Our Little Secret by Kevin Flynn

Format: E-book
Pub. Date: 5/4/2010
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Type: Nook Book
Challenge: No
Read: 11/21/2011

The True Story of a Teenager Killer and the Silence of a Small New England Town

On November 9, 1985 Danny Paquette was murdered, on August 21, 2006 his murderer pleaded guilty to second degree murder. This book is the account of a secret kept for twenty years. The reasons were varied, some kept the secret because of loyalty to the murderer, some because they were afraid of him and his family and some because they felt Danny Paquette deserved to die.

The shooting was at one time ruled an accident, through the efforts of the victim’s brother and the dedication of a young patrol officer, who was on the scene of the original shooting and rose to the rank of chief of police the shooting was classified a homicide and eventually solved.

At the time cold cases were handled by the New Hampshire State Police, the Chief of Police went to the Attorney General and convinced him to let the town investigate the crime. It was a case of knowing who did it, but needing to get the evidence or a confession, they needed to dig through all the lies and hidden truths.

While I liked this book, I did not find it to be especially compelling, it is not a ‘must read’. There is plenty of detail and the book is well researched. The author goes into the motive, other facts that came out during the investigation that had an impact on the case. There is no trial since both parties involved accepted plea agreements. There is a little too much detail in some places. One thing that I did like was the follow-up after the sentence.

One thing I didn’t like was how the shooter was made to look like he lived an exemplary life after the shooting, how he appeared to try to make up for what he had done, and yet he never came forward and confessed his crime, that makes me think that he wasn’t really sorry, he is now saying he did the wrong thing because he got caught.