The Secret Thread Author:Ethel Vance The SSecret Thread is a fast-moving story which incolves the reader deeply, personally. Like all fine novels, it has a purpose, and maintains a high pitch of excitement right up to the surprise ending. It is that rare thing: a combination of action, character, and an examination of man's unceasing search for his own spiritual identity. — Cassiu... more »s Terhune was a man who always wanted an answer. That he usually found one was indicated by the fact that, still a handsome man in his forties, he was already a success. To be sure, he had suffered a temporary breakdown in Germany under rather mysterious circumstances, but he had accomplished an important mission for the government and now, on his return home, was in line for a big job.
It wasn't altogether strange that a man like Terhune should spend his first day in New York seeking relief from a tormenting and undefinable problem in the haunts of his youth. The strange things was that during the span of thirty-six hours, crippled and in jeopardy of his life--a prisoner in the abandoned attic of his boyhood home , he should find the answer to the most important question of a lifetime in a dramatic encounter with four strangers. Through these characters, each one contributing an essential factor in a strange dramatic situation, Terhune achieves the balance and self-knowledge he has been seeking.« less