Book Review: Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph

Sam Hall used to be a TV star. Now he’s seventeen and a has-been. He’d be extremely happy about that except for the fact that his career went up in flames at about the same time that his house did:

The articles didn’t say it outright, because no one wants to get sued. Instead, they mentioned how I was home alone when the fire started. That “unnamed sources” had said I’d seemed quiet, troubled at school in the months before the fire. That I had been struggling on set.

 

When you put that together, the trolls do the rest.

 

I thought I knew what gossip was. I’d seen it from my classmates and dealt with my fair share during the show. But this was something else. It was a whisper that grew into a roar.

As a scared and desperate 12-year-old, he’d been relieved when his childhood friend Dom Simmons offered to show him the Dark Place. It wasn’t much, just a hut out in the woods where Dom and his older sister Lauren would go to whisper their secrets, a sort of private confessional in which to admit all the terrible things they’d done without fear of human judgment. Sam’s best friend Haran was also invited, and as they grew older and made more connections, Sam’s girlfriend Elisha. Over time, the Dark Place became a site of more elaborate ritual, with their visits restricted to Halloween night, when they’d take turns going in alone to confess a year’s worth of guilt and shame.

But this year is different. Sam goes last, and as he’s finishing up, a strange series of noises assault him. The Dark Place is under attack by forces unknown, leaving a bloody mess on the walls outside. Spooked, the five friends run.

In the light of day, they’re more than ready to believe that some of their classmates had found out about their ritual and decided to prank them. But when they each start receiving eerie, threatening messages from someone calling herself Sasha Craven, they begin to wonder whether something far more sinister is afoot. Especially since Sasha Craven is the name of one of their secrets, the name of someone who simply does not exist.

As the threats escalate, several members of their circle bring up the subject of going to the authorities. Sam is especially resistant to the idea:

I said things in the Dark Place that I’ve never told anyone. That’s why I can’t go to Mom, because she’d know, too, and it would break her.

 

My relationship with Dad is complicated. There are knots inside knots. There is grief and anger and guilt, and I don’t want that with my mother.

 

There are no knots with her. Our feelings are straight lines, and I will do everything I can to keep them loose and free. I was supposed to leave the Dark Place feeling lighter. I usually feel better afterward.

 

Sasha stole that from me.

Determined to get to the bottom of this mess himself, Sam launches an investigation into who Sasha might actually be and why she has it in for them. Is he ready, however, to brave the dark secrets of his little town in order to uncover a shocking truth that could change everyone and everything around him?

With diverse representation and some truly spooky scenes, this is a thoughtful entry into the Young Adult horror/mystery genre. Sam is an excellent portrait of a young man who’s been forced to shoulder way too much responsibility at a young age and still doesn’t know how to let his burdens down. The appeal of the Dark Place is not only understandable but seductive, as he resists letting anyone see past the image that others have curated for him to the painful truth at his core. But, like any wound papered over without being given the opportunity to heal, his secrets fester – a valuable lesson for any young person questioning the value of honesty and therapy and actively working towards healing instead of just pushing their unhappiness into the dark.