Book Review: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

 

I picked this book up because I recently read another of Diane Chamberlain's novels and loved it. I liked The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes as well, although my experience with this book was interesting. I almost stopped reading because it felt like the pace of the story was lagging. I hate not finishing books, however, so I went to see what other readers thought of it. This book is five years old and has more than five thousand reviews. It was clear by what other readers said about it that I needed to continue reading.

This is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who falls in love with a man several years older than she is. He's a student while she is a waitress at a diner in a college town. CeeCee is definitely young, and Tim, while he seems sincere, uses that to his advantage. Her mother died of cancer when she was twelve, and she grew up in different foster homes, not having known her father. She is eager to be important to this man, and he makes her feel special. He makes her feel valuable. He tells her the story of his sister, Andrea, who is on death row after she killed a photographer who raped her. He takes her to his home—which is a huge, stately mansion—and introduces her to Marty, his brother. It's obvious right away that Marty struggles mentally, probably from PTSD from his time in the military. I felt for the family right along with CeeCee, but as the story moved forward, and I learned about Tim's plan to get his sister released from prison, I wondered why CeeCee would play along.

And of course, she did, and this is the heart of Chamberlain's powerful novel. I am not interested in spoiling the plot of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes. This book is one that each reader must experience for him or herself in my opinion. There is a lot to this story, and I'm very happy that I didn't stop reading it. My opinion of this intelligent but naïve girl changed as she aged and she was faced with difficult decisions. Chamberlain writes intriguing characters who are incredibly flawed and altogether human, and the relationships they share are very relatable and real. I do believe I will be thinking about this book for some time to come.