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A review by alongreader
The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz
4.0
Terra is still trying to get over a tragedy that happened a few years ago when she is kidnapped from her bed and imprisoned in a dry well. When she finally manages to drag herself out, four days later - no one has noticed she's missing. And, with a history of occasionally vanishing for a day or two, no one believes her when she describes her captivity. No one except the anonymous people in her support chatroom, and the boy who didn't walk her home when she went missing.
First of all; yes, in theory this is a sequel to another novel by the same author, Jane Anonymous. However, the actual crossover is very, very faint; I didn't even pick up on it until I read someone else's review, so don't worry if you haven't read that one. You won't miss anything.
Secondly. I have rarely felt so mixed up about a novel on this level. Terra is one of the most unreliable narrators I've met in a long time; I lost count of the times the narration described something and Terra questioned whether she'd done it or when she'd done it. While she was being held she worried about being off her meds for so long, but several months later she seemed to skip them far more often than take them. No doubt that was adding to the unreliability problem, but still. I found it hard to read simply because I had so little idea what was going on; it nearly made me feel nauseous.
I didn't like Terra's aunt too much, either. Working through her own things or not, I felt she was very unsympathetic to Terra - although, of course, there's the unreliable narrator thing again; maybe she was actually very supportive and nice and we just don't know!
Overall, I do recommend this, and it wrapped up nicely, but be ready to be totally confused as you read.
First of all; yes, in theory this is a sequel to another novel by the same author, Jane Anonymous. However, the actual crossover is very, very faint; I didn't even pick up on it until I read someone else's review, so don't worry if you haven't read that one. You won't miss anything.
Secondly. I have rarely felt so mixed up about a novel on this level. Terra is one of the most unreliable narrators I've met in a long time; I lost count of the times the narration described something and Terra questioned whether she'd done it or when she'd done it. While she was being held she worried about being off her meds for so long, but several months later she seemed to skip them far more often than take them. No doubt that was adding to the unreliability problem, but still. I found it hard to read simply because I had so little idea what was going on; it nearly made me feel nauseous.
I didn't like Terra's aunt too much, either. Working through her own things or not, I felt she was very unsympathetic to Terra - although, of course, there's the unreliable narrator thing again; maybe she was actually very supportive and nice and we just don't know!
Overall, I do recommend this, and it wrapped up nicely, but be ready to be totally confused as you read.