists. Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Nicci French is their pseudonym.
The Daily Mail states on the front cover how ‘French is excellent at building up suspense and elegantly exploiting all our worst fears’
I noticed this comment again when I was up to page 155 and thought hmm! Wonder when the suspense will build up? There are 310 pages for the whole book so I was rather baffled.
The story
In the first chapter, Miranda, our heroine starts with what appears to be quite a strong personality, coming home and finding her new boyfriend reading her diary, she throws him out and the relationship is over. A couple of weeks later the boyfriend reappears in the story as Miranda’s sister’s boyfriend. So he is still very much in her life.
Miranda appears to undergo a personality change throughout the next part of the book as she bows down to her family’s wishes time after time. Her family appears to have no loyalty towards her. The boyfriend manipulates everyone in sight, including Miranda. Miranda is the middle child so perhaps it was supposed to be the middle child syndrome.
Miranda says she is extrovert and confident and yet came across as weak and having no substance. Miranda then meets another boyfriend and her personality seems to change again, she is strong, then that relationship ends.
Miranda decides to try to find out more about her ex boyfriend which really doesn’t add up to much, as it would be quite obvious if most people met a personality like him they would recognize that he has some kind of personality disorder. (This bit, looking into a character’s past, reminded me a bit of their book Killing me Softly)
There are nasty things that happen in the story culminating in what I thought was a rather poor ending. An ending which left me questioning (and I’m not a detective!) I honestly thought any good forensics team would pull it apart.
As I read on I began to get annoyed with Miranda, if I had been at home I would not have finished the book. On holiday there was a lot of time so I persevered. Later on in the book I found I was getting irritated not only by the character but by other things. I thought about it and realized I found the writing very dull.
I began to really notice the words, clothes and food seemed to dominate the story. Miranda kept getting dressed there was a lot of emphasis on the clothing. She would wear a dressing gown, baggy pair of jeans, skimpy black dress, sleeveless tee shirt, tee shirt with long sleeves, and a silky blue singlet, if you think that is boring, that is only up to page 39. Then of course the food she ate, scrambled eggs, buttery brown toast, Greek salad, chicken breasts and an out of date custard pie. Now does that sound tempting?
Considering I was so pleased to find this book, I was sorely disappointed. You may not be, but I do find that sometimes authors do tend to churn out some stories and they tend to repeat ideas that have been great in their previous works. Maybe this is one of them.
I keep wondering did I miss something here?
I would have rated it a no-goer if I had been at home, but I read it all the way through so rated it as not hard to put down.
My personal suggestion - If you are desperate to read this, don’t waste your money go to the library instead. However today I noticed in a Waterstones Book shop it was on special with a £3.50 reduction.
Hard Back £16.99 ISBN 0-718-14519-4 Paperback ISBN 0-718-14520-8 WWW.penguin .com Published 2003
Advantages: Compelling Disadvantages: lack of credibility
It only takes about eight days for Miranda to realise that the man she met at the ice skating rink is bad news. When she comes home to find Brendan lying on her sofa and reading one of her old diaries, she immediately throws him out of her flat and hopes that will be the end of it.
Not long after, her sister Kerry phones to ask her out for a meal as she has some exciting news: she's met a man and has fallen for him. When she tells Miranda that it's ... ...meal, there is little Miranda can do other than accept the situation and try to appear unruffled, but it's obvious that it's an attempt to get back into her life. Kerry is also under the impression that Brendan finished the relationship with Miranda and this begins a series of untruths about Miranda that he tells both Kerry and her family to try and turn them against her.
Kerry sells her flat and her and Brendan plan to move in together, but at ...
Tadders 20.07.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Secret Smile - Nicci French
Advantages: Unputdownalbe! Disadvantages: over to quickly, i wished it never had to end
I first watched the drama of this amazing book on ITV i enjoyed it so much I went straight to town the next day and bought it.
The book is marvelous and very well written. It is very easy to absorbed in the story. The story is so detailed and complex and yet it is so easy to follow and read. The story is about Miranda who meets an acquaintance of a friend, named Brendan, at a party and leads to a romance. After Brendan starts to show his true colours ... ...a talk from her sister announcing her new relationship who is none other than Brendan Miranda is in constant turmoil over his antics and tries to tell her friends and family. But Brendan is clever and when he is trying to wind Miranda up and get to her, no-one believes her.
It is very easy to feel empathy for Miranda and intense dislike for Brendan. The story is very clever and introduced to me to an author one is now in my top ten!
I love that ...
