The Secrets We Hide: The Gripping Twisty New 2026 Crime Thriller Detective Mystery

The gripping new crime thriller from Karin Slaughter – the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here.
'Her books grip you from the first page and refuse to let go' Freida McFadden

Welcome to North Falls—a small town with big secrets.
The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery family – a couple in the midst of a volatile separation and a daughter with secrets of her own.

Then one afternoon gunshots ring out. Allison Vickery is found murdered in her own kitchen, her teenage daughter bleeding and left for dead. Her husband suspiciously absent.

Everyone in North Falls thinks they know what happened. Gossip and rumours spread like wildfire. But the truth is far more shocking than anyone could ever have imagined.

Secrets are everywhere in this small town. Everyone is hiding something. It's up to Detective Emmy Clifton to uncover the truth, but the deeper she looks the darker it gets…

A gripping and twisty thriller, perfect or fans of Lisa Jewell, Andrea Mara and Shari Lapena

Readers are obsessed with The Secrets We Hide
‘Karin Slaughter is so good at writing small town life in all its darkness … gossip, loyalties and old resentments shaping every interaction’ 5 star reader review

‘With themes of coercive control, abuse, corruption, motherhood, and devastating family secrets, this novel becomes far more than a conventional crime thriller’ 5 star reader review

‘A story of family, mothers and daughters, and the lengths that mothers will go to, to protect and forgive their children’ 5 star reader review

Praise for the North Falls series:

'A powerful and gripping read' Shari Lapena

'An astonishing novel' Andrea Mara

'Karin Slaughter is always a must read' Harlan Coben

'Explosive from the very start' Cara Hunter

'This is a huge novel with an even bigger heart' Jane Casey

'Brilliantly fresh and compelling – Karin Slaughter is on cracking form’ Peter James

‘A dark, shocking and visceral story … Absolutely brilliant’ Janice Hallett

Karin Slaughter's book We Are All Guilty Here was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2025-06-23.

Karin Slaughter's book 'We Are All Guilty Here' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2025-06-23.

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular storytellers. She is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of more than 25 novels, with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. Pieces of Her is a No.1 Netflix series. The Will Trent show is streaming on Disney+. The Good Daughter is now a limited series starring Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy on Sky.

Karin Slaughter is also the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.

‘Her books grip you from the first page and refuse to let go' Freida McFadden

'Slaughter writes perceptively about the dynamics of abuse in this second novel set in an inward-looking community in Georgia’ Sunday Times

‘It must irritate the rivals of Karin Slaughter that her pacey novels have sold more than 40 million copies. The Secrets We Hide, however, demonstrates her effortless primacy’ Financial Times

‘This latest entry in her North Fall series deals provocatively with the fallout from a blood-spattered murder, involving child abuse and exploitation’ Crime Time

‘Clever twists and shocking revelations from the past make this a must-read for the summer’ Woman & Home

'A must-read for the summer' Woman's Weekly

‘Never one to shy away from a weighty topic, this packs a charge’ Crime Monthly

‘A twisty, dark novel’ Belfast Telegraph

Praise for the North Falls series:

'A thriller of breadth and depth―a powerful and gripping read' Shari Lapena

'Explosive from the very start' Cara Hunter

'This is a huge novel with an even bigger heart' Jane Casey

'Karin Slaughter is always a must read' Harlan Coben

‘A dark, shocking and visceral story … Absolutely brilliant’ Janice Hallett

'Powerful, beautiful, brimming with heart and grit – an astonishing novel. I adored it' Andrea Mara

‘Impeccably crafted, achingly tense, and so deeply felt’ Dervla McTiernan

Brilliantly fresh and compelling – Karin Slaughter is on cracking form’ Peter James