- Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
- Publication Date: August 29, 2023
- Author: Vincent Ralph
- Genre: Mystery & Thrillers | Teens & YA
- Page Count: 368
Blurb
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.
Thoughts & Opinions
The description of the book pretty much sums up the gist of the story. I won’t write anything more that would spoil the mystery or suspense.
The book is touted as a novel for fans of Diana Urban and Courtney Summers. Since I have enjoyed Diana Urban’s novels, I jumped at the chance to read this book. Well, it didn’t quite live up to all of the hype. And I probaby expected a lot more than normal.
As far as the characters go, they were typical teenagers that ran the gamut of school bully, the intellectual, and the underprivileged. I didn’t particularly care for any of the main characters. And I didn’t quite appreciate the insertion of a non-binary character as well. The only character that I did like was Molly, the youngest sister of Sam. A child prodigy in the making…
There are a number of plot twists that slowly reveal the blackmailer and the motive. I thought that the secrets that Sam and his friends had were pretty thin to warrant blackmail threats, however. But it is what it is. In any event, there was enough suspense in the narrative to keep me interested and moving forward. But in the end, there wasn’t anything surprising about the big reveal. Three stars.
I received a DRC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
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