Jenny Cooper Has a Secret

Linda Davidson is seventy-six years old, recently widowed, and living in Jupiter, Florida — which sounds nicer than it is. Her best friend Carol has just been diagnosed with dementia and moved into Legacy Place, an upscale oceanfront memory care facility that refers to itself, with no apparent irony, as a "memory care facility." Linda visits regularly even though Carol barely recognises her anymore. Her daughter Kleo and Kleo's insufferable, chauvinist husband Mick have moved into Linda's house to "keep her company," which mostly means Linda has a front row seat to their incessant bickering. To escape, Linda goes to Legacy Place. And that's where she meets Jenny Cooper — ninety-two years old, tiny, sweet, eccentric, prone to show more blurting out swear words and accusing people of working for the CIA. Jenny pulls Linda aside and whispers her secret: "I kill people." Linda dismisses it. Obviously. Then a fellow patient at Legacy Place dies — everyone else sees it as a natural death — and Linda notices that Jenny had gone missing just beforehand. To the drug store. And Jenny used to be a pharmacist. Described as darkly funny, warm, and genuinely suspenseful, an Oprah Daily Best Books of the Fall pick.

[May contain spoilers]
Jenny's confessions are real. She's been killing men who hurt women — abusers, rapists, the type who walk away unpunished — for decades, and her dementia has made her both more honest and more dangerous. The ending is the thing: Linda, who started this journey as a passive grieving widow, ends up committing murder herself — specifically dealing with Mick, her daughter's abusive husband, the situation finally demanding action. The novel doesn't frame this as heroic or evil — it simply exists in a moral grey zone, with the final image of Linda hearing Jenny's voice telling her not to think about it. Linda has inherited Jenny's legacy. The twist is not a structural surprise so much as a moral culmination — by the end you've been rooting for it and it still makes you sit with something complicated.
What I think: This is genuinely charming in premise and execution — the dark humour around aging, dementia, and vigilante justice is handled with real warmth. Jenny is a magnificent creation. The Florida setting is pitch-perfect. The domestic abuse subplot with Mick gives it real emotional stakes beyond the mystery. Linda becoming a murderer herself is the kind of earned, morally ambiguous ending you tend to love. show less

placed in a memory care facility, Legacy Place. While visiting Carol, Linda encounters a quirky character, Jenny Cooper, who claims that she “kills people.” When two residents of Legacy Place die, Linda begins to suspect that perhaps there is some truth to Jenny’s claim. As she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jenny, she finds she enjoys her company and it also provides a respite from her situation at home where her married daughter and ne’er-do-well husband have moved in with her.

I loved this book! I couldn’t put it down. While it certainly falls under the mystery/thriller genre, I found it to be also akin to literary fiction or women’s fiction. Fielding’s observations of aging, friendships, marital relationships, show more and the Florida lifestyle are both painfully and humorously accurate. She tackles difficult topics in such an entertaining manner that it diffuses their discomfort. And, oh that ending!

This story really resonated with me. I live in Florida, am aging, am dealing with friends facing the inevitability of assisted living, and I fall asleep every night watching Dateline, just like Linda. I am sorry to admit that this is the first Joy Fielding novel I have read and have to ask myself, what have I been missing out on?

Thanks to #NetGalley and @RandomHouse @BallantineBooks for the DRC. show less

Couldn’t put it down. This book was entertaining, engaging and quick.

Linda was visiting her best friend, 76-year-old Carol, in a memory care facility with ocean views in Jupiter, FL. They’ve known each other since grade school and with Alzheimer’s, Carol was now just on the edge of recognizing her.

Yet, someone else caught her attention: Jenny, a 92-year-old eccentric dementia patient. She told her she kills people. Jenny repeated phrases, spoke loudly at times and had a quirky side. Yet, it made Linda curious. Was there any truth with her words? She could have ignored her but she was a good distraction from the other parts of her life.

The short chapters kept the pages moving with lies, secrets and consequences. Readers, show more especially seniors, could understand her frustrations. Linda had a hard time with technology and couldn’t understand what happened to regular TVs, watches, and appliances. She was annoyed at her Apple watch for giving her pep talks.

It’s always easy to remember the characters with simple names: Linda, Carol, Jenny, Ralph, James and many more. Yet, Jenny kept repeating that one of her husbands, Parker Rubini, had a different kind of name. Linda wondered if she killed him.

