The Secretary
As we draw towards the end of the summer holidays, this week I’m recommending a thriller with a theme that will be on many parents’ minds at the moment: school.
Set in a primary school, The Secretary by Zoe Lea is a twisty psychological thriller about playground politics and how dangerous it can be to make enemies with the wrong parent at the school gates. The story follow Ruth, a single mother and the school secretary at her son’s school, who falls into a toxic war with the queen bee mother in the playground (who is, of course, head of the PTA) when she unwittingly sleeps with the woman’s philandering husband. If you think children can be nasty, parents can be even worse, and soon Ruth finds herself ostracised, receiving threatening messages and with the distinct impression that someone is watching her house. The Secretary is an edge-of-your-seat read about revenge, blurred lines and how far you might go to protect your child. It’s fast-paced, brimming with tension and with a completely unpredictable twist – go read it now!
Hannah Wann
The teachers thought they knew her. They were wrong...
'Must read' Bella
'A brilliant thriller' Closer
'Gripping and powerful!' Lauren North
'An addictive page-turner' Samantha Tonge
'School run revenge at its best' Jacqueline Ward
'The end was a triumph, absolutely brilliant!' Rona Halsall
When single mum Ruth has a brief fling with Rob, she's mortified to discover that he lied to her. He lied to her, because he's married. Worse still, he's the husband of Janine, head of the PTA at the primary school where Ruth works as secretary, and when the truth of their fling is discovered, Ruth suddenly has a lot of enemies at the school gates.
Threatening texts begin to arrive, rumours abound and the staff room becomes hostile. But when it also starts to affect her son, a student at the school, Ruth realises you can do anything if you convince yourself it's for the sake of your child.
Even murder.
A page-turning and deeply compulsive psychological thriller about a school secretary and how dangerous it can be to make enemies at the school gates. For fans of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and The Rumour by Lesley Kara.
