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The Secret Keeper

by Paul Harris

3.53 · rating details · 55 ratings · 29 reviews

In the tradition of John le Carré, The Secret Keeper, set in war-torn Sierra Leone, tells the story of one man’s search for the truth in a nation where the rules of civilized society simply don’t apply.

Four years ago, British journalist Danny Kellerman was given the opportunity of a lifetime: covering the political crisis in Sierra Leone as a war correspondent. While in F...more

Hardcover, 321 pages

Published April 2nd 2009 by Dutton Books (first published March 31st 2009)

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Jul 24, 2009

Serena rated it

Recommends it for: anna horner,

The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris does not read like a debut novel, but like a well-engineered corkscrew ride through the African heat and the deep recesses of our humanity and morality.

In the early 1990s, civil war began in Sierra Leone--a former British colony ripe with diamond mines--as rebels recruited students and children to fight against the government for more than a decade. The brutality present in the nation at this time comes across vividly in the pages of The Secret Keeper...more

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Feb 19, 2010

Cheryl rated it

War time journalist, Danny Kellerman receives a letter in the mail from an ex-lover. Her name is Maria Consuela Tirado. Maria worked in Africa as an aid worker. Inside the envelope is a note from Maria asking for Danny’s help. Unfortunately as Danny is reading the letter, Maria is already dead.

Danny books the first flight out of London to Africa. He has to know what happened to Maria. Once in Africa, Danny is greeted by an old friend, Kam. When Danny learns that Maria was murdered, ...more

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Jun 09, 2009

Bookworm rated it

In The Secret Keeper, British journalist, Danny Kellerman gets an assignment in war torn Sierra Leone, West Africa. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. While there, Danny meets a woman named Maria Tirado. In Sierra Leone, the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) has taken over and rules with brutality, senselessly murdering and torturing. Maria operates an orphanage for child soldiers. She helps children who where made to join the RUF were turned into murderers and had no way to get back home....more

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Jun 05, 2009

Literary Feline rated it

I have gotten fairly good at choosing books that I know I will like. Occasionally I come across a book that proves to be disappointing, but, fortunately, that was not the case with Paul Harris’ The Secret Keeper. Far from it. The novel held me in suspense throughout and had me thinking of it even when I was unable to read. I even dreamt of Sierra Leone one night; I was stopping at checkpoint after checkpoint on my way out of Freetown for a purpose I did not know.

Danny Kellerman at leas...moreI have gotten fairly good at choosing books that I know I will like. Occasionally I come across a book that proves to be disappointing, but, fortunately, that was not the case with Paul Harris’ The Secret Keeper. Far from it. The novel held me in suspense throughout and had me thinking of it even when I was unable to read. I even dreamt of Sierra Leone one night; I was stopping at checkpoint after checkpoint on my way out of Freetown for a purpose I did not know.

Danny Kellerman at least had a purpose. He had snagged an assignment in the war torn country of Sierra Leone, his own dream come true. It was a promise of excitement and to be right in the middle of something big. A place where he could make a name for himself. His life was irrevocably changed by his experiences in Sierra Leone. He saw the unimaginable, the horrors of war, and it hit way too close to home.

Seeking normalcy, Danny returned to his life in London. He settled into life with a new girlfriend, Rachel, and continued to work at the paper. His relationship with his ailing father continued to leave a sour taste in his mouth, the two never quite being able to see eye to eye. Danny thought his life was going along okay, even despite the emptiness he felt; at least until he received a letter in the mail from a long lost friend.

Maria Consuelo Tirado had been the one. He had once thought she was the love of his life; only their lives had taken them in completely different directions. Maria’s ties to Sierra Leone bound her there while Danny was only too eager to get away after the civil war at last seemed to come to an end. Her letter, however, called him back. Maria needed his help. She was in trouble. Danny was at first reluctant to go, but after learning that she had been killed in a roadside robbery, he knew he had to convince his editor to let him go back to Sierra Leone. Even if it put his relationship with Rachel in jeopardy, he had to find the truth. Was Maria’s death a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time or was it a planned murder?

The country had changed much since his last visit there four years before. And yet, it had changed so little. His old friend and guide, Kam, seemed to have prospered during Danny’s absence, while Danny’s friend Ali Alhoun worried about his business in a country that was fast becoming unfriendly to “foreigners”.

I really liked reading about the journalists’ interactions with each other and seeing them in action. There was a definite competitive edge, but there also seemed to be a camaraderie between them—they helped each other out and looked after each other.

