Little Secrets

Jennifer Hillier’s 2020 novel Little Secrets is a psychological thriller that traces Marin and Derek Machado’s emotional responses to their four-year-old son Sebastian Machado’s disappearance. Set in Seattle, Washington, the novel is written from the third-person point of view and alternates between presenting the perspectives of both Marin and Derek’s lover, McKenzie Li.

Sixteen months after Sebastian disappears, Marin and Derek are having marital issues. Marin starts to see a therapist and attends a support group, but she privately has no interest in healing for fear of losing her son forever. Derek also struggles to confront his loss and pursues an affair with 24-year-old McKenzie to distract himself from his grief and guilt. The couple’s secrets drive them further apart and preclude their healing processes. When Marin discovers the truth about Derek’s infidelity, she decides to have McKenzie killed. Meanwhile, McKenzie’s loneliness in her relationships compels her to make irrational decisions. The characters’ increasingly entangled lives inspire the novel’s thematic explorations of Conflict and Loyalty in Intimate Relationships, The Moral Complexities of Revenge, and Identity and Self-Worth After Personal Tragedy.