Meg Gardiner

Sometimes it’s not such a good idea to go back to the earlier works of an author whose novels I enjoyed, and that proved to be the case with Meg Gardiner, whose Unsub series has been one of my best finds in the thriller/mystery category. Since I enjoyed those books very much, while I was waiting for the fourth Unsub novel to come out I decided to give The Dirty Secrets Club a look, but sadly it did not compare with Gardiner’s later efforts, even though it was a swift, reasonably entertaining read. It’s clear that in the nine years between this book and the first Unsub novel the author honed her skills considerably, so I guess I will limit myself to her newest offerings in the future.

The main character in The Dirty Secrets Club is Jo Beckett, a forensic psychiatrist: her job is to examine the personality and life of the victims of equivocal deaths, to shed some light on the circumstances that brought them to their demise. Jo is quite similar to Gardiner’s other heroine, Caitlin Hendrix, in that she is a mixture of strength and vulnerability, and very determined in her chosen profession - there is a grievous personal tragedy in her past that often weighs on her mind, and she still suffers from the claustrophobic effects of having been trapped in a car during a past earthquake, but her resolve in not letting these problems affect her and her work is indeed one of her most admirable characteristics.

At the start of the novel, Jo is called by San Francisco PD Lieutenant Amy Tang to help in the investigation of a string of murder/suicides that seems to be targeting some of the most notable individuals in the city: a fashion designer blew up his boat, killing himself and his lover; a famous surgeon died of a suspicious heart attack after his son succumbed to a drug overdose; and more recently a US attorney launched her car from an overpass, killing herself and the passengers of a passing vehicle, and seriously wounding her assistant. At the scenes of these events are often present baffling words like “Pray” or “Dirty” and no one is able to understand the reason why these people, who had everything to look forward to in life or career, choose to end their existence in such a publicly dramatic way.

With the latest suicide, that of a sports star who dived from the Golden Gate Bridge, Jo and the police stumble on the existence of the Dirty Secrets Club: its members are prominent figures of society who enlist by revealing their most troubling, most damning secrets, the thrill of discovery probably offset by the conviction of being untouchable due to their position. Someone is however targeting the members of the club, someone with a powerful grudge and a driving need for vengeance, and soon enough Jo will find herself enmeshed in this mysterious person’s plots….

As I said at the start of this review, The Dirty Secrets Club does not compare, both narratively and character-wise, with the author’s more recent novels, although I have to admit that the story is an engaging one and the need to understand the mystery at its roots is a powerful motivator to keep on reading, but unfortunately the plot is a bit confusing at times and is burdened by some long expositions that at times hobble the pace, particularly toward the end when the Bad Guy falls prey to the trope-y compelling need to Tell Everything Before The End, which to me often robs of any drama what should be a tense situation.

Still, the story remains a reasonably compelling one and Meg Gardiner’s writing - even in these earlier stages of her career - takes you along for the ride with little effort, which proves to be a great help in suspending one’s disbelief at the more eye-rolling plot instances. Certainly this was not my favorite pick from this writer’s production, but it was an… honest story - for want of a better word - and one I don’t regret reading at all.… (mais)