REPRESSED is book one in the Deadly Secrets series
by Elisabeth Naughton. I've been a long term Naughton fan,
and my favorite series is the Eternal
Guardians
books, a wonderful PNR series. Naughton's more recent
several series have all been contemporary romantic
suspense, which have worked for me with varying degrees of
success.
Hidden Falls is a small little backward town hiding some
dark secrets. Eighteen years ago, Samantha Parker's
brother was murdered here. Samantha recently came home to
take care of her mother until her mother's death. Dr.
Ethan McClane is a child psychologist who reluctantly
returns to Hidden Falls to evaluate a troubled youth who is
in Samantha's chemistry class. Ethan would rather not
return to the town where he lived as a troubled teen
himself, but no one seems to recognize him (it's pretty
weird that no one recognizes Ethan, actually). As Ethan
and Samantha work to solve the mysteries threatening them,
the sparks fly between them, but do they need to avoid
their attraction becoming a conflagration in order to stay
alive?
I have a hard time buying into REPRESSED. There are so
many things interfering with my willing suspension of
disbelief. Starting with lots of minor things that
predispose me to be distrustful of the story. Then we get
to all the implausibilities of the major mystery. The
whole premise is predicated on Samantha having amnesia
about a murder that occurred when she was a child. There
are all kinds of additional unlikely events that get piled
on top of this that do ratchet the tension up, but just
seem like a house of cards. The likelihood of any of the
outlandish things occurring by themselves is low, but all
of them happening together in a series? Nope, not buying
it. Then there's the insta-love; a pet peeve of mine.
Although, to be fair, Samantha and Ethan are under a lot of
stress with murderer(s) after them, and that can cause
rapid superficial bonding and the need for intimacy as a
coping mechanism. But I don't believe in their falling in
love so rapidly.
What this story IS good at is suspense. It has a lot of
good gothic elements, set in a decrepit house with looming
yet vague danger. There's a hero that we're not completely
convinced isn't somehow a bad guy. I feel a constant sense
of menace while reading, which is nicely done. Readers who
are able to check their credulity will enjoy the shivers
that this gothic tale imparts. REPRESSED is the start of a
new Naughton series, and I hope that book 2 will keep the
shivery feeling but feel more real.
Hidden Falls is exactly as Samantha Parker left it—small,
insular, and prone to gossip. Eighteen years have passed
since she witnessed her brother’s murder, but she’s still
the talk of the town. Until a handsome child psychologist
with haunting memories of his own arrives.
Dr. Ethan McClane isn’t exactly a newcomer. If it weren’t
for his latest case, he’d never set foot back in Hidden
Falls. Thankfully, no one seems to recognize him as the
troubled teen from years past. Not even Sam, the
delightfully sharp and sexy high school chemistry teacher he
can’t stop thinking about.
When Sam and Ethan work together to help one of her
students, sparks ignite. But Sam’s hazy memories of a
long-ago night concern Ethan, and unlocking the repressed
images reveals a dark connection between them. As the
horrors of the past finally come to light, their
relationship isn’t the only thing in danger. A killer will
strike again to keep an ugly secret hidden. This time no one
will be safe.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy