All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

 

Hello my lovely readers!

I've been on a "thriller" fiction kick, but I've been sadly disappointed with the thrillers written by Black authors (save for When the Reckoning Comes). This is just another example of my disappointment. Let's get into it.

SUMMARY 

Ellice Littlejohn has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends and a relationship with her white, married boss Michael.

But one cold January morning, Michael is found dead in his office with a gunshot to his head. Ellice finds him and promptly leaves. Why? Well Ellice has her own secrets including a dark small-town past and a kid brother who has a rap sheet. She can't risk being thrust into the spotlight: again.

Now, things are changing. Ellice is promoted to replace Michael and the police are getting suspicious. People are gossiping and Ellice uncovers shady dealings inside the company. Now, her past and present lives are colliding and she must find a way to stop a conspiracy far more sinister than she could have ever imagined.

MY THOUGHTS

This book was....okay. I don't know what it is, but all the Black thrillers I've read recently always have the main character romantically involved with a white man. I really don't understand the reasoning for it. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I just wonder why? Is this a trend I don't know about? Maybe I need to find better thrillers by Black authors.

Ellice was an idiot. How are you an attorney and make such stupid mistakes? Talking to the police without legal representation? Girl. We get very little action related to her profession so she doesn't really seem like a fully-fleshed out character. She's supposed to be a strong character right? All the decisions she makes her seem dumb, naïve and wishy-washy.

I thought the flashbacks to Ellice's life in Chilacothee should've been included earlier, ESPECIALLY the reveal that she killed Willie. It came way too late in the book for me and it would've done better sitting right in the middle of the book.

Finally, the reveal that her firm operates as a white supremacy organization was lazy. It seemed like an easy out . Ooh, white conservative Christians are automatically white supremacists, an extended scene in a gun store, mentions of Donald Trump, MAGA etc., it just all felt lazy and indicative of the political and social climate that we live in now. I would not recommend this book to anyone else sadly.

I feel like I'm coming down or being super critical on Black thrillers, but the last few I've read have just let me down. Stop using SJW, Twitter slang and Donald Trump as a cop out and write something more engaging. I recently finished The Mother Next Door  and it kept me engaged and didn't have all of these "crutches" that these Black thrillers are using nowadays. Oh well. At least Dorothy Koomson will never let me down!