Keeping Secrets

by Andrew Rosenheim

American Jack Renoir knows other people’s secrets but makes sure he keeps his own. Falling in love with Kate, however, and moving to England with her, exposes his fragility and Renoir is forced to confront the horrors of his past in order to ensure a future with the woman he loves.

Genres: Fiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Andrew Rosenheim was born in Chicago and came to England as a Rhodes Scholar in 1977. He has lived near Oxford ever since.

He worked in electronic publishing and artificial intelligence for over fifteen years, and ran Amazon UK's Kindle Singles. He has also written for the TLS, The Spectator, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Tablet, The New York Times Book Review, among other publications.

Rosenheim is the author of nine novels, including Hands On (1993), a satirical novel featuring a precursor to ChatGPT, the trilogy Nessheim's War (The Accidental Agent; The Informant; Fear Itself), Without Prejudice, Holly Lester, and a memoir, The Secrets of Carriage H.

Reviews

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb led me to believe this would be a suspenseful thriller. It started with a good murder, but then degenerated into a slightly tedious transatlantic love story, with disjointed hopping from one timeframe to another. Intelligently-written, but disappointing because it was not what I was expecting.

[Alison Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. 2018

[Dorothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's good when a book keeps secrets from its readers, that's what creates suspense - but only if readers have some hint that there are secrets to be revealed.

This book starts with a prologue where a boy sees his uncle murdered. We wonder what happened next, but then we go forward in time, and the boy is now a man. There's no suggestion that his uncle's murderers are still in the picture, so it seems like the prologue was simply there to explain why he's become a bit of an ice man emotionally.

So, no suspense, no hook to keep us reading. Instead we get a rather cold and analytical account of him meeting and falling in love with an Englishwoman and moving to England to live with her. Finally, over 100 pages in, somebody tries to kill him when he's out shooting grouse - but there's still no clue as to why that might be, and even Our Hero doesn't seem that curious. And we return to the dispassionate description of his activities.

I'm not sure if the cool, dispassionate style is meant to reflect Jack's own personality - but if so, perhaps it should've been written in first person to make it feel a bit more personal. As it is, too often it feels as though the author is providing a commentary on the action, "telling not showing", rather than getting inside the head of the character. None of the characters is coming off the page at me so I really can't start to care what happens to any of them. It's unlikely I'll finish this one!

[Kristy Trauzzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to say I really liked it - but then I couldn't exactly remember what it was about which makes me think it should be dropped to an I liked it. I just finished reading it a couple of days ago - it shouldn't be that hard to conjure up the book.

I found that I was more interested in his life with his uncle. Although, I was very surprised at the end to see how little time he actually spent with his uncle. I thought he had been there for a lot longer. I find it sad yet amazing to me how resourceful children become when their parents are alcoholics/drug addicts. They know how to get the bowl and the cereal using the kitchen chairs, etc, when most children just have everything given to them. And usually it's "don't stand on the chairs!". Small children never cease to amaze me.

I found his adult life more boring. Fate is funny and I do like how fate plays a part in the book. It was just chance he was giving the tour. He normally didn't. But yet that one small step lead to a long term relationship. The ripple effect which I just love.

And, now, I kinda want to go to England which never happens. I think that place is overrated lol. So, good job book!

See - I think if I would have wrote this review way back when, I would have said I really liked it.

[Melodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought the narrative of "the boy" was too adult, too mature, but as the story progressed I could understand why. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire story, the characters and the plot. looking forward to reading more by the author.

[Michele Wallis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great start ... slowed down a bit in the middle but the end was as good as the start. Very enjoyable.