Perhaps it will come as no surprise that what drew me most to the story was that of the child soldiers. War is such an ugly thing and to bring children into it is unimaginable to many of us. And yet it happens. Children are ripped from their families and forced into service as soldiers, sometimes, often times, being asked to do terrible things. One of the most heart wrenching stories in the novel is of a mother separated from her son after having lost all of her other children. The details of it made me mad and oh so sad. Unfortunately, stories like that are all too true.

Maria worked with child soldiers, trying to rehabilitate them; she was an U.S. aide worker, very passionate about her job. While others looked at these young men and saw only cold blooded killers, she saw children whose childhoods had been completely stolen away. They and their families were victims of a terrible war. It is no wonder Danny fell head over heels for Maria. She was beautiful, strong and independent, not afraid to stand up for what she believed in.

I liked Danny right from the start. He was troubled and flawed. He was never cocky, just confident. He was smart and thoughtful. When he had first arrived in Sierra Leone during the war, he was still a bit idealistic and caught up in the euphoria of a new experience, not to mention being in the middle of a situation that was a constant adrenalin rush. Even the more experienced journalists were not immune to it. Paul Harris captured that so well in his writing. The author also painted a realistic picture of an older Danny. He’d lived a lifetime during his short time in Sierra Leone. The weight of his experiences was heavy on his shoulders, and Harris made me feel that. I felt Danny’s confusion and grief as well as his rage.

Another aspect of the novel that especially interested me was the setting of Sierra Leone. I was not too familiar with Sierra Leone until I saw the movie Blood Diamond. After seeing it, I researched the country and its history, trying to find out what was true and what was fiction, and to try to gain a better understanding of what was really going on there. It was interesting to read about Harris’ Sierra Leone in The Secret Keeper. I could feel the heat beating down on me just as Danny could. I especially liked the juxtaposition of the old Sierra Leone with the new, as Harris weaved the past with the present throughout the novel.

There is so much I want to say about this novel. There was so much to it, but then you might not want to read the book if I give it all away! It is not just a mystery thriller. There is certainly mystery and plenty of suspense, but I think the underlying stories of the characters, their relationships and their personal struggles are very much a part of what makes this book great. I loved how the author demonstrated that nothing in the world is black and white. Nothing is as simple as it may seem. People are complex as are the situations they may find themselves in.

Paul Harris has earned a place on my must read list. I wish he’d hurry up and finish his next book so I can read it.(less)

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Mar 08, 2009

Nancy rated it

First, my thanks to BookBrowse for offering me this ARC to preview.

The author of this novel is a reporter who is the US Correspondent for The Observer. According to his brief bio on the book cover, he was in Africa during and reported on the Sierra Leone conflict. So when I discovered that a journalist who had been there was writing a book about Sierra Leone, I was excited to read this book. And there certainly is an interesting story between its covers.

Danny Kellerma...moreFirst, my thanks to BookBrowse for offering me this ARC to preview.

The author of this novel is a reporter who is the US Correspondent for The Observer. According to his brief bio on the book cover, he was in Africa during and reported on the Sierra Leone conflict. So when I discovered that a journalist who had been there was writing a book about Sierra Leone, I was excited to read this book. And there certainly is an interesting story between its covers.

Danny Kellerman, British journalist, was sent to cover the conflict in Sierra Leone in 2000, just after the shaky peace agreement had been violated by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Kellerman is in Freetown, and falls in love with a woman there, Maria Tirado. Maria works for an organization there called War Child International, which tries to help children who had been forced to serve as soldiers during Sierra Leone's troubled war time. However, journalists begin to be killed and it is not safe there; after Danny tries to help Maria during a crisis involving some of these children, the journalists are advised to leave and Danny returns to London. He never hears from Maria again. But four years later, he receives a letter from Maria saying she needs his help -- and off he goes to Freetown, where he finds that Maria was killed sometime earlier. The story is about Danny's search for the truth behind Maria's death.

The author provides a great deal of insight into conditions in Sierra Leone after the conflict; he also looks at the diamond trade there and its relationship to the troubles. You cannot fault his credibility, and this story was incredibly interesting. I read the book in one sitting. What really bothered me about this book was that he did not really develop his characters enough to give them a lot of depth and make them more realistic; I was more in tune with the plight of the Africans than I was about any of the principal characters. I think had he given his characters more dimension, this could have been a fine novel in every sense of the word.

