Fortunately, it does nothing of the sort. A book like All Our Darkest Secrets could very easily fall into tropes and generic posturing, too weighted down by its own self-awareness to actually be enjoyable. Ford's prose is smooth and highly characterized, like a fine bourbon, and goes down just as easily. Martyn Ford deftly weaves in flashbacks and scenes from the main character's life prior to the events of the main plot, using them to plant seeds he harvests later in the narrative. The plot moves extremely fast, and yet I never felt as though I had missed a key detail or important point. To put it simply, this was an electrifying read and one of the most thrilling books I've read this year. It's almost 400 pages, and I read it in less than 24 hours, that's how hooked I was. I felt tense as I read this book, in the absolute best way, thoroughly gripped and anxious to see what would happen next. Now, All Our Darkest Secrets is not a comedy (though it could certainly be read as a particularly dark and violent comedy of errors), but Martyn Ford takes this principle of tension and wields it with spectacular deftness. In writing this review and considering this book, I'm reminded of a line from Hannah Gadsby's excellent standup show Nanette, that comedy is about tension, and that good comedy involves finding the right amount of it and trusting the comedian to know exactly when and how to release it.
I was not paid for this review nor otherwise compensated, and it contains my thoughts and mine alone.Ĭontent Warnings for this book: gun violence, drug use/addiction, suicide
Disclaimer: I received an advance electronic copy of this book from NetGalley.
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