ARC Review: Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph
Published by Wednesday Books on August 29, 2023
Genres: YA Thriller
Pages: 368
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Barnes & Noble, Buy on Audible

Blurb:

We call it the Dark Place. I don’t know who built it or when but, for us, it’s special.

Every year Sam Hall and his friends hold funerals for their secrets in an abandoned hut in the woods that they call the Dark Place. But this year, their secrets are coming back from the dead…to terrorize them.

Sam is a former child star whose career went up in flames – literally. And no one, not even his best friend knows why. His friends each hold a secret pertaining to the night. A secret they would all like buried.

Now someone from the past is blackmailing them with their dangerous secrets. Sam isn’t sure who he can trust, who’s watching him – or how far he’s willing to go to bury the past once and for all.

When you’re alone in the dark, some things won’t stay hidden.

My Review

I had in my calendar this came out in September, but guess it actually came out in August, so I was late on my reading and reviewing. There was a lot of wondering just what was going on, keeping me guessing as I read. The one person I thought it might be betraying the main character, ended up not having anything to do with it really. But there were betrayals I didn’t see coming from his friends, and even family.

The whole aspect of the people getting back at them or having their secrets and holding it over their heads was creepy. It felt a lot like a Scream movie in some ways, good ways, definitely this would make a good scary movie I think. There was a little bit of confusion about the schools for me, two of them so close? Or maybe I misunderstood that. And there were so many different people/suspects added along the way, and even when some were cleared, it didn’t always take the finger pointing to them away.

The ending was perfect, even with things supposedly solved, Sam had all the paranoia and thought processes that made sense for what he’d been through. Definitely a good story, and I’ve added it to my list to purchase for my school library!