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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN num: 9780525950660
ISBN number: 0525950664
Label: Dutton Adult
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: June 12, 2008
Publishing house: Dutton Adult
Sale Popularity Level: 25164
Studio: Dutton Adult
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Product Description:
Introducing the writer Stephen King trumpets as “the subsequent suspense superstar”
Recently Stephen King devoted an entire Entertainment Weekly column to Meg Gardiner, proclaiming her “as good as Michael Connelly and far better than Janet Evanovich.” How is it possible, he wondered, that this Californian was published only in Britain? Starting now, suspense fans on this side of the pond can get their fix right here: Dutton is proud to introduce Gardiner’s brand-new series heroine, Jo Beckett, in The Dirty Secrets Club.
An ongoing string of high-profile and very public murder-suicides has San Francisco even more rattled than a string of recent earthquakes: A flamboyant fashion designer burns to death, clutching the body of his murdered lover. A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others.
Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim’s body but the victim’s life. Jo’s job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group—until she receives a letter containing a dark secret Jo thought she’d left deep in her past, and ending with the most chilling words of all: “Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club.”
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Rated by buyers 
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Not to be shy about it, but this is the worst book I've read this year and is on the short list for the worst thriller of all time. Bad plot. if there is a plot. Poster board characters, if there are real people to be projected in words Unreal situations which could never exist. . You name it. If you want to flog yourself wasting time reading words written with limited talent this is the book for you.
Rated by buyers -
Like a lot of readers, I decided to read Meg Gardiner's work at the recommendation of Stephen King, who has described her as "just as good as Michael Connelly" and the subsequent "superstar of suspense." I've now read two of Gardiner's books, and I now wonder if King and I are reading the same author.
Gardiner is certainly a talented wordsmith, but her plots are so outlandish that I find myself rolling my eyes in disbelief. At least in CHINA LAKE, her debut novel, she had a likable main character and a good sense of pacing. But in THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB, her most recent standalone novel, she offers neither.
The title of THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB pretty much explains the plot: it involves a group of rich and powerful individuals who decide to share their dirty laundry with one another. Why they are stupid enough to do this is not convincingly explained. Unsuprisingly, someone begins blackmailing members of the group, many of whom start dying shortly thereafter. It is up to forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, Garidner's heroine, to get to the bottom of all this mayhem.
There is very little about THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB that I liked. The plot is languidly paced, and there are very few suspenseful scenes. Beckett is a bland, cookie-cutter type of heroine that I felt little affection for. The supporting characters mainly consist of stereotypes, and most of their dialog is flat and trite.
The plot of THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB also contains a lot of silly events and coincidences. For example, the main villain is in police custody in a certain scene, only to have a major earthquake strike the city at precisely the right moment! The lights in the room then grey out entirely, and he's able to conveniently slip out in the darkness. He immediately runs down the nearest stairwell, and just happens to run into another character (walking upstairs by himself, of course) that he has a long-standing vendetta against! And so on. If you have no problem believing such an implausable chain of events, then you may just enjoy this book. For me, it was simply too much bad and sloppy plotting to swallow in one sitting.
If you want to try Meg Gardiner, my advice is to try CHINA LAKE. That novel was a mixed bag, but it was loads better than this misfire.
Rated by buyers 
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I am really struggling to figure out how other reviewers found this book to be such a page turner. I bought this book on the strength of the user reviews that I read here at Amazon and to say I was disappointed would be putting it lightly. The most disappointing part of reading the book was that there was never a moment of intensity, suspense, thrills - just nada, nothing!!
I'll start off with a discovery about the Kindle version of the book. Another reviewer noted that the Kindle version does not have the same page breaks in the chapter to show you that the author is changing subjects. There is that issue along with other formatting problems in the Kindle version and that is no fault of the author's. I actually emailed Kindle support and they are forwarding those findings on to the publisher, so hopefully that issue will be corrected for future readers. (I have read many Kindle books and have never seen that issue before.)