Kimbod 16.08.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Secret Smile - Nicci French
Advantages: Thrilling, cannot put down! Disadvantages: A somewhat rushed ending which is maybe a bit of an anti-climax.
Secret Smile is a very thrilling story which I managed to read in less than 2 days, mainly because I could not put it down.!
I found the main character, Miranda Cotton, to be very engaging indeed. The storyline centres around this character who, after ending a brief relationship with a man more than willing to make himself at home in her life, finds that she has become the subject of a stalker. Making Miranda's life virtually his own, Brendan Block ... ...desparate, lonely and living in fear.
The storywriting is excellent and, with a few unexpected events along the way, keeps the reader on the edge of the seat. The character of Brendan Block, (I did however think rather a stupid name), is deeply disturbing and as the tale goes along, you find yourself becoming increasingly frustrated for Miranda whose family and friends are sucked in by this monster!
My only disappointment however was that I found ...
lece2 28.08.2005 (29.08.2005)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Secret Smile - Nicci French
Advantages: Inspiring and addictive to read Disadvantages: Upsetting in areas
This book was immensely readable and I couldn't put it down for a second.
It's thrilling and exciting. You get to hear about the wonderful aroma of coffee and pastries. London areas are described in detail and the English weather of today. This detail brings out the best in Miranda's character.
A dramatic, suspense story of a woman who meets someone and then she enters her flat one day to find him sitting there reading her diary. She tells him ... ...time she sees him it's with her sister. He gets close to her sister and Miranda's family and she can't stop him. The whole situation becomes threatening to Miranda, as Brendan teases her without her family knowing and there is nothing she can do. The strong characters of Brendan and Miranda make the book interesting.
The only disadvantage is that it can be upsetting. There is a particular bit in the book that upset me, but I still didn't want to ...
dee2206 23.11.2004 (24.11.2004)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Secret Smile - Nicci French
Advantages: Compelling read Disadvantages: A bit let down by the ending
I bought this book one day before going on holiday and found myself unable to put it down.
This story is seriously scary in a way that it could happen to anyone.
Nicci French hits the nail on the head with her depiction of someone trying to get people to see a man for what he really is (a psycopath) only for everyone to turn against her in a truly chilling way.
It's as though he is always one step ahead of her and manages to twist her life so ...
sevyg18 10.02.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Secret Smile - Nicci French
Would you read it again?
Story
Characters
Readability
How does it compare to ...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Secret Smile - Nicci French"
Advantages: gripping from the start, likeable central characters Disadvantages: spoiled ending
, whose tireless efforts promise to bring the stalker to justice - a man who has thrust himself into these three women's lives and continues to harass them right under the nose of the authorities.
* What's not so good *
Strangely, the 'baddie' is unveiled around half way through the book. I found this a little annoying as it almost made me want to stop reading. However I did continue until the end and I did enjoy the book, although this somewhat detracted from the element of surprise.
To this end, the reader can easily see the ending coming from a million miles away and for someone who enjoys trying to figure out what's what in a thriller, this definitely was a big no no!
* Other books by NicciFrench *
SecretSmile
The Safe House
Killing Me Softly
Land of the Living
The Memory Game
The Red Room
Catch Me When I Fall ...
Advantages: Well paced thriller, quality writing Disadvantages: None really
I'd only read one NicciFrench book before (SecretSmile); I'd enjoyed that one so I was expecting something good with Land Of The Living. I wasn't disappointed - this is a very well written book with a well paced storyline. It perhaps lacks the bizarre twists and turns of some thrillers, but I don't think that's the intention with this story (as with SecretSmile actually).
The book is split into three parts. Part one describes the central character (25 year old Abbie Devereaux) waking up gagged, tied to a chair in the pitch black, with no idea how she got there. She eventually realises she's been kidnapped by a man, who taunts here about the fate of previous women who've been in the same situation. Some of the descriptions of her thoughts, pain, and fears are a bit repetitive, but I guess this part of the book (50 pages in all ...
and Sean French. Other works include The Memory Game, The Safe House, Killing Me Softly, Beneath the Skin, The Red Room, SecretSmile and the latest novel just out in paperback, Catch Me When I Fall.
My copy was 30p in a charity shop but obviously I was overjoyed to see that it was given away free with Eve magazine a while ago!
It is available on play.com for £5.49 delivered but the RRP is £6.99
ISBN 0141006501
320 pages published by Penguin Books Ltd (UK)
Year 2005
Thanks for reading. ...
You meet a man -You have an affair - You finish it and you think it's over - You're dead wrong - It's only just beginning ...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 ...
Compare Secret Smile - Nicci French to other similar Thriller Books »
