I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Secret Rage
by
Charlaine Harris
mystery in a paperback edition that was published by Ballantine Books on July 12, 1985 and has 192 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Night's Edge, Death's Excellent Vacation, Must Love Hellhounds, Dead Reckoning, Bite, Home Improvement: Undead Edition, Deadlocked, An Apple for the Creature, Dead Ever After, The Sookie Stackhouse Companion, Games Creatures Play, After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse, Indigo, Night Shift, Sleep Like a Baby, The Pretenders, A Longer Fall, An Easy Death, The Russian Cage, Small Kingdoms and Other Stories, Real Murders, A Bone to Pick, Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Dead Until Dark, The Julius House, Dead Over Heels, A Fool and His Honey, Shakespeare’s Landlord, Last Scene Alive, Shakespeare’s Champion, Poppy Done to Death, Shakespeare’s Christmas, Shakespeare’s Trollop, Shakespeare's Counselor
Disclaimer: There is nothing of a supernatural tone in the standalone A Secret Rage.
My Take
Small town characters in an everyman town with their misconceptions and frustrations. Prejudices and understandings. Harris certainly brought a sense of drama with Barbara and Nicki’s list of possibilities and I enjoyed how the ladies managed to whittle it down. Quite clever for two women who had never been called upon to rise up in this way.
I was a bit irritated that everything people did that Nicki didn’t like automatically made them just awful people. It takes a lot of introspection and her own tragedy for Nicki to mellow out.
[Why is it that so many people think that all comments and actions are negative and aimed at them?? It usually turns out that each of us interprets everything that occurs around them selfishly instead of thinking that maybe that person had a bad day or that we shouldn’t be projecting our own insecurities onto others.-Kathy Davie]Other than that, I did enjoy A Secret Rage. A nice trip down memory lane with growth along the way. And a fulfillment of a young, long-held fantasy.
The Story
A suspenseful tale of rape and anger. Old, young, embarrassed, misunderstood angers. A series of brutal rapes are committed against a number of women from older teen to thirtyish. Students, professors, and administrators. All associated with the college established by Mimi Houghton’s family.
Poor Nicki Callahan has peaked in her modeling career and after one phone call with Mimi, she has chosen to go back to college. Go back South. Go to Knolls, Tennessee, and attend Houghton College and stay with Mimi in her grandmother’s old house. Where she can fantasize even more about Cully Houghton. A just-divorced Cully.
The Characters
Nicki Callahan, a no-longer NYC model, has chosen to go back to school and get a degree as a writer. After missing the South for so long and its easy peaceful ways, Nicki is looking forward to the pace and safety of small town life.
Mimi Houghton is heavily involved with the college coordinating student and house activities. Twice-divorced, she’s looking forward to some quality time with Nicki, a best friend she has known since Miss Beacham’s Academy for Girls where they first met at 14.
Cully Houghton is Mimi’s brother and the college counselor . . . and the object of Nicki’s fantasies since she first met him. Nick has always thought that Cully never thought of her . . . ain’t she surprised now!
Dr. Barbara Tucker is Nicki’s faculty adviser at the College initially. After both rapes, Nicki and Barbara become friends. Theo Cochran is the college registrar. Alicia Merrit is an old friend of both Mimi and Nicki’s and it takes a tragedy for Nicki to realize Alicia’s true merits. Unlike Alicia’s hubby!
The Cover and Title
The cover is perfect! Main Street, U.S.A. with the unexpected tools of discovery above.
The title is too, too accurate with the suspect indeed harboring A Secret Rage.
