"Veil of Secrets" by Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel

The secrets of Melanie Connors' teenage years are drastically affecting her marriage and her parenting. Her husband insists on either marriage counseling or divorce, and Melanie can't tell if her daughter really is in danger, or if she is projecting her own emotions onto the situation.

Ethridge and Mackel take us to the heart of a presidential primary race. A God-fearing senator named Dave Dawson is doing his best to win votes based on his conservative platform, and his right-hand man Will Connors runs a tight ship. Their whole staff is camped in New Hampshire as they await the kickoff of primary season. I'll be the first to admit that politics are not my thing, but the authors did a great job seamlessly inserting us into the frenetic and pressure-packed world of campaigning.

There are three point of view characters in this novel. Melanie's marriage to Will holds many secrets on both sides, and she knows the rest Dave's staff sees her as a helicopter parent over her daughter Sophie. Will's sister Carrie holds an important position on staff, but an uncharacteristic one-night stand has left her with a surprise pregnancy which she is thinking of terminating. Rounding out the trio is Tucker Reynolds Keyes, a wealthy young alcoholic and ladies man whom the Dawson camp has handpicked to turn into their pocket journalist.

Adding to the relational turmoil and stress of the campaign is a national threat from a hacking group called Jericho. They are terrorizing citizens with power outages, media takeovers, and the release of private information on all of the presidential hopefuls and their staffs. The Jericho subplot adds quite a bit of suspense as the story unfolds.

As I noted in my review of Ethridge & Mackel's first collaborative novel, this is an honest story for mature readers only. The different subject matters are all handled tastefully, but just like all life, there are plenty of messes to be waded through. There is redemption and hope to be found for those of our characters who are bold enough to walk that path. A life lesson emerges: secrets are never more important than the people we may be tempted to keep them from.




I received my copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.