The Secret Room by Jane Casey

 

Ilaria Cavendish was seen walking into a hotel room alone, minutes later she was found dead. The only person seen entering, and leaving, the room was a waiter who would not have had time to murder Ilaria. The murder investigation team are puzzled as to how the murder was committed.

This review is a completely spoiler-free zone. 

In preparation for reading the much anticipated The Secret Room by Jane Casey, I reread the epilogue of the previous book in the series, A Stranger In The Family. I didn't really need a reminder, a year ago when I read the book I was left stunned and speechless by the final few words, words that were seared into my brain. Just like all the other fans of the Maeve Kerrigan series I wanted answers.

Jane Casey finally provides answers but she certainly makes the reader wait. The book opens with Ilaria Cavendish arriving at an exclusive hotel in London and checking in for her regular weekly liaison with her lover. We then jump to the murder investigation team who have been assigned the case. At this point I felt a little confused, wondering if there had been a time-slip or if I'd missed a short story linking the previous book and this one. That wasn't the case, it was simply the author teasing the reader, something that continues throughout the novel.

As the team tries to fathom out how a murder could have taken place in a locked room in a hotel with CCTV cameras everywhere Maeve is distracted by events closer to home, events which are shocking and disturbing. 

It's not until chapter eleven that fans finally begin to get answers. From this point on you are simply a whirlwind of emotions. I felt devastated as I read and frightened as to the turn of events. This feeling of dread continues throughout the remainder of the book, there were points where I was left holding my breath, praying for the best but expecting the worst. As a huge fan of the series I was frantically turning the pages to find out what was happening but at the same time wanting to slow down my reading so I didn't finish the book too quickly.

By the conclusion I was drained emotionally but author Jane Casey couldn't resist teasing the reader yet again. I was close to tears by the end.

The Secret Room by Jane Casey will be published on 24th April 2025 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a review copy.

Author Details

Jane Casey is a bestselling crime writer who was born and brought up in Dublin. A former editor, she has written fourteen crime novels for adults (including eleven in the Maeve Kerrigan series) and three for teenagers (the Jess Tennant series). Her books have been international bestsellers, critically acclaimed for their realism and accuracy. The Maeve Kerrigan series has been nominated for many awards: in 2015 Jane won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for The Stranger You Know and Irish Crime Novel of the Year for After the Fire. In 2019, Cruel Acts was chosen as Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. It was a Sunday Times bestseller. Stand-alone novel The Killing Kind was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick in 2021, and is currently being filmed for television. Jane lives in southwest London with her husband, who is a criminal barrister, and their two children.