Every Last Secret

Every Last Secret is a psychological thriller by author A. R. Torre. It tells the story of two married couples, Matt and Neena Ryder, and Catherine (“Cat”) and William Winthorpe. The couples are next-door neighbors and are further connected because Neena works for William. Neena is infatuated with William and, hoping either to replace Cat or to blackmail him, lures him into an affair. However, Cat discovers Neena’s plot and orchestrates a revenge plot of her own, framing Neena for Matt’s attempted murder.

A. R. Torre is the pseudonym of Alessandra Torre, a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Torre’s first book, Blindfolded Innocence, was initially self-published. It performed so well that it attracted the attention of publishers, leading to Torre’s first print deal. In addition to writing thrillers, Torre writes romantic- and erotic-suspense books.

This guide refers to Every Last Secret, published in 2020 by Thomas & Mercer Press, Seattle, Washington.

Content Warning: Every Last Secret and this guide refer to sexual assault, incest, threats of gun violence, alcohol addiction, and abusive relationships (emotional manipulation and physical abuse).

Plot Summary

Every Last Secret shifts between two alternating viewpoints, the voices of Catherine (“Cat”) Winthorpe and Neena Ryder. The book’s events, told largely in reverse, take place over a single summer. It begins with a prologue in which Neena is being questioned by a detective who suspects her of hiring a hitman to (unsuccessfully) kill her husband, Matt Ryder. The book then jumps back four months and describes the events that led up to Neena’s interrogation. Flashes of Neena’s interrogation are interspersed throughout the narrative.

Neena and Matt Ryder were childhood sweethearts. They became a couple after Matt, Neena’s next-door neighbor, saved her from her father, who was abusive and had an alcohol addiction. Matt heard Neena calling for help one night and raced over to find her father sexually assaulting her. Matt strangled Neena’s father to death, and they buried him in the yard of Neena’s childhood home. Matt and Neena are now in their late thirties or early forties and have moved to Atherton, a wealthy suburb of Palo Alto. They live next door to Cat and William Winthorpe. William is also Neena’s boss.

Cat and William are the unofficial royalty of Atherton. Cat sits on all the important charity boards, such as the charity wine auction board, and throws the most lavish parties in the neighborhood. William runs Winthorpe Technologies. Cat and William are wealthy, with a large house with a pool, a house of staff, a private jet, and a vacation home in Hawaii. They met through work; she was his intern. They want children but have struggled with fertility issues. William is initially reluctant to adopt or take a nontraditional path to parenthood. Having children is a status symbol in Atherton, so this issue causes Cat distress.

Neena feels that she has outgrown Matt; she dreams of a lifestyle more lavish than what Matt can offer. To climb the social ladder, Neena encourages Matt to buy a run-down property in fancy Atherton. The house, abandoned by the previous owners (who were under investigation for alleged tax evasion), is next door to the Winthorpes. Unbeknownst to the Ryders, Cat explored the rundown house after the previous owners left. Inside, she found bricks of cocaine and stacks of cash. Cat also stole a spare key that she found in the house.

When the Ryders move next door to the Winthorpes, a friendship blooms between the couples. However, the connection is fraught with underlying suspicion and jealousy between Neena and Cat. Neena is envious of Cat’s lavish lifestyle and handsome husband. Neena orchestrates a plot to lure William into an affair; her objective is either to replace Cat as William’s wife or to put William in a compromising position—and then blackmail him. Neena has done this before; her most recent affair was with her married former boss, Ned Plymouth, and she ended up blackmailing him for one million dollars.

Cat quickly becomes aware of Neena’s plan, thanks in part to the private investigator she hires to look into Neena’s past. Determined to save her marriage, Cat sets out to destroy Neena’s life both professionally and personally. Cat takes advantage of a freak accident Matt has—falling from his balcony after a railing breaks—by making it look like Neena loosened the railing’s screws. Another night, when the Winthorpes and Ryders have dinner together, Cat poisons herself with antifreeze, making it look like Neena did it. Finally, Cat, using the key she stole from the neighbor’s house before the Ryders moved in, plants incriminating materials—bundles of cash and photos of Cat and William, where Cat’s face has been scratched out and replaced with Neena’s—in a secret hiding place in the Ryder home.

The climax comes when Matt awakens one night with a gun in his mouth and sees a hitman standing over him. The gun misfires, and the hitman flees. Neena and Matt call the police. The Winthorpes, generous donors to the local police department, get a call from the chief of police to tell them what’s happened; at this time, the incident is only a suspected burglary. Cat uses this opportunity to inform the chief of police about her “suspicions” regarding Neena, citing Matt’s strange fall from the balcony as well as Cat’s own supposed poisoning. The police subsequently treat the incident as an attempted murder.

In the course of their investigation, the police unveil William’s and Neena’s affair. Matt is shocked and saddened. Cat pretends to be horrified; in truth, she already knew about the affair because she had placed a hidden camera in William’s boardroom (the one area in the Winthorpe Technologies offices that would be private enough for a sexual liaison) and caught William and Neena in the act. As they search the Ryder house, the police discover the hidden cash and mutilated photos of the Winthorpes that Cat planted. The police also learn about Neena’s previous incident with Ned Plymouth. The police further discover that there is a $5 million life insurance policy on Matt, giving Neena additional motive.

The police question Neena, and at this point, the novel’s present and past narratives intersect and become one. Cat finally reveals to the reader that she has framed Neena. Cat also reveals that, while snooping around the Ryders’ home, she discovered Neena’s will and stole it. In that document, Neena admits that Neena and Matt murdered Neena’s father at her home and buried him in the backyard.

Because Cat has framed Neena, Neena’s life falls apart. She loses her job at Winthorpe Technologies. Matt kicks her out of the house and files for divorce. William loses all interest in Neena. Neena also loses all social standing in Atherton—for example, she is disinvited from various charitable boards. Neena moves to a less affluent part of San Francisco. Although there is not enough evidence for the district attorney to try Neena for Matt’s attempted murder, Neena’s life is still in shambles. Neena eventually realizes that Cat has orchestrated her misfortune. Meanwhile, Cat and William are closer than ever.

The book ends with a two-part epilogue, which flashes forward to one year later. One part of the epilogue is from Cat’s point of view, and the other is from William’s point of view. In Cat’s epilogue, she describes visiting Neena at her job at a grocery store. Cat returns the stolen copy of Neena’s will and gives Neena the deed to Neena’s childhood home. Cat purchased the home and wants to give it to Neena to protect her from having strangers in the home who might want to install a pool, and dig up the backyard, and discover Neena’s father’s body. After seeing Neena, Cat talks to Matt. Matt still loves Neena. Cat encourages Matt to reconcile with Neena.

The other part of the epilogue is told from William’s point of view; it’s the only part of the book that offers his perspective. William reveals that he’s always had a “penchant for crazy women” (282). He thought he had “taken a hiatus with Cat but [he] was wrong” (282). By now, William has realized that Cat, out of jealousy, orchestrated Neena’s fall from grace. William further recognizes that Cat could have drawn him into her plot—for example, by making it seem like Neena and William conspired to kill Matt. William is grateful that Cat spared him and finds Cat’s jealousy and the efforts she undertook to salvage their marriage attractive. At the book’s conclusion, the Winthorpes remain together. They purchase the Ryders’ former home next door and raze the old house so they can expand their own property.