I would recommend this for the parts set in Africa; people who are interested in the numerous conflicts occurring there might enjoy it for the brief glimpse afforded by the author.

Overall -- a good story that could have been a bit better. I think it should do well because it's different. Several other people who read this book really liked it, but I guess I'm just a very tough audience. (less)

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Jul 11, 2010

Freda mans rated it

· review of another edition

This is one of those stories that some will love and others will find it too emotional to bear. It touches on subjects that, I find, are taboo over here in my country. You don't hear enough about the wars in Africa, the diamond mines, or the politics, and this book touches on all of it.
I really loved the story, though it took me a while to read. It was the nature of the tale that I had to get through. I hate knowing these stories are fiction here, but happen in real life, and there is not ...more

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Jun 20, 2009

Jen rated it

Shelves: male-author, mystery

When Danny Kellerman first receives a letter requesting help from Maria Tirado, his former lover from Sierra Leone, he's inclined to blow it off. After all Maria is the one who chose Sierra Leone over Danny. He hadn't heard a word from her in four years and now he was happily ensconced in a new relationship with a wonderful woman. But when his curiosity about the letter he received three weeks after it was dated gets the better of him, he begins to investigate it. It is only natural; as a journa...moreWhen Danny Kellerman first receives a letter requesting help from Maria Tirado, his former lover from Sierra Leone, he's inclined to blow it off. After all Maria is the one who chose Sierra Leone over Danny. He hadn't heard a word from her in four years and now he was happily ensconced in a new relationship with a wonderful woman. But when his curiosity about the letter he received three weeks after it was dated gets the better of him, he begins to investigate it. It is only natural; as a journalist, his job is to investigate. What he uncovers devastates him and changes him forever: Maria was murdered.

Danny returns to Sierra Leone in an effort to uncover the trouble Maria was in, find out why she needed his help and what exactly the truth is about her murder. His conscience simply won't allow him to do nothing. But will he survive the corruption and evil to tell Maria's story?

THE SECRET KEEPER is journalist Paul Harris's first foray into fiction and he sure knows how to do it in grand style. The Prologue ignites the reader's emotional candle, and Harris doesn't allow it to be extinguished until long after the last page is turned.

The depiction of a Sierra Leone, both as a war-ravaged country and then as a peaceful but corrupt nation is so meticulously developed you can't help but feel as though you are there, walking alongside Danny, a first-time war correspondent, in a land being ravished by its own people.

The intensity of this novel is augmented by the extreme devastation present in Sierra Leone and facing the cast of characters. This is not simply a plot of the white hats against the black hats. And it is not sufficient to say the plot is merely "intense." The blurring lines of good and evil inch the reader closer to the edge of his/her seat, they propel the reader forward through the plot, desperately seeking the seed of all this evil and hoping retribution for all the innocent who are devastated by it lies ahead. Harris's SECRET KEEPER is not one that leaves the reader when he/she reads the final page and closes the book. It echos long after page 318.

In all fairness, I feel I also need to mention what is missing from THE SECRET KEEPER. As a first novel, I could not find any of the awkward dialogue that plagues so many first-time authors. I also could not find a lack of character development or the use of stereotype. The realism of the characters populating THE SECRET KEEPER is incredible. Most of what covers the pages of this novel is content we'd probably like to pretend on a day-to-day basis doesn't exist; like small children who squeeze their eyes shut - we don't see it, so surely it must not exist. But as Harris jars you from the comfort of a highly developed country and drops you smack dab in the middle of chaos, you know, without a doubt that there are many Kams in the world, Major Gbamanja's not an exaggeration, and Rose is a symbol of far, far, far too many mothers.

Read THE SECRET KEEPER with a word of caution. This is a book that will increase your heart rate; it isn't one you will be able to put down; and it certainly isn't one that you will easily be able to forget.(less)

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Apr 11, 2010

Richard Bradley rated it

British ad hoc-war journalist in Sierra Leone. A love story. A travel book. Humanitarian volunteers. Expats. Mercenaries. The media. Much despair. Much blood. Much pain. Much beauty. Much joy. Much hope.