While Linda narrated the story, the true star was Jenny. She took advantage of her age with dementia and why not? She got everyone’s attention with her dramatic lines. It wasn’t hard to predict what would happen but it was certainly a fun ride.

My thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of August 5, 2025. show less

This psychological suspense novel is a great read.

Linda Davidson, 76, makes regular visits to Legacy Place, a memory-care facility for the elderly, after her best friend Carol is diagnosed with dementia. While visiting, Linda meets 92-year-old Jenny Cooper who tells Linda that she has killed a number of people, mostly men who hurt her and she believes deserved to die. Linda has a lot of stress in her life: her husband died and she’s not certain how to move on with her life, her best friend doesn’t even recognize her, and the peace of her home is disturbed by the constant bickering between her daughter Kleo and her husband Mick who live with her. She becomes intrigued with Jenny and her stories which provide her a reprieve from daily show more life.

The suspense derives from trying to determine the truth. Is Jenny just spinning yarns for Linda’s entertainment? Are her confessions just the confusion of an ailing mind? At times she is surprisingly lucid, so her revelations cannot be easily dismissed. When a patient at the facility dies shortly after Jenny learns he sexually abused his daughter, is Jenny responsible? Does she actually pose a danger to others?

Jenny is feisty and quirky. She has a commanding personality who cannot be ignored. She is full of quips, often speaking without filters. Many of her exchanges with Linda are hilarious. For instance, when Linda asks Jenny about the number of her murder victims, even just a ballpark, Jenny replies with “’Shea Stadium’” and even after Linda explains what the expression means, Jenny retorts with, “’You say “ballpark” and I’m supposed to know that means to give you an approximate number? That doesn’t make any sense’” and continues “’What does how many people I’ve killed have to do with baseball?’” Amidst her witty remarks are words of wisdom. For instance, she tells Linda that she apologizes too much and should stop overthinking. She is definitely a memorable character.

Despite its lighthearted moments, the novel does touch on a number of serious subjects like aging, abuse, friendship, loss and grief, and family. Dementia and its effects, on both those diagnosed with the disease and their loved ones, are examined. Carol’s husband tells Linda she is such a good friend because she continues to visit Carol even as her condition deteriorates and Linda reflects, “Does he know how hard it’s become for me to visit my lifelong friend, the disappointment and outright anger that I feel toward her condition, that I feel toward her, and the guilt I carry for feeling this way? Would he consider me a good friend if he knew the depth of my resentment, the rage I can barely suppress whenever I confront the glazed look in her eyes, the unstated fear I carry of ending up the same way?” Perhaps because I am not much younger than Linda, I identified with a number of her concerns.

This is a fast-paced, quick read. I predicted the ending, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) or substack (https://doreenyakabuski.substack.com/) for over 1,200 of my book reviews. show less

There were many laughs in this psychological thriller, which is pretty unusual. Linda's husband has died and her best friend, Carol, has dementia and has moved into a care facility. When Linda visits her friend at Legacy Place, she meets Jenny Cooper, a 92-year old dementia patient who confides to Linda that she has killed people. While shocked, Linda is also intrigued. As they develop a friendship (their conversations are humorous), Linda tells Jenny about her daughter Kleo and son-in-law, Mick, and their troubles. Jenny continues to tell Linda about her supposed crimes and when Jenny provides Linda with a gift, Linda doesn't hesitate to use it.
I enjoyed this psychological thriller with a nod to the pain of dementia, but with some show more humor to it. show less

I've always enjoyed Joy Fielding's books, but this one annoyed me. Main character Linda Davidson, while visiting her best friend Carol who has recently entered a memory care facility, befriends Jenny Cooper, a resident who has dementia. Jenny confides that she has killed many people, and much of the book contains the conversations between Linda and Jenny, which are boring, repetitive, and increasingly annoying. I didn't like Linda, who is meek, always questioning herself and her decisions (which she should, because many of them are really bad), and is always saying "sorry." Her daughter and son-in-law live with her, and they present all sorts of problems which Linda does not handle well at all. This was a subpar outing from Fielding, show more I'm sorry to say. show less

This is my first time reading this author's work. Her writing is smooth and easy to read; the pages practically turn themselves. The premise of this novel is very intriguing, and the characters are thoroughly entertaining. While there wasn't much suspense or thrill to this novel, it was a solid read. This novel touches on sensitive subjects about life, growing older, and murder. All while being a bit comical.