Marin Machado knows heartbreak. It was only days before Christmas when she was shopping and her son was abducted by a man in a Santa suit. The police have it on a security tape, her adorable 4-year-son, with a lollipop in one hand and Santa’s gloved hand in his other hand, walking right out the door. Of all the people there that day, shopping, working, getting ready for the holidays, no one saw who was in the Santa suit.

Before that moment, Marin had a great life. Married to her college sweetheart, she runs hair salons used by the rich and famous of Seattle. Derek is handsome and runs his own million dollar company. They have their beautiful son Sebastian and a gorgeous house.

And in an instant, it’s gone. Sebastian is gone, and Marin and Derek have to figure out a way to go on.

A month goes by, and the FBI inform them that they have no new leads. The case will stay open, but they have nothing to investigate. Marin loses hope.

Months go by. Maris and Derek try to get through each day as best they can. Marin joins a support group of parents with missing children. Derek refuses to go. Marin hires a private investigator to go over Sebastian’s case again, but she keeps that from Derek. And then the investigator finds something. Apparently Derek’s been keeping secrets from Marin too. Kenzie is an art student with pink hair and lots of Instagram selfies, and Derek is sleeping with her.

Marin has to decide if she wants to quit or fight for what’s left of her family, if she’s going to admit to her secrets to find out all of his. And when she decides to stay and fight, she finds out that there are so many more secrets than she ever imagined.

Jennifer Hillier’s Little Secrets is a powerhouse of a family thriller. It’s not an easy read, as the kidnapping of Sebastian is difficult to read about, but if you can stick with it all the way to the end, the novel does bring about some resolution to the most painful story lines (seriously, I was almost ugly crying in my cubicle as I got near the end of the novel). Just like her Jar of Hearts, Little Secrets is an honest, earnest look at the secrets we keep, the truths we tell, and the lies that rip us apart.

Little Secrets is beautifully written, but reading it is a challenging emotional experience. I listened to the audio book, read by Kristen Potter. I thought she did a really good job telling the story, but there were moments when I felt she was a little overly cynical for the characters. I don’t want to say it was an enjoyable experience listening to this book, because there is so much that you have to bear with this story. But if you’re looking for a tear-jerker, a powerful story of a family on the brink of destruction, then Jennifer Hillier is the author you’ve been looking for.