Linda Sillitoe (1948–2010)

I picked up a copy of this book at the BYU Bookstore's progressive book sale on the "75% off" day. Sillitoe is perhaps best known for her co-authorship of Salamander about the Mark Hofmann murders, and, probably not coincidentally, the protagonist of Secrets Keep is a reporter/journalist, Caitlin Findlay, who writes about a Mormon serial murderer named Jack Hubbard. In many other ways, this novel appears to be somewhat autobiographical.

I found this book to be mildly interesting and more than mildly depressing. Although the story centers around an LDS family's extraordinary trials and heartaches, the family members who are committed believers come across as self-righteous, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't seem to be a source of much solace to anybody.

Psychic phenomena and New Age religion play a central role in Secrets Keep. Caitlin unearths some of Hubbard's secrets with her ESP. When Hubbard assails Caitlin with negative psychic energy, she seeks out a Navajo shaman for relief. Caitlin's sister Marly sends her bishop anonymous letters every week, using her psychic powers to enlighten him as to how he should be performing his pastoral duties. Sillitoe was one of the persons who left the LDS Church in the wake of the 1993 "purge" of intellectuals, and I couldn't help tying her apparent interest in the paranormal to the spiritualism practiced by the renegade Godbeites in the late 1800s. (See Ron Walker's Wayward Saints for a fascinating account of these 19th century apostates.)

I think that Secrets Keep is supposed to be something of a mystery, centering around the death of Caitlin's brother Boyd just before he was to leave on a mission. However, those who are familiar with the typical pet peeves of dissidents from the Church won't have much trouble guessing what's going on before the book reveals the secrets explicitly.

Having Silltoe describe to me what sexual intercourse feels like to her characters added nothing to the story for me. Also, her geographical references bugged me. Workers near Flaming Gorge drive to Moab to go bar-hopping when Evanston, and even Salt Lake, is a much shorter drive? I doubt it.

In television interviews I've seen of Sillitoe, she comes across as a gentle person, and in spite of my dislike for her dislike for the Church, I think she comes across that way in this book, also. _Secrets Keep_ deals with undeniably poignant and tragic circumstances; if the book hadn't seemed so tendentious to me, I might have been able to feel more sympathy for the characters than I did.… (mais)