Did you read Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier and want to discuss spoilers? Then you are in the right place! Let’s get to it! This post will contain a plot summary,
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier
Synopsis: Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They’re admired in their community and are a loving family. Up until the day Sebastian is taken.
A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak.
The only thing keeping her going is the unlikely chance that one day Sebastian reappears. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding him, she discovers another secret.
Spoiler Discussion and Plot Summary for Little Secrets
So, I loved the twists and turns in this one!! Let’s review all the twists and turns of the book.
Plot Summary for Little Secrets
The opening is heartbreaking – Marin is at a Seattle market with her young son. She lets his hand go for a few seconds to respond to a text from her husband, Derek. In those few minutes, Sebastian disappears.
A year later, Sebastian is still missing. The private investigator Marin hired to look into the case tells Marin she needs to talk to her. No, her son hasn’t been found.
She wants to tell Marin her husband is having an affair. Whoa!!
Marin becomes obsessed with McKenzie, the young woman her husband is cheating with, following her on Instagram and even staking out her workplace.
Marin starts leaning on her close friend (and former boyfriend/hookup) Sal.
She asks Sal if he can help her find a hit man.
I mean, that is what I would do, but I was surprised when Marin did that! Were you?
But there’s more!
We then learn that McKenzie is pulling some sort of con on Derek along with a guy named JR.
Marin actually takes out a hit on McKenzie. Whoa – plot twist!
Spoilers for the ending of Little Secrets
But in the end, “JR” is actually Sal.
Yes, Sal and JR are the same person. (Thanks, Abigail for reminding us in comments that Sal used to go by JR because he is Sal Junior.)
Sal was comforting Marin at the same time he’s helping McKenzie with her con.
What happened to Sebastian in Little Lies?
Sal kidnapped Sebastian because his mom needed money – she has been taking care of Sebastian all this time.
Sal sent a ransom note to Derek which Derek didn’t tell Marin about. (I can’t remember why that was – if you know, drop me a comment!)
Sal thought that when he set up Marin with a hit man, she’d put out a hit on Derek, not McKenzie.
Sal always loved Marin and wanted to be with her.
After Sebastian was found and reunited with Marin, Sal died by suicide.
MY TAKE:
Marin has crap taste in men.
Her old boyfriend and now close friend kidnapped her son? Watched her suffer horribly for an entire year?
Then her husband withheld information about the kidnapping AND cheated on her???!!!
This was a LOT of betrayal in one book, but I really loved all the twists and turns.
Join our Discussion for Little Secrest!
What are your thoughts? Our discussions are lively and friendly and all opinions are welcome.
Leave all your comments and questions and feel free to answer others’ questions, as I may not have read this book for a while!
Are you a Jennifer Hillier fan? Then check out:
My Spoiler Discussion for Things We Do in the Dark!
This was horrible. I hated Derek I hated Kenzie and I hated marin lol I liked sal… But he turns out to be the bad guy lol
lol. I was describing the plot to a friend and when I got to the part where Sal was the bad guy I was unable to explain the logic behind that.
Finally! A spoiler site!!!!! Love it!!!
Hi Karen! Always thrilled to find another spoiler fan. Now there are those out there who HATE spoilers with a fiery passion, so I am trying to figure out a way to promote these (kind of) secret posts. Thinking of a monthly newsletter if you are interested, but for now, you can subscribe to my regular weekly email and I will try to highlight the spoiler posts on there.
This book was an excellent read especially having a long discussion with my book club. I am curious to know, I thought I read it somewhere in the book that Marin had visit Sal and his mom while Sebastian was in the wine cellar? I hope you can answer this one simple question. Thank you so much for your excellent book.
Glad you and your book club enjoyed this. Do you read all thrillers?
I have returned my book to the library but I feel like there definitely was a scene when Marin visited. Does anyone else remember?
She visited them, but it was right before Sebastian went missing.
I think the author totally missed an opportunity for another twist in the ending. She made a big deal about Sal saying they didn’t have protection when him and Marin slept together. Marin totally should have wound up pregnant and had to choose whether to tell Derek or pretend it was his. Imagine having Sal’s baby after he stole ‘Bash’.
That would have been a really good twist!!
Hi just found this site!! It’s 5 months from last post but hopefully someone reads this. I just finished this book!
to answer question above- the reason why Derek didn’t tell Marin about the ransom at the time was bc she just came out of a psych ward from attempted suicide..
I have a question… at the end I couldn’t tell if Derek and Marin were together? Can someone confirm?
Welcome Suzy! If you like spoiler discussions I hope you’ll subscribe to either my weekly post update or my monthly mystery and thriller newsletter.
And thanks so much for pointing out why Derek didn’t tell her. Poor Marin, she went through SO much. I assumed that they were not together (borrowed it from the library so don’t have a copy at the moment) but would love to hear other people’s theories.
It was left vague after Bash came home. They were living together for the kiddo, but Marin intimated that perhaps they wouldn’t stay together. I think it’s left open for interpretation — whether or not Marin “always” takes Derek back.
Derek did some shitty things to her (affair, hiding truth about ransom call) but she always understood his reasoning for it. Plus I feel the author did a great job of making him nuanced when he could have just looked like the bad guy.
meanwhile, McKenzie’s version of Derek was completely different. Derek’s grumpiness in their scene together was unique compared to Marin’s experiences of him. Lots to ponder!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I loved this book – I think it’s her best!!
I don’t understand how JR and Sal can be the same person when the age difference would not line up. If knew Marin in college – then he is around 40 If knows Kenzie – then he is in his 20’s ??????
Yes, Sal is JR. Sal is in his 40s but lol 40 year old men DO hang around with younger woman (hello Leo DiCaprio!)
This is one of my earlier spoiler posts and doesn’t have as much detail. It’s on my list to update!
What I can’t remember is why Sal uses the fake name with Kenzie. Is he just generally catfishing her? Is it because they are running a scam? Both? If anyone knows, please comment!
Hey! Something that left my puzzled but maybe I missed it??
Mackenzie is surprised to find Sebastian in the basement when the police are coming and she runs to the wine cellar. However, Sebastian later tells his mom, the lady with the pink hair was nice to him and made sure he was ok.
When would this have been if Mackenzie didn’t know he was down there? She described the basement like it’s the first time she was seeing it. Could their encounter have been when Sebastian was first kidnapped?
Hi CC and thanks so much for commenting!
This older post is suddenly getting traction – maybe TikTok has rediscovered this book? I have not read LS since it came out but answering the questions that have recently come in is on the top of my to do list!
Definitely possible that it’s just an editing error. I also need to answer the question about why Sal uses a fake name. Is that so Kenzie doesn’t know who he is, or because he is running a scam with Kenzie?
Sal went by “JR” at home/in his hometown. It was a twist on “junior” since his dad was also named Sal.
Thank you so much!
Hi again CC,
I went back and re-read. I don’t think Kenzie had been down in the wine cellar before. I think that what Sebastian meant when he said to his mom that “Kenzie was nice to him” was that Kenzie found him trapped down there. She stayed with him and told him everything would be ok. That made Marin feel guilty about hiring the hit man, so she gave Kenzie money.
Lorna told Kenzie to go to the cellar when the police got there. She was down there being nice to Sebastian during the police standoff. They were together down there in the wine cellar most likely for hours. That’s when she was hugging him and comforting him.
Yes, thank you for explaining it more clearly than I did!