No Secrets by David Jackson

Isobel Lambert has a gift, she can tell when people are lying. Watching the news she sees an interview with the caretaker from her old school. A female pupil from the school has gone missing and the caretaker, Kenneth Plumley, was the last person to see her as she got into a large black car. Isobel is convinced the caretaker is lying but will the police believe her when he has no evidence?

I really enjoyed this book and flew through it, desperate to know what was going to happen next. After the disturbing opening chapter author David Jackson then spends time developing the characters of Isobel and Kenneth. Kenneth is a sinister and unsettling character, at times a meek cuckold and at others malevolent. 

It is the character of Isobel that really makes this story. She doesn't see her gift as a gift, previous experience has shown that it can be a curse. However she knows she has to do the right thing, but how can she convince the police when she doesn't have any real evidence? Her tenacity means that she puts both herself and those close to her in danger as she tries to prove that Kenneth is responsible for the girl going missing.

As well as fleshing out the main characters really well David Jackson has done an excellent job with some of the minor characters too. Andy, Josh and Abel are people you'd like to get to know better, while Polina and Michael will make your skin crawl.

While the conclusion wasn't a complete surprise I wasn't entirely sure I'd figured out exactly what was happening until the big reveal. The reader isn't quite sure who is going to survive either.

No Secrets by David Jackson will be published on 7th July 2022 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Viper Books for a review copy.