Reviewed by Chun Yin Wah
Sophie Kinsella wins the most attention for her Shopaholic novels about the hapless Becky Bloomwood, who has a shopping addiction. Kinsella's novel Can You Keep a Secret? (2006, Bantam Dell, 375 pages) gives a pleasant change of pace.
Londoner Emma Corrigan, a marketing assistant at the Panther Corporation, flies to a client's Glasgow offices for a strategy meeting. She hopes for a promotion, but fails to convince the client to maintain the business relationship.
Returning, Emma stops at an airport bar and consumes three drinks of vodka to wash away her misery at mucking up the account, at her fading chances for promotion and at her fear of flying. Then she's upgraded to business class and unwittingly sits beside Jack Harper, the Panther co-founder.
High on vodka, plus the champagne in business class, her fears worsened by a rough flight, Emma decides that the man beside her may be the last person she ever sees. Surely, the plane will crash, so she unleashes all her secrets on the stranger.
Of course, the plane doesn't crash. Back at work, Emma learns of her confidante's identity. As everyone else at Panther tries to impress the big boss, Emma scrambles to hide, mortified at what she'd revealed.
One thing leads to another, and that's putting it mildly. Kinsella's writing style stays recognizable, familiar from the likes of Shopaholic and Baby, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Confessions of a Shopaholic.
The outcome's much the same too. Readers enjoy a book that delivers chuckles along the way.
Approval Rating: 78 per cent.
For more information: www.sophiekinsella.com
(October 22, 2008)
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