Hush by Kate White

In Hush, Lake Warren, a marketing consultant for a fertility clinic, is fighting with her soon-to-be-ex husband over the custody of her two children. After a night of indiscretion with one of the doctor at the clinic, she awakens the next morning, to find him murdered. Since any impropriety on her part could be used against her in the custody case, she decides to tell no one about it and flees the scene. When the police start snooping around, she lies to them. After awhile they start zeroing in on her and even the people at the clinic start to get suspicious. Lake does a little snooping of her own and soon realizes that there big secrets to uncover about the doctor and the clinic.

I loved this book. I felt the intensity building from the first page to the very end. A page turner for sure. It was well written and nicely paced. I usually groan when I'm reading a book and one of the characters feels that he/she can't trust anyone (even the police) and decides to tell no one about a crime/horrendous event, even though telling would probably help. However, in this case, Lake makes a persuasive case as to why she must keep this a secret. There were still a few times, though, through the story that made me want to shake her and say "Just tell someone".

Lake was a really good believable character. She got herself into more than one jam, but always managed to extricate herself. Her predicaments had my heart racing on more than one occasion. She loved her children and wanted to do what was best for them. I loved how the author had them away at camp when all of this was happening, but was still able to bring them into the story at times. Jack, Lake's soon-to-be-ex husband, was also an interesting character. He wasn't in the story that much, but he certainly made an impact. I also loved Kit Archer, a reporter, who comes to Lake's rescue more than once. Who doesn't love a knight in shining armour?

I liked all of the information about fertility clinics. I have no experience with the service and have no idea if the information is accurate, but I found it interesting nevertheless.

I'm sure the incident with the cat will give me nightmares at some point. I won't get into the horrible details. You'll just have to read the book.

There was one thing I found odd in the book. Lake kept referring to Dr. Mark Keaton by his last name. Even in her thoughts it was always Keaton or Dr Keaton, never Mark. This was before and after she was intimate with him. I thought it was a little strange.

New words:
apoplectic (page 106): enraged
kilim (page 242): a woven rug (rich colours, geometric designs) made in Southwest Asia.
guileless (page 246): candid

Highly recommended. This is the first book I've read by Kate White, but it won't be the last. She's written a lot more; I'm going to keep my eyes open for one the next time I visit a bookstore.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the HarperCollins website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Kate White's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

Hush by Kate White, HarperCollins, ©2010. ISBN 9780061576614(Hardcover), 341p.