Secret Somethings by Amber Kay

 

From Goodreads

Marriage is bliss for newlywed Jude Clayton. Lord knows she could use it. After years of battling a destructive mental disorder, she’s hungry for some sense of normalcy. Little does she know, she will find the complete opposite with her new husband Bryce. On the surface, Bryce Clayton is every woman’s dream—make no mistake about it. Handsome, intelligent, wealthy and accomplished, Bryce only has one problem. An obsession.

Poor fragile Jude knows nothing about her husband’s “extracurricular activities.” What she’ll discover about herself in the process is much scarier than anything either of them can imagine. Jude, with her grotesque sense of humor and her many mental abnormalities, has developed an obsession of her own.

As their unconventional “romance” blossoms into a toxic relationship, truth and lies clash. Some begin to wonder: Is Jude a helpless victim to her husband’s deceitful ways or is she a dutiful accomplice?

My thoughts

My thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunty to read this story in exchange for an honest review.  I gave this 9/10 or 4 and a bit more stars.

We first meet Jude as she's confessing to killing her husband Bryce on their honeymoon. The story is then told in the past and present and keeps alternating as the story progresses. But nothing is ever as straightforward as it at first seems. 

As the story progresses we learn how Jude a seemingly at times naive young woman has been living with her Parents all her life and as she meets Bryce and introduces him to her Family, we realise how much of a control freak her over protective Mother is.  Bryce appeared out of nowhere one day and she forms a relationship with him as a means of trying to escape her Mother really.  Her Mother is obviously suspicious of him as no one knows much about him at all.  Jude has her own problems, she has been labelled as having a mental illness and is considered to possibly being a danger to herself and others.  She suffers from the odd blackout and memory lapses as a result of this.

As a number of unusual murders take place, the finger of blame is pointed in several directions.  To go into more detail would cause me to give more of the story away and I really don't want to do that as you need to read it for yourself. 

What caused Jude to kill her newly married husband? Do any of us ever really know one another? 

This is quite a clever at times dark and disturbed story and is written well, you need to keep your wits about you as you're reading it in order to follow it properly.  It will keep you on the edge of your seat and forever trying to second guess what is happening.

Please read the story as it's a real roller coaster of a ride with twists and turns that will have you gasping as I did.