Little Secrets

Deadly Dolls

Melbourne-based writer Anna Snoekstra’s Little Secrets is a passable crime thriller set in the small town of Colmstock, from which aspiring journalist Rose Blakey is desperate to escape. As she dreams of a job in a newspaper, she works at a pub with her best friend Mia. Her stepfather Rob has given her the ultimatum to move out of the house within a week, and her mother is too weak to protest.  

When Rose's kid sister Laura finds a doll at her doorstep that resembles her, and other little girls do too, Rose sends off a piece to a tabloid, which is accepted. Since this happens soon after a child is killed in a major blaze in the town’s courthouse, people are agitated.

The town’s cops Frank (who loves Rose from afar) and Bazza (who is soft on Mia) are annoyed with the implication that a paedophile is on the loose and they cannot find him. Will, an outsider to the town, becomes prime suspect, and Rose, in order to impress the paper, adds fuel to the speculations. Later, she is unable to stop the series of tragic events that follow her padded up stories. A few red herrings some loose ends and a dash of romance pepper the quick, but forgettable read.

Little Secrets

By Anna Snoekstra

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 332