A Secret Kept

In this literary mystery, Frenchman Antoine Rey surprises his sister on her 40th birthday with a weekend visit to their childhood summer retreat. On their return trip, as Mélanie is about to share an unsettling memory of their mother, she drives off the road and is critically injured in a car wreck. The plot drags through Antoine's split with his wife, his son's drunken spree, the death of his daughter's best friend, and the one bright spot: his blossoming love affair with a sexy female mortician he meets at the hospital after the wreck. Hearing Simon Vance's (see Behind the Mike, LJ 11/15/08) British-accented reading of this French story results in a disjointed experience. Even though de Rosnay's (tatianaderosnay.com) previous work, Sarah's Key (2007)—also available from Macmillan Audio and AudioGo—was an international best seller, this ranks as a marginal purchase. ["Different from the historical Sarah's Key but with as profound an effect," read the review of the St. Martin's hc, LJ Xpress Reviews, 9/30/10.—Ed.]—Sandy Glover, Camas P.L., WA