Paul Harris
321 pages

Danny Kellerman is a British journalist. In the year 2000 he is sent on assignment to cover the war in Sierra Leone. He winds up in Freetown where he meets a woman, named Maria Tirado, who changes his life. She is a foreign aid worker who tirelessly helps the orphans and boy soldiers of the bloody conflict. Maria and Danny become romantically involved but Danny leaves Sierra Leone and Maria stays, refusing to leave the children behind. He goes back to London and carries on with his life until four years later when he receives a note from Maria asking him for help. He quickly finds out that he is already too late. Maria has died under suspicious circumstances in a roadside robbery. As he investigates her death Danny uncovers a huge web of secrets. However, as the answers to his questions begin to unfold, Danny finds that telling the truth can carry a heavy cost.

The Secret Keeper is a story that is hard to classify. On one hand it’s a mystery/thriller, on the other it is very enlightening with regard to the political situation and events surrounding war-torn Sierra Leone. While I possess regrettably limited knowledge of the events of the war, the author served as a war correspondent in that area and this book is detailed and reflects his experience.

The mystery/thriller aspect of the story was handled very deftly as well. I don’t like to figure out the ending of a book but sometimes you can just see it so clearly spelled out in black and white that you can’t help but know. Not so with The Secret Keeper. I was kept guessing right up until the end where the truth is revealed.

I found Danny hard to like in the beginning because I felt like he was wallowing a bit in self pity but as you move through the story with him, you begin to realize that he is a man shaped both by the events in Sierra Leone and by his life before. 

If you enjoy political intrigue, learning about government and conflict in other countries through the eyes of a journalist or if you just love a good thriller then I can recommend The Secret Keeper without reservation. I would caution that there is war violence . (4.5/5)

Would you like to read some other opinions about The Secret Keeper? Then check out these other stops on the TLC Book Tour:

Monday, May 18th:  Maw Books

Wednesday, May 20th: Peeking Between the Pages

Thursday, May 21st: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Tuesday, May 26th: B & B Ex Libris

Wednesday, May 27th:  My Friend Amy

Thursday, May 28th:  A Reader’s Journal

Tuesday, June 2nd: A Lifetime of Books

Wednesday, June 3rd:  Bookworm with a View

Monday, June 8th:  The Bookworm

Tuesday, June 9th:  Jen’s Book Thoughts

Wednesday, June 10th:  Presenting Lenore

Thursday, June 11th:  Books for Breakfast

Friday, June 12th: Savvy Verse and Wit

Monday, June 15th:  Bloody Hell, it’s a Book Barrage!

Tuesday, June 16th:  Ramya’s Bookshelf

Kirk Curnutt
329 pages

What had being the parent of a murdered child taught her? Nothing-nothing except the inexhaustiblility of her own anger, anger at constantly being reminded of what she’d lived through, what she’d always be living through, and most of all anger at the presumption that she should be over it, that she should have proved that life goes on, if not for her sake then for the sake of those around her. That was never the hard part, Sis thought. Life went on anyway, whether you wanted it to or not. The hard part was being left behind to breathe out the ghost of the one who’d gone on. - Breathing Out the Ghost, pg 49

A young boy named A.J. St. Claire has gone missing and his father, Colin, is on a self-destructive trek up and down the interstate searching for his son.

Robert Heim is a private investigator who has become too involved. So involved that he has lost his investigator’s license and is near losing his family. Still, he lays it all on the line one final time to help rescue Colin from the inevitable train wreck that is coming.

Sis Pruitt is the pillar of her family. She’s a farmer’s wife and mother of two small children. She also lost her daughter to a murderer several years ago. She heads up a support group for the parents of murdered children and she sits with others who are dealing with loss even at great cost to herself emotionally. She has tried to help others and move on but her grief remains raw

These three paths converge in a small town in Indiana. Another young boy is missing and his disappearance sparks a cascade of events that opens old wounds and leaves them all grappling with emotions and struggling for answers.

Breathing Out the Ghost is not a light or easy read. It’s a complex story that deals some very dark issues: the death of a child, missing children, grief, anger, mental illness, suicide, drug abuse, sexual perversion, marital problems, and abandonment. It deals with them in a very frank way and it doesn’t pull any punches.

However, Kirk Curnutt’s writing is clear and beautiful. Colin’s desperation to do something in the face of the loss of his son is palpable. Heim’s inability to prevent himself from jumping in to the fire with Colin again, even in the face of what it could cost him, is both admirable and frustrating. Sis Pruitt’s struggle over the loss of her daughter and to keep her memory alive, even so many years later, is heart-wrenching.

An added bonus of this book for me is that I am very familiar with several areas where the story takes place and I could envision them as I read.

This is a dark and emotional story and it’s never a comfortable read but I highly recommend it. (4.5/5)