Secret Smile

by Nicci French

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of "Beneath the Skin" and "Killing Me Softly" comes a chilling novel about an affair that leads to a deadly obsession, available at a special low price.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446533475
• ISBN13: 9780446533478
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

A Dark Obsession

The husband/wife writing team that is billed as "Nicci French" was the perfect team to construct this intense, shocking story of romantic obsession. Why? Well, because the two main characters are a man and a woman, and we get to know both of them very, very well. The double-gendered authors get the inner workings of both the male and female minds exactly right. The novel's gimmick is simple: after their break-up, one member of a young British couple begins to stalk, torment, and threaten the other--but exactly who is doing what to whom? That's a good question, and the answer (and the ultimate solution to the problem) will surprise and disturb you. I've read all the Nicci French books now, and this hypnotic little gem is my hands-down favorite. You may never look at your loved ones in the same way again. Enjoy (but leave the lights on!).

The adept

Secret Smile is yet another of this writing duo's masterful psychological stories, this time about a good-looking, supremely skillful narcissist who insidiously worms his way into the life and mind of a woman who ends her brief relationship with him. Nicci French has (have?) captured the essence of narcissistic personality disorder in Brendan Block, who demands unconditional love but completely unable to love in return. Manipulation is the key word here. Brendan is adept at charming most of the world into admiring, accepting, and believing in him, especially women. It's what lies beneath that is so dangerous, and Brendan personifies the word "creep" in all its nuances. Once he realizes that Miranda has seen beyond the mask of his public image, Brendan is merciless in his attempts to destroy her and those around her, and he is quite successful for a good long time. Only when Miranda learns to use some of his own methodology does she begin to regain control. This is a tightly constructed story written in terse but fluent prose , which sustains its suspense until the very last page. I for one never expected the surprise ending. Very engrossing, pleasurable read. Give it a try.

Scariest of All Her Books

Partly because Miranda, the decorating heroine of SECRET SMILE, is in some ways more vulnerable than this writing couple's previous heroines. She's a little bit rough and tumble and also feels loved less than her other siblings. She's vulnerable when Brendan meets her, and vulnerable when he next takes up with her sister. When Brendan does something terrible to her little brother, Troy, her anguish knows no bounds. You have to love her! Especially when she starts showing some gumption and begins, slowly at first, to fight back against the face of evil. It's always good when they start fighting back, especially when this involves putting one's clever hat on and going back to investigate the secret past of the enemy. In Brendan's case, there is no end to the horror of his being. But by this time Kerry is wise enough to deter the serpent . . . It's amusing to see some of our Top 100 reviewers accidentally revealing themselves with this book. As anyone who has read the book knows, the name of one of the main characters is misspelled on the book jacket copy. Some of our reviewers, well, it doesn't look like they've read the book at all because guess what? They discuss the part of the plot that was on the book jacket using the wrong spelling of the name! Oh well, what do they say, "marry in haste, repent in leisure."

Dangerous stalker or unreliable narrator?

The premise is not original: Girl meets boy, girl dumps boy, boy turns out to be psychopathic stalking menace. But the British duo who write as Nicci French ("The Red Room" "Killing Me Softly") bring the dark, intimate thrill of the head-game to this timeworn scary story and from the first page, you're hooked. Narrator Miranda Cotton, 26, the middle child, is the one with all the confidence and independence. She works as a builder-decorator, lives in a small London flat and likes her single life. The day Brendan Block lets himself into her flat and she catches him reading her diary is the day their brief relationship is over. But the next thing she knows he's enraptured her shy, insecure sister, Kerry. He's insinuated himself into her family, told everyone, in the most sympathetic terms, that Miranda's reaction is just her broken heart talking. French winds the tension up, beat by beat. There are whispered obscenities, malevolent promises, unprovable invasions of her privacy. No one sees any of it but Miranda and as the scale of invasion escalates, her own family begins to turn aganst her. New boyfriends vanish in the face of her obsession. Even the reader begins to wonder - is Miranda an unreliable narrator? As always French's characters come alive on the page. Even Miranda's new boyfriends have the same freshness of possibility for us as they do for her. Her pleasure in her life, her growing revulsion and helplessness, her increasing desperation, all ring true in this gripping psychological thriller. Not French's best but still head and shoulders above the rest.

A page-turner of the highest order!

Miranda thinks she has met the perfect man...Brendan is smart and handsome with a charming personality, but what Miranda doesn't know is that there is dark-side to Brendan. After dating for a few weeks Miranda catches Brendan reading her diary and then kicks him to the curb. Several weeks after the break-up Miranda receives a phone call from her sister Kerri announcing that she has a new man in her life and she can't wait for her family to meet him. Miranda arrives at her parent's house for brunch only to be shocked in finding out Kerry's new boyfriend is Brendan. Miranda pretends everything is fine until she learns that Brendan is lying about their relationship and the true reason they broke up. As Miranda tries explaining to Kerry about Brendan she is accused of being jealous and quickly written off by her sister.Weeks after the awful brunch, Kerry and Brendan announce their engagement and beg Miranda to let them stay in her apartment while they house hunt. Miranda agrees and then the trouble really starts.Brendan has a sick game he wants to play with Miranda...he starts out by telling lies to her family and friends and then things turn deadly when someone close to Miranda is murdered.When no one will believe her, Miranda begins her own investigation to prove that Brendan is a monster, but just as she discovers a shocking secret from his past another person close to her turns up dead and she stands accused of being a stalker. Now, Miranda must race the clock to prove her innocence and stop a killer before she is the next victim.`Secret Smile' is a page-turning psychological thriller that will keep readers up all night. Filled with razor sharp suspense, the plot shocks with each new twist until the final surprise is revealed. Nicci French has crafted another masterpiece with strong characters and a chilling premise that will fly up the bestseller lists and prove she is a master storyteller.A great summer beach read!Nick Gonnella