‘WANT TO KNOW A SECRET’, by Sue Moorcroft is a story I enjoyed from beginning to end.  Why am I reading ‘Chic Lit’ when my usual treat would be the adventurous tales of Wilbur Smith or the thrills of Chris Ryan or Lee Child?  Simple really – I wanted to know how it was done.  I’m writing a romance and having all the ‘How To …’ books in the world isn’t as good as getting right in there amongst a well written, well told story.  If you want to know how something is done, then what could be better than checking an example of the best.  No question mark – that one was rhetorical.  Apart from being a respected author, Sue Moorcroft is also a competition judge, writing tutor and columnist for Writers’ Forum.

Lest I forget, the graphic I’ve used is one of my drawings from 1986, but the caption below it is a line from the book I’ve just read.  I found the story so engrossing, because from the outset the characters were realistic.  The opening paragraphs introduce Diane as she is informed by two policemen that her husband has been involved in a crash – a helicopter crash.  Diane’s emotions are sent into a spin because as she sits in her modest little house out in the country she can’t imagine Gareth (her domineering husband) having anything to do with helicopters.

When it’s confirmed that it’s her husband in A & E and she goes to visit him, Diane’s world is turned upside down as she starts to discover things about her husband’s life that make the helicopter crash seem insignifcant by comparison.  She finds out that Gareth was indeed in a helicopter crash and just along the corridor in the hospital is the seriously injured female pilot of the machine.

In the time that Diane is waiting to see her husband, who is wired up to equipment to maintain his hold on life, she is introduced to James … the husband of the pilot.  It seems he knows Gareth and he also knows who Diane is … and so in a steady progression of snippets of information Diane learns many things about her husband and his life, his other life.  I read this book in three days, which given the genre, is pretty damn fast for me.  Apart from the entertainment value, I learned so much about style and technique from this single story, which is so well told – and yes, I know I’m repeating myself.

Thank you Sue.