Scan barcode
A review by laelyn
The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz
2.0
First of all, I should note that I didn't find out until after reading this book that it is the second book in the "Jane Anonymous" series. I did not read the first book, though I can't say whether that would've changed my opinion on "The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep".
This is a clever little mystery story about a girl that was taken and trapped in a well for four days before she managed to escape. Unfortunately, noone seems to believe that this actually happened to her, which makes her eager to prove them wrong. This is an interesting albeit not entirely new premise that initiatlly got me hooked and I devoured the first two dozen pages or so. The story is well written and the author knows how to draw readers in. The idea of Jane Anonymous, a website for survivors of crimes to chat and bond, is a really interesting one and I generally liked how the chats were incorporated into the story.
In the end, though, "The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep" didn't manage to really keep me interested for long.
For one, I didn't find the protagonist very intriguing and couldn't connect with her at all. I really liked how Stolarz focused on her struggles with both PTSD and the fact that noone believes her trauma actually happened, but beyond that I found her characterization rather lacking. I couldn't really tell you anything about Terra as a person beyond her trauma and her quest for truth. She's also a very unreliable narrator due to her skipping her medication which, for me, just seemed unnecessary for the plot itself and left a bad taste in my mouth due to the insinuation that she cannot be believed because of her mental illness. Unreliable narrators can add a lot of tension and mystery to a story if done well. In this case it didn't work at all for me.
Certain plot twists were rather predictable too and I was annoyed by Terra who later on actively ignores the truth because she's so set on her own version of events. I did interpret this as part of her trauma, of not wanting to accept certain hard truths that once again might shatter her view of the world, but it didn't have an emotional impact on me as it was more written in a way that made her seem incredibly naive.
The final plot twist and reveal of the Bad Guy fell flat for me as well because I didn't feel like this character had as much focus on him during the plot as would have been necessary for this reveal to really pack a punch. The motive was generally interesting and something I haven't read before. It sadly didn't make much sense to me, probably due to the aforementioned lack of focus on the Bad Guy. I felt it was, in the end, a weird motive for the kind of crimes the Bad Guy committed - but it's definitely a creative and promising motive.
"The Last Secrets You'll Ever Keep" can't count me among its fans, but it is still a wortwhile quick read for young mystery lovers. It probably just wasn't the book for me personally.
many thanks to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the arc!
This is a clever little mystery story about a girl that was taken and trapped in a well for four days before she managed to escape. Unfortunately, noone seems to believe that this actually happened to her, which makes her eager to prove them wrong. This is an interesting albeit not entirely new premise that initiatlly got me hooked and I devoured the first two dozen pages or so. The story is well written and the author knows how to draw readers in. The idea of Jane Anonymous, a website for survivors of crimes to chat and bond, is a really interesting one and I generally liked how the chats were incorporated into the story.
In the end, though, "The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep" didn't manage to really keep me interested for long.
For one, I didn't find the protagonist very intriguing and couldn't connect with her at all. I really liked how Stolarz focused on her struggles with both PTSD and the fact that noone believes her trauma actually happened, but beyond that I found her characterization rather lacking. I couldn't really tell you anything about Terra as a person beyond her trauma and her quest for truth. She's also a very unreliable narrator due to her skipping her medication which, for me, just seemed unnecessary for the plot itself and left a bad taste in my mouth due to the insinuation that she cannot be believed because of her mental illness. Unreliable narrators can add a lot of tension and mystery to a story if done well. In this case it didn't work at all for me.
Certain plot twists were rather predictable too and I was annoyed by Terra who later on actively ignores the truth because she's so set on her own version of events. I did interpret this as part of her trauma, of not wanting to accept certain hard truths that once again might shatter her view of the world, but it didn't have an emotional impact on me as it was more written in a way that made her seem incredibly naive.
The final plot twist and reveal of the Bad Guy fell flat for me as well because I didn't feel like this character had as much focus on him during the plot as would have been necessary for this reveal to really pack a punch. The motive was generally interesting and something I haven't read before. It sadly didn't make much sense to me, probably due to the aforementioned lack of focus on the Bad Guy. I felt it was, in the end, a weird motive for the kind of crimes the Bad Guy committed - but it's definitely a creative and promising motive.
"The Last Secrets You'll Ever Keep" can't count me among its fans, but it is still a wortwhile quick read for young mystery lovers. It probably just wasn't the book for me personally.
many thanks to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the arc!