Little Secrets

Two hundred and forty seconds. That’s how long it took for someone to steal Marin Machado’s four-year-old son.

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 that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman.

Kenzie Li is an artist and grad student—Instagram famous—and up to her eyeballs in debt. She knows Derek is married. She also knows he’s rich, and dating him comes with perks: help with bills, trips away, expensive gifts. He isn’t her first rich boyfriend, but she finds herself hoping he’ll be the last. She’s falling for him—and that was never part of the plan.

Discovery of the affair sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her son; she’s not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix. But as she sets a plan in motion, another revelation surfaces. Derek’s lover might know what happened to their son.

And so might Derek.

These book club questions are from the author's website.

Book club questions for Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Do you think it’s helpful, or healthy, for Marin to attend her monthly Parents of Missing Children support group meetings?

During group, Marin allows her guilt over Sebastian's kidnapping to consume her. Simon tells her, "Sebastian was four, Marin. Kids wander. Ninety-nine percent of the time they just get lost and are found again. It wasn't your fault. He's gone because someone took him. A kidnapper took him." What do you think of Simon's statement, and his suggestion that bad luck or timing – a child being in the proximity of a stranger capable of kidnapping a child – is more to blame than Marin being distracted that day at the farmer's market?

After the FBI investigation goes cold, Marin hires former Seattle police detective Vanessa Castro to continue the search for Sebastian. Why do you think Marin didn’t tell Derek that she hired a PI?

When Marin learns that Derek is having an affair, Marin could have made the decision to confront Derek, which might have ended his affair, or ended their marriage. Why do you think she chose to focus her anger on McKenzie, the other woman, instead?

Considering that Derek and Sal have never liked each other, do you agree with Marin's decision to stay friends with Sal after she got married? And why stay friends anyway, when it’s clear that Marin and Sal's lives have gone in such different directions?

After a good weekend away with Derek, Marin spirals when she learns that Frances's son was found dead. What do you think of Marin's dark net activity? Do you agree with her therapist, Dr. Chen, that this a form of self-harm?

McKenzie has 50,000 followers on Instagram but very few close real life friends, and the one friend she does have – her roommate Tyler – she often lets down. Why do you think she's unable to sustain genuine friendships?

Do you think McKenzie's motivation to date wealthy married men is solely based on money, or do you think her reasons go deeper than that?

Not long after the FBI investigation into Sebastian's disappearance was put on the backburner, Derek received a ransom demand for Sebastian. Without notifying the authorities or Marin – who has just attempted suicide – he tried to get his son back on his own, only to be told by the kidnappers that Sebastian was dead. Do you think Derek should have told Marin everything at this point, or do you agree with his decision to shield her from all of it? And did he really shield her, or did he keep Marin in limbo with no possibility of closure?

Surrounded by the police and the FBI at his mother's vineyard farmhouse, Sal kills himself. How do you feel about this, considering Sal spent the last year doing everything he could to keep Marin from doing the same to herself?

What do you think about Marin's decision to give McKenzie the $250,000 at the end? And why do you think Marin threw in the Louboutins?

With Sebastian home, do you foresee a happy ending for Marin and Derek? Can they repair their marriage?

Little Secrets Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Little Secrets discussion questions