Now, on to the story. The one positive that I can give the author is that she has obviously done her research on different fields from psychiatry to para-jumper research and rescue missions, as well as the other "jobs" that are introduced to the story. She is obviously very intelligent and I can appreciate that in an author. However, that's where the positives stop.
**** CAUTION - POSSIBLE SPOILERS ****
I was truly baffled by how there is a secret club of people with dirty secrets who are supposedly willing to die to save their secret, but then they share the secret with anyone who's willing to listen. It was bizarre that a character kills himself in hopes that no one finds out his secret, but then he reveals his secret in his suicide note. Another woman reveals her secret to the main character, but fears that she'll release the secret to the police. Why join a secret club if you'll reveal your secret so easily??
On top of that, the secrets that are revealed don't necessarily have the type of mystique that you would think someone would be willing to die in order for people not to find out about the secret. There was never a sense of "oh wow - really!!" when a major point was revealed in the story. It was always, "is that it" or "no big deal" or even "who cares". Not gripping at all and always anti-climatic.
In today's tv dramas such as Law & Order, C.I.S., etc. you find very clever criminals and very clever detectives. There wasn't much clever about anyone in this book. You find out all of the reasons why the bad guy is doing bad from long and tired dialog delivered from the bad guy himself/herself. That's like the old tv Batman where the bad guy talks for 3 minutes explaining why they did everything they did to try to destroy Gotham. EVERY character does that in this book and its just - well, boring and unimaginative.
The main villains in this story (Perry and Skunk) are as scary as Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street. After reading about menacing characters like Rimeriz in Evanovich's "One For The Money", The Gingerbread Man in Konrath's "Whiskey Sour" or even the very first chapter of Koontz's "The Husband" - these 2 goons in this book are so boring as the bad guys that you almost wish the book would end much sooner than go on.
Another major issue with the story is the pacing. There were times when the story went on and on about how Jo's husband died or about chasing a monkey that I was thinking "ok, get on with it." I could point out other things, but I'll just leave it at the book was a decent story, but in order to be a thriller - you need thrills and this book had zero.
I would have given it one star, but its obvious the author is bright - the story and the secrets were not compelling at all.
Rated by buyers 
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This is the third book of Meg Gardiner's I have read and it didn't disappoint. We are introduced to Jo Beckett, our new heroine in the Dirty Secrets Club. As with the Evan Delaney novels, Gardiner makes her main character bright and likable. This novel has an unusual spin, Dr. Beckett profiles people psychologically after they are murdered. When I originally read the teasers I was under the impression that it was some sort of paranormal autopsy, but it is a psychological autopsy with no paranormal slant at all(maybe the Stephen King recommendations led me in that direction). I couldn't put this book down and now am eagerly awaiting the subsequent Gardiner book to be made available in the U.S.
Rated by buyers -
When a high-profile San Francisco prosecutor drives her powerful BMW off an overpass, killing herself and the passengers of a shuttle van, the police ask forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to look into this latest in a series of high-profile murder-suicides.
Beckett, a loner, haunted by longing for her dead husband, isn't used to tight timetables. She investigates dead people, carefully weighing all the evidence to determine suicide or murder. But SFPD Lt. Amy Tang has given Beckett 48 hours. According to the pattern, that's when the subsequent death is due.
They soon uncover a link - the Dirty Secrets Club. What it is and who belongs though - these are secrets that will take them all over the city, currently undergoing a series of unsettling earthquakes, and make Jo a target. Gardiner switches point of view, mostly between Beckett and the killer and his accomplice, building suspense and giving the reader acess to the killer's plans and motivations.
But Gardiner skillfully keeps plenty of balls in the air, right down through the long, final, peril-stoked, San Francisco chase. Beckett is an engaging protagonist and the well-paced accelerating plot and cinematic writing bodes well for this U.S. hardcover debut.
Gardiner, though a California native, lives in Britain where she has published a number of thrillers featuring California journalist Evan Delaney, now appearing in the U.S. in paperback, thanks at least in part to the enthusiasm of Stephen King who called her "the subsequent suspense superstar" in a recent review. Readers will welcome the chance to decide for themselves.
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