I felt quesy when I was struck with the knowledge of who the torturer must be, the last part of the way through the book, as the story began to go down a terrible road that would never admit a sane or safe return. Wait, now I know the reason why, as well. (The author had to spoon-feed...more

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Feb 23, 2009

Wisteria rated it

The Secret Keeper[return][return]Harris doesn t waste any time shocking you into a compelling need to continue as the opening chapter captivates your attention to read on. The Secret Keeper is a transcontinental consummate adventure thriller traversing between London and Sierra Leone. In London, Danny Kellerman receives a cryptic letter of desperation from his ex-lover Maria. He is a journalist who four years earlier reported on the political upheaval in Sierra Leone where he met Maria. The pos...more

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May 18, 2010

Paul Heidebrecht rated it

I can't resist novels about Africa but while this Sierra Leone-based story is an improvement on Blood Diamonds, it continues a tradition of Westerners working out their identity crises in Africa while the Africans get stuck with bit parts and stereoptypical roles. Harris has a great move script here and there are even a few redemptive moments.

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Jul 04, 2009

Maria rated it

This was good, but some of the scenes he witnesses/describes are so disturbing they are difficult to shake. I thought it was pretty engagin, but the bok jumps back and forth between two different times and when reading short sections, it could be difficult to remember where you were. Still I thought it was a very interesting story.

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Jun 14, 2009

Christine rated it

Shelves: vacation-books, must-reads

Wow! A great first book for this author. Must be read in chunks to get the full-effect. Worth every page! I could not put it down: love + mystery + historical fiction==a must-read! I had to give it five-stars b/c 4stars did not seem to be enough. Let me know what you think about it~~

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May 03, 2009

Tom rated it

A great read , and very informative about the civil war in Sierra Leon and the "boy soldiers" taken from their families to murder at random. It's an A/A+.

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Apr 09, 2009

Cheryl rated it

Read as an ARC for review. The constant shifting of time was confusing. There was not enough difference to allow me to know which year I was in.

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Jul 25, 2011

Sarah added it

I found this story to be much more compelling than I had anticipated. Harris's story of murder, espionage, and manipulation within war-ravaged Sierra Leone is a real page turner. Not the most elegant prose, but a good narrative plot.

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Sep 06, 2010

Mari rated it

This book was really interesting and kept me turning the pages, but the ending was a lot less dramatic then I was expecting.

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Jul 27, 2011

Nancy Wieme rated it

I couldn't get past the first 30 pages. I rarely give up on a book, but this one was just not my idea of a fun read!

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Feb 04, 2010

Lynn rated it

This was a well-written glimpse into the politics and corruption of Sierra Leone. Engaging story-line. I'd like to think that literary license resulted in exaggerated reporting of events, however I suspect that such things and worse make up the region's history.

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Jan 26, 2010

Karen Pearce rated it

Starts boldly and ends unexpectedly! Keeps you on the edge throughout the story.

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May 18, 2009

Britt, Book Habitue marked it as to-read

http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/05/18/the-...

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Aug 09, 2010

Caroline rated it

Intense and completely capitavating

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Jul 16, 2009

Liana rated it

The author came to our book club.

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May 18, 2009

Suey rated it

I'm hosting this book and author on my blog in a couple of weeks. Be sure to visit then to see what I liked and didn't like about this book!

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Sep 21, 2011

Lori S rated it

Great story, thrilling, and gut clenching.

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Jun 20, 2009

Suziqoregon rated it

Shelves: 2009, library

My blog post about this book is at this link.

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Sep 23, 2009

Amanda rated it

Did not finish. Didn't hate it, just couldn't get into it.

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May 02, 2010

Juha rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: thriller friends with a sense of recent African history.

Shelves: africa, fiction, thriller-mystery, international-development

This thriller takes place during and in the aftermath of the Sierra Leone civil war. Like the author, the protagonist is a British journalist who gets drawn deeper into the conflict than he would have liked. His obsessiveness and self-righteousness are a bit annoying, but on the whole the novel is a good read with plenty of action, suspense and local color.

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Feb 08, 2012

Sarah rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: bangkok-books, 2012-books, travel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 28, 2009

Staci marked it as to-read

Shelves: book-blogger-recommended-2009

http://www.literaryfeline.com/2009/05/re...

http://readfromatoz.blogspot.com/2009/05...

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Jan 15, 2012

Diane Clavette marked it as to-read

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About Paul Harris

Paul Harris is currently the US Correspondent of the British weekly newspaper The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. He has held the post since 2003. Prior to that he reported from Africa for the Daily Telegraph, the Associated Press and Reuters. He has covered conflicts and trouble spots all around the world, including Iraq, Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakis...more

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