27 November 2017

Review #684: Little Secrets by Anna Snoekstra



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.”

----Roald Dahl



Anna Snoekstra, an Australian author, has penned a riveting psychological thriller called, Little Secrets that is centered around a small Aussie town, where a female wannabe journalist lives amidst her unhappy family and the haunting memories of burning down of the courthouse with a kid inside it, but when porcelain dolls looking like an exact replica of little daughters of the houses start to turn up into those houses' doorsteps, that wanna-be journalist is sure that she has found her new story that will make her a sure-shot journalist, not before she stumbles upon a strange man living in the town's motel whose arrival brought upon that dolls incident.


Synopsis:

To keep little secrets, they tell big lies…
‘I am not sick.
I just like the little dolls…
I think I’ll break one soon.’

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. A tiny porcelain doll appearing on your doorstep. Bright blonde hair, rosy cheeks, even a little blue dress. A perfect replica of your six-year-old daughter.

But then anonymous letters from ‘The Doll Collector’ begin to arrive. And in the small town where everyone has their own little secrets, no one is safe from suspicion.

Because you can never really trust the people who live just along the street…

Big Little Lies meets The Couple Next Door in this fast-paced psychological thriller.



In a small Australian town, lives a young, aspiring and determined woman named, Rose, whose only goal is to bag a proper journalist job somewhere outside the town and away from her unhappy family. But this sleepy town which was already shaken up with the incident of burning down of the courthouse in which a young 13-year old kid became a victim, the towns' folks could not catch their sleep peacefully when another shocking incident hits the town. Porcelain dolls which are an exact replica of the little girls of the town start to turn up on the doorstep of the houses with little daughters. Rose soon guesses it to be an act of some pedophile marking his young victims by submitting an article of this incident to a local newspaper, and soon after that, a chain of mysterious events start to occur, beginning with the arrival of a strange man in their town's only lodge. So how far Rose is willing to go to find out the mystery behind the dolls that look like little girls of the town?

This is the first time that I'm reading any book by this author, although I've only heard good things about her previous book, sadly, her new book did not stir me up like it was supposed to do. Moreover, the mystery had a lot of strings unattached even at the end of the story. Apart from that, the road to the climax, for me, turned out to be pretty bumpy, and often, I found myself sliding down an unpredictable rabbit hole, meaning, an unforeseeable twist and turn here and there kept me engaged on a perilous journey to the climax. The town that the author has projected has lot of vividness in its description and it felt, coming alive right before my own eyes. Yes, sometimes, the descriptions of such a sleepy town gave me goosebumps.

The author's writing style is good enough to keep the readers glued into the story line. The writing is also laced with gripping tension and suspense to make it an intriguing read for the readers. Also lots of psychological aspects of a human mind play a huge factor in the book, which a reader can understand while he/she is lost deep into the heart of the story. The narrative is articulate and kept close to reality. The pacing is really fast, as one after another incident will keep the readers turning the pages of this book frantically.

The elements of mystery is well concocted into the story line by the author. The plot is heavy with unpredictable twists and turns that comes out of nowhere all of a sudden, and that will peak the readers' interest into the story line. The gripping tensions and edgy suspense is perfectly combined with a tightly packed plot, that ensures to give the readers a satisfying read all through out, although some odd plot turns make the story a bit uneven at times.

The charters are well developed by the author by depicting them with enough realism and honesty so that readers can subtly relate to the plights of the characters. The main character, Rose, is a strong protagonist whose determination to get to the bottom of the mystery, even though leads her on a risky path, will make the readers fall for her, especially for her love towards her younger sister. Also Rose is no damsel-in-distress type of woman and tries to solve the mystery almost on her own, even though there is a romantic interest of hers constantly pounding at her.

In a nutshell, the story is compelling enough to keep the brain cells of the readers charged till the very last page of this book.


Verdict: An engrossing story playing the correct tunes of an edgy psycho thriller.

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Harper Collins India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Anna Snoekstra was born in Canberra, Australia in 1988. She studied Creative Writing and Cinema at Melbourne University, followed by Screenwriting at RMIT University.
Anna's short films and music videos have screened around the world. She has written an array of published and award winning short fiction. Her debut novel ONLY DAUGHTER was published in September 2016 (Mira). Her second novel LITTLE SECRETS will be published November 2017 (Mira).
Visit her here



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