The Girl with a Secret

by Charlotte Armstrong

WEB OF TERROR

Alice Page was very young, very pretty...and very much a bride. And because she was so much in love she did not find it strange that she had first met her husband only two weeks before.

Then on their honeymoon she stumbled on a deadly secret. Only a bit of writing on a scrap of paper, but in the wrong hands it spelled murder.

Now her husband's life...and hers as well...depended on her silence.

But silence was impossible without deceit, and Alice found it hard to lie. She knew so little of such things. Yet, someone, somewhere, thought she knew far too much.

Genres: Mystery, Gothic

128 pages

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Full name Charlotte Armstrong Lewi. Wrote 29 novels, plus short stories and plays under the name Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine. Additional writing jobs: New York Times (advertising department), Breath of the Avenue (fashion reporter).

Reviews

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A welcome entertaining diversion from trump.

[Jayashree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much fun, more so than I initially expected. It's a domestic thriller with a tiny dash of a spy novel. And I found it to be hilarious. This poor girl, she has a secret and for the most part she does a good job of keeping it. She tries really hard. But, someone keeps trying to trip her up and this family is not easy to be around. Haha great end of the year read!

[Esai Torres · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I thought to be a gothic romance novel turned out to be a thriller involving a young silly girl that does a horrible job at keeping a secret. Sure she kept the secret it'll the end of the book but got a person killed. geez. I was anxious to read Armstrong's work. Now I want to stuff them far off into my bookshelves.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice knew her new husband had a checkered past - he was in undercover police work before their marriage. He was supposed to be out of that now. But just as they arrive for a visit to meet his family, he gets called away to infiltrate a narcotics gang.

Alice find out, totally by accident. Tony is ready to call the whole thing off. But he goes to Mexico, and Alice is set to cover for him. But it's harder to keep the secret than she expects, and the danger is all around.

This one is a fun, fast read for a thriller. It took me about an hour to read, but I enjoyed it. It's not my favorite of her books, but I usually like Armstrong. She has strong heroines who don't wait for men to get them out of trouble.

[Nattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book kept me entertained, but I must say I found it to be absurd. I got sick of Alice carrying on about how she couldn't tell Tony's secret, wouldn't tell Tony's secret, shouldn't tell Tony's secret. At a certain point you never wanted to hear the word secret again.