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 Forte Abate’s prose is well-constructed and engaging. The beach, sometimes silent, brooding, sometimes carefree and light is a wonderful character that absorbs and reflects the inner lives of its human occupants. Even now I can see this beach with its stone jetty dotted with fishermen; feel its salty breath on my skin. In this Forte Abate has excelled.
Reviewed by Jenny Mounfield
The Secret of Lies
by Barbara Forte Abate
Dog Ear Publishing
Released June 30 2010
ISBN: 978-160844-418-2
Twelve years after events that changed Stevie’s life forever, we find her creeping under cover of darkness from her marital home and embarking on a journey to reconcile with her past. Days later, alone in a motel in Iowa, Elvis’ Love Me Tender playing on the radio transports her, and us, back to a Long Island beach house where she and her sister Eleanor spent many a happy summer with their aunt and uncle..
While a little too reliant on similes, the prologue is a good one. It transitions nicely into the main story where we are introduced to the main players, all of whom are well-developed and believable. Through Stevie’s first person narrative, we witness her budding relationship with profoundly deaf Jake, who spends his days fishing, the gradual deterioration of her aunt and uncle’s marriage and the growing complications in her relationship with Eleanor, who embarks on a secretive path that will spell the end of many things, but most notably, her life.
Forte Abate’s prose is well-constructed and engaging. The beach, sometimes silent, brooding, sometimes carefree and light is a wonderful character that absorbs and reflects the inner lives of its human occupants. Even now I can see this beach with its stone jetty dotted with fishermen; feel its salty breath on my skin. In this Forte Abate has excelled.
And for a long while we lay there like marooned sea life—a trio of young, slender bodies breaded with sand—the late afternoon sun absorbing the last lingering traces of laughter and bathing us in the golden warmth of contentment. (P33)
Her descriptions generally are excellent, though did at times distract me, which is not necessarily what an author wants What distracted me more, however, was the sloppy editing. Misspellings, misplaced apostrophes, grammatical glitches and downright gaffs drew me out of the narrative as effectively as a ringing phone. It’s a shame. A top-notch editor could have moulded what is essentially a good story into something great.
Once events on Long Island that final summer reach their dramatic conclusion, everyone returns home to patch together their lives, vowing never to go back to the beach house. Stevie takes with her a secret regarding her sister’s death, information she is encouraged by her aunt to keep by way of protecting her vulnerable parents. Stevie makes a life for herself, meets and marries Ash and finds success in her career. But when anonymous letters begin to arrive, revealing piece by piece the truth of what happened all those years ago, she finally sees that the secret she kept for the sake of her family—a secret that has festered inside her, souring her every happiness—should never have been kept. It is this revelation that propels Stevie from her own home in the dead of night at story’s start.
The book concludes with the second half of the frame story which began with the prologue. While the author did ensure all the threads were tied into neat bows, the conclusion didn’t deliver all the prologue promised.
Over the past months I have become intimately vexed in his sleep patterns and the varying depths of his slumber, yet even so, the acrid taste of unease clings like sour bile inside my mouth as I release the brake and the behemoth slowly drifts backward.
It is paragraphs like the one above that more than hint—unfairly, I feel—at an imminent threat from Stevie’s husband, who, it transpires as the frame draws to a close, is just as confused over the cloak and dagger routine as I am. With all the heart-thudding emotion of a Mills & Boon novel, hubby, Ash, throws his hurt feelings to the wind (after ending their relationship and walking out, that is) declaring he can’t live without his beloved and, I presume, they live happily ever after. The only thing missing is a mighty steed and a sunset.
The Secret of Lies is a story of strength and weakness. It is a story that demonstrates well how one person’s actions can impact many lives, how inaction can be its own action, which in Stevie’s case was the catalyst for years of inner turmoil. Not only did she lose a sister, but many of the relationships that in her eyes defined her, changed. Most importantly her developing relationship with Jake was sacrificed. But can decisions on such a personal level ever be deemed right or wrong? Sadly, no. Whether the decisions Stevie made were right or not could only be discerned once all the cards were shown
Despite my nit-picks, this is a book I would recommend. It isn’t original enough to make the best-seller lists, but it will while away a lazy weekend, and will, I am sure, leave the reader with plenty to ponder.
About the reviewer: Jenny Mounfield is the author of three novels for children and YAs In addition, several of her short stories and articles have appeared both in print and online. She has regularly reviewed children’s books for e-zine Buzz Words since 2006 and is currently working on her first adult novel.
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