Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph

3/5 stars

Secrets Never Die is about a group of high schoolers who go into the woods every Halloween to whisper their secrets in the Dark Place. Even secrets we think we’ve buried have a way of coming into the light and this year, Sam and his friends will learn that the hard way.

After reading the premise, I really wanted to like this. However, it just didn’t quite reach the hype for me. The plot felt a little shallow; I was expecting these huge, massively horrible secrets to come to light, but they were pretty lackluster for the effort everyone made to hide them. None of them seemed like something that you would choose to die for instead of come clean like the author was trying to portray.

The characters didn’t have nearly as much depth as I had hoped they would. Each of them were portrayed fairly one-dimensional, and I don’t feel like any of them really grew over the course of the book. Lauren is a liar who can’t face up to reality; Dom is a bully but it’s okay because he’s reformed now; Sam is a disillusioned former child star; Elisha is the emotionally aloof outsider; and Haran is the friend who’d do anything for a buck then blame someone else out of guilt. And let’s not forget Molly, the 5 year old professional photographer who can read minds. I’m still unsure if that was supposed to be a paranormal element or just to show that she’s highly perceptive. And how did no one know about a certain someone having a daughter? It’s a small town and everyone knows everyone’s business, so how did no one know about that?

This book sounded really cool, and it’s not a bad read by any stretch, but it just didn’t live up to its premise for me.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the review copy! Everything in this review is my honest opinion.