Product Description

You meet a man -You have an affair - You finish it and you think it's over - You're dead wrong - It's only just beginning . . . Miranda Cotton thinks she's put boyfriend Brendan out of her life for good. But two weeks later, he's intimately involved with her sister. Soon what began as an embarrassment becomes threatening - then even more terrifying than a girl's worst nightmare. Because this time Brendan will stop at nothing to be part of Miranda's life - even if it means taking it from her . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #128367 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The husband and wife team that is Nicci French have always produced psychological thrillers of tremendous assurance and acuity, and Secret Smile is no exception. Miranda Cotton is incensed to return home to find her new lover, Brendan, deep into the pages of her diary. She angrily gives him his walking papers. But (in an eerie reminiscence of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love), the spurned (and threatening) lover has no intention of leaving his erstwhile partner alone.

Some weeks later, Miranda is listening to her sister Kerry enthusing about the new man in her life and learns, to her dismay, that the Brendan her sister is praising is her own ex-lover. Soon, she finds herself in a terrifying war of nerves with an opponent who knows how to wield the most lethal of weapons in psychological warfare. Eventually the mental conflict moves towards a physical threat that's every bit as dangerous as the preliminaries. French's novels work so well because of a perfectly judged combination of well-honed narrative (nary a wasted incident) and sharp, truthful characterisation. Here, Miranda and the implacable Brendan are truly memorable creations. --Barry Forshaw

About the Author
Nicci French is the pseudonym for the writing partnership of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. The couple are married and live in Suffolk. There are now seven bestselling novels by Nicci French, most recently The Red Room and Land of the Living.

Customer Reviews

What took me so long?
I read Nicci French's `LAND OF THE LIVING' over two years ago and was so rapt by it that I read it in one day. Yet for reasons unknown it took me over two years to pick up another one of her books and again I was completely rapt by it! Nicci French knows how to write suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat and wanting more.

`SECRET SMILE' kept me completely frustrated as the heroine Miranda tries to no avail to convince friends, family and the authorities that her ex-semi-boyfriend Brendan, who has now re-insinuated himself into her life as her sisters new fiancé, is not the sweet and caring man that everyone believes him to be. Brendan has quite easily convinced everyone close to Miranda that they had a bad breakup and that she took it very hard, when in actuality after a brief courtship Miranda ended it with him. Now those closest to Miranda believe that she is the one that is obsessed and slowly turn against her. After a series of tragedies Miranda does succumb to an obsession of Brendan, however she is now obsessed with revenge and a determination not to let him hurt anyone else.

One thing that puzzled me about this book was how easily it was for Miranda's family and friends to turn against her and take the word of this virtual stranger over hers. On the other hand, it did not seem as though Miranda tried her hardest to convince anyone of her story for fear of them not believing her. No matter how plausible this stranger's story may be, if my daughter, sister or friend felt that they were in danger I would have to be inclined to at least look into it. For this reason and this reason only I give this book 4 instead of 5 stars because all other aspects including the twist at the end kept me riveted. Surely it will not be another two years before I pick up another one of this authors books!

pretty disappointing...
I too am a huge fan of Nicci French, having read every single one of her previous books (I consider Land of the Living, Killing me Softly and Beneath the Skin her best) but I was strangely disappointed by Secret Smile.. The style of writing is as engaging as always, the narrative well-written and enjoyable, but the plot just seemed to ramble on without "taking off".. I found it very annoying how the heroine just couldn't get her point across and how everyone else was so enamoured of the "bad guy".. Every time she tried to warn people about him she just clammed up and said "never mind, what's the point" and on and on it went like that...

Having said that, the book does keep you wondering about the outcome, but even that is pretty disappointing.. the "surprise" kind of falls flat. If you're already a fan of Nicci French just wait for the next one.. if you're not familiar with her books, don't start with this one, start with the ones mentioned above...

Secret Smile
Nicci French (husband and wife team) have found a niche for themselves in the psychological thriller. I belive one of the reasons for their success is the obvious attention to detail. They also manage to elicit empathy in the reader. However appalling the anti-hero is, we are interested in them. Brendan Block is a compelling character - and any woman who has had an experience with a sociopath will recognize with dread the tell-tale signs of obsession.

I also enjoyed Miranda's descent into depression and that powerless feeeling of not being credible in other's eyes.

Her friendship's with other women were, for me, the only low point of the novel. I find it hard to belive that an extremely close female friend would be unable to support another woman's anxiety about an 'ex'.

Saying that - I read this in one day - swept along by Miranda's personal 'Tempest' and her desperate efforts to make sense of her world that cracks under the weight of a strangers' insanity.