When economics means business Book

Dani Sinclair returns to Fools Point or Mystery Junction or whatever it's called now in "Best-Kept Secrets," this month's second secret child plot. Amy Thomas is shocked twice in one day when her child's secret father appears and a dead body is unearthed at a construction site. One threatens her heart. The secret of the other threatens her life. Can Jake save Amy, win her heart and create a family with her?

"Best-Kept Secrets" is really two books: a fairly good mystery plot and a boring secret child story that uses every cliché in the book. If you can find anything in the circumstances of Amy and Jake's separation that you haven't read in dozens of other books, you haven't read enough of these books (Lucky You!). I spent much of "Best-Kept Secrets" counting all the many cliches. The mystery element is far stronger. There are some juicy secrets to be uncovered and plenty of danger. Late in the book, the story picks up some steam with good action and some twists. Unfortunately, there's more of the secret child nonsense than the mystery. After being pulled away from the mystery too many times, I started to lose interest in it too. The suspects aren't developed enough for us to guess who it could be or why. By the end I was having a hard time understanding why I should care who did it.

I don't think you can dismiss secret child books simply because they involve a secret baby. Recent titles like "The Bodyguard's Baby" and "The Agent's Secret Child" have used this hook effectively to create compelling stories. Unfortunately books like "Best-Kept Secrets" are why many readers are growing unhappy with its overuse. Secret babies by themselves aren't interesting; it's what the author does with it, the emotions she has her characters go through. There is nothing interesting about what Sinclair does with it here. The characters repeat the same arguments we've read a million times before. Frankly I didn't care about them because I've read about these characters before. There was nothing special about Amy or Jake. Without a strong plot, strong characters are critical. This book didn't have them. There is only one interesting character in this book: a teenage boy. I kept thinking about Rafe and Kendra from Sinclair's last book, "The Specialist." They had complicated pasts and much depth. Amy and Jake do not.

Well-written but uninspired, the book is as unremarkable as its title. Two years after the Intrigue editors renamed Adrianne Lee's "The Real Mac Coy" "The Best-Kept Secret," we get "Best-Kept Secrets." They make it sound like a rehash, and in many ways it is. That isn't to say it's awful. Out of the four books in this series, "Best-Kept Secrets" is probably tied with "My Baby My Love" in terms of quality. It's better than "The Silent Witness," not as good as "For His Daughter." It's not as confusing or muddled as TSW but it's also not as exciting or emotional as FHD. It's boring. More of the mystery, none of the secret child muddle would have improved it. Overall, I would recommend "For His Daughter" or Sinclair's recent Texas Confidential book over this one.