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No matter how hard we may try to leave it behind, the past always seems to find us back. And in the romantic thriller Every Single Secret by Christina Dodd, a young woman finds her past catching up to her after 14 years on the run when she ends up face-to-face with the man who wants her dead.
The story finds Rowan Winterbourne hiding away in a lighthouse on the California coast. For the past 14 years, Rowan has been keeping her head down, staying hidden from Gregory Torval, the crime boss who killed her mother and vowed to kill the rest of her family, too. She’s been biding her time until she could get her revenge. And when mysterious Joe Grantham arrives at her door and blackmails her into travelling with him to her enemy’s remote island home for a three-day celebration, she sees it as her chance to get her revenge or die trying.
As soon as Rowan arrives at the lavish party, nothing here is as Rowan expected. Joe wanted her there as a distraction—and she certainly grabs everyone’s attention from the start. Torval nearly shoots her on arrival—and several others on the island would be happy to see her die a painful death. The trip quickly spins into a mess of danger and emotions as Rowan finds herself facing this man she’s hated for so long—on an island where she once hid away in order to rescue the man she called her father from torture. It certainly makes for a read that’s tense and suspenseful.
Still, everything about this thriller and its characters seems rather shadowy. Rowan’s story comes out in hints and snippets—a little bit at a time—but it isn’t fully developed. It feels like there’s more to this story that the author is holding back for some reason. And we know even less about Joe. Though he mentions that Torval killed his sister, we learn very little about the character, his motivation, and even his personality. At times, he seems tough and ruthless; at other times, he’s sensitive and thoughtful. And despite having blackmailed Rowan and forcing her to put her life at risk to come to the island, he also claims to be passionately in love with her. He’s just a mess of a character whose personality seems to change as it’s convenient—and it makes him a difficult character to like.
In the end, Every Single Secret is a tense and dramatic standalone novel—but it will make readers feel like they’ve picked up the story in the middle of a series. The idea is interesting—but it all feels underdeveloped.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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