Is there an audiobook of The Secrets We Hide?

Yes. The Secrets We Hide has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Kathleen Early.

Is The Secrets We Hide on Kindle Unlimited?

No. The Secrets We Hide was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on September 17, 2026.

The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter book cover for the Book of the Day thriller book review

Our score

4.5/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to The Secrets We Hide free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDAugust 2026

Genres

Fiction Thriller Crime

Themes

Small-town secrets and reputationSisterhood and family loyaltyTrust and suspicion among neighborsThe cost of buried lies

The Secrets We Hide

Name: The Secrets We Hide
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter's The Secrets We Hide, the second North Falls thriller, pulls Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister Jude Archer into a small-town murder with a suspect list wide enough to keep any crime fiction reader guessing until the last chapters.

The Review

Our take

Karin Slaughter opens The Secrets We Hide with two gunshots and no warning: Allison Vickery dead on her own kitchen floor, her teenage daughter shot and left for dead one flight up. Sheriff Emmy Clifton takes the call. So does her sister, Jude Archer, an ex-federal agent. North Falls likes to think of itself as a decent, unremarkable town, all quiet residential streets. That claim doesn't survive the first chapter, and Slaughter doesn't waste time getting to the part where the neighbors start talking.

The Vickerys already had a reputation on their street before the shooting, and Slaughter spends the book testing how much of it actually held up. This is the second North Falls novel, following We Are All Guilty Here, and the town hasn't gotten any more honest with itself in the meantime. Slaughter works the investigation household by household, and nearly everyone Emmy questions turns out to be protecting something, whether or not it has anything to do with the murder. It isn't supposed to resolve clean this early. This is a proper small-town whodunit, with enough plausible suspects that guessing right feels like luck as much as deduction. The case stands on its own; you don't need book one to follow who did what, but North Falls carries enough history behind it that readers who started at the beginning will catch undercurrents that first-timers won't.

The cast is wide, a small town's worth of alibis, motives, and old grievances, and Slaughter trusts the reader to hold most of it in their head at once. By the midpoint you're not reading paragraphs so much as statements: who was where, who lied about it, who has a reason to keep lying, and whose story changes the second time they tell it. A reader who wants a tight four-suspect chamber piece will find this sprawling by comparison. A reader who likes casting a wide net will find that's exactly where the tension lives, in the sheer number of people with something to hide on one residential street.

Slaughter doesn't stop at establishing who did what. She keeps circling back to why, tracing the reasoning each suspect used to convince themselves their particular lie was the harmless one. That instinct slows the middle a notch, and it's the one place a leaner thriller might have cut faster. Emmy and Jude are still working out how to be sisters while they work the case, and that unfinished business gives the procedure a personal edge.

Why you should read

Fans of Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series
Small-town mysteries with a wide cast of suspects
Sister-detective duos with different investigative styles
Series mysteries that reward reading in order

What to expect

Fast pacing with plenty of twists
A wide cast that takes real attention to track
Interior digging into suspects' motives and psychology
A cliffhanger close pointing to the next book

Most readers will hit the last chapters still juggling suspects, though a few sharp-eyed Slaughter veterans will call the answer early. Either way, she closes on a hook sharp enough that the wait for the next North Falls book starts to feel like part of the story.

Reviewed by Quinn · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.5/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to The Secrets We Hide free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of The Secrets We Hide?: Yes. The Secrets We Hide has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Kathleen Early.
Listen to The Secrets We Hide free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
Is The Secrets We Hide on Kindle Unlimited?: No. The Secrets We Hide was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on September 17, 2026.
How much does The Secrets We Hide cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $14.99, Paperback $29.12, Hardcover $22.38. Prices as of October 2, 2026 at 2:21 AM EDT and may change.

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Common questions

What is The Secrets We Hide about?: Karin Slaughter opens The Secrets We Hide with two gunshots and no warning: Allison Vickery dead on her own kitchen floor, her teenage daughter shot and left for dead one flight up. Sheriff Emmy Clifton takes the call. So does her sister, Jude Archer, an ex-federal agent. North Falls likes to…
Is The Secrets We Hide worth reading?: We scored The Secrets We Hide 4.5 out of 5. Karin Slaughter's The Secrets We Hide, the second North Falls thriller, pulls Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister Jude Archer into a small-town murder with a suspect list wide enough to keep any crime fiction reader guessing until the last chapters.