House of Secrets - Mystery & Thriller Book Collection | Best Suspense Novels for Adults | Perfect for Book Clubs & Nighttime Reading

Wow! What a book by Tracie Peterson. This is only the 2nd of her books that I've read and it makes me hunger for more.Many of us have dysfunctional families to some degree, some more so than others, but we are most often aware of the reasons for the dysfunction. A term used I suppose, by psychologists etc. A term most of us older folks did not hear of in our early years of life. Bailee, Geena, and Piper were from such a family, but beyond what we could even imagine; at least I hope so.Bailee's mother made her understand from a very early age that she was always to do what she said, never to speak of anything she was told to do to her daddy or anyone, and that she was responsible for her siblings. And, if Bailee did not take extra good care of them some bad things were going to happen. And so when mother took her and put her in a cardboard box outside in the cold because bad men were trying to take her away, or told her to go find the baby, Bailee did as she was told, always in fear. The father was most often out on the road, or flying off somewhere on business and apparently he began to notice some odd behavior in his wife; however he never knew of how Bailee was treated or what threats were made to her. After the baby died (Noah) the mother had 2 more children which she had decided on. BUT, she had not wanted Noah in the first place. And now Bailee has the responsibility of 'raising' two more little siblings; by now I think she was 6 yrs. old. Because the dad traveled so much, and has suspicions of the mom's odd behavior, he hired housekeepers, a nanny, and sent the girls away to private schools, hoping to keep them safe. But when the summer came they were once again subjected to the mother's behavior.At one point, when the girls were still little the 3 stood at the top of the stairs and saw the daddy putting something into the mom's hot chocolate. He was crying and they heard him say "I've got to do this for my girls". That's all they knew and their imaginations ran away with them since the mother is dead the next day. So for years (Bailee now being 27, and the other girls something like 23 & 25, carried the burden of what they THOUGHT they saw and knew, and a million other secrets their mother warned them not to tell. The 3 girls went on to productive schooling, degrees and jobs, but Bailee had been going to counseling for years, her past still uneasy in her mind and heart.Out of the blue the father asks them all to meet at the summer house (which is usually rented) and so the girls thought perhaps the dad was going to 'come clean' about what happened to the mother. Needless to say, anger, heartache, uncertainty, and all negative emotions swell up in each of the girls. And what was the father's surprise? He got remarried and wanted to share the good news. He was completely oblivious to anything that was bothering his daughters; in fact he hardly knew them since he was absent so much. He never realized how their childhood was completely lost.While so many 'secrets' were kept by the dad, and by Bailee, it was with a sincere and earnest hearts that truly believed it was not best not to mention to anyone, especially the little girls. Telling you more of the story might ruin it, but I can tell you that I pray no actual person truly ever had to go through fear and heartache such as Bailee did. An amazing story by a great author. Possibly not for anyone who has a lot of heartache over very serious issues in their own family life, but it does give insight into a certain disease and the whole healing process.Great Read - 305 pages