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A review by annettebooksofhopeanddreams
All That Is Secret by Patricia Raybon
4.0
It seems that I'm rediscovering my old favorites. My love for well written Christian fiction. My love for detectives. My love for historical fiction. When I saw this book on Netgalley I was intrigued right away and knew I had to request it. Not only because it's a Christian Historical Detective, more because the book seemed to have a unique setting. As a white European girl it felt like a piece of history I had to learn more about.
This book gives a great impression of the time period. It's not pretty, it's downright scary and really sickening, but Raybon really manages to make me feel that fear, to make me feel how messed up this view on the world is, to make me wonder how people can be like this, even though I know very well that there are still people like this. The book also showed how far spread these ideas were and how much influence these people managed to get.
The atmosphere works so well, because our leading lady, Annalee, is an amazing character. She is determined, she's willing to fight for things, she dares to take risks, but she's also vulnerable at times. She doesn't always know exactly what she's doing, she's doubting herself and wondering why she's doing all this, sometimes she pulls people into situations far from safe. Her anger, her fear, her sadness are however so relatable, that it's not hard to understand why she does all this.
And while we're learning a lot about the dangers of that time (and this time) and while we're experiencing the world through the eyes of a bright black woman, we're also discovering everything that's going on beyond the surface. Not everything is linked to the case, the murder of her father, but it's quite clear that this is a town filled with secrets, dirty laundry and things people wanna keep buried. I will certainly check out the next books in the series when they release!
This book gives a great impression of the time period. It's not pretty, it's downright scary and really sickening, but Raybon really manages to make me feel that fear, to make me feel how messed up this view on the world is, to make me wonder how people can be like this, even though I know very well that there are still people like this. The book also showed how far spread these ideas were and how much influence these people managed to get.
The atmosphere works so well, because our leading lady, Annalee, is an amazing character. She is determined, she's willing to fight for things, she dares to take risks, but she's also vulnerable at times. She doesn't always know exactly what she's doing, she's doubting herself and wondering why she's doing all this, sometimes she pulls people into situations far from safe. Her anger, her fear, her sadness are however so relatable, that it's not hard to understand why she does all this.
And while we're learning a lot about the dangers of that time (and this time) and while we're experiencing the world through the eyes of a bright black woman, we're also discovering everything that's going on beyond the surface. Not everything is linked to the case, the murder of her father, but it's quite clear that this is a town filled with secrets, dirty laundry and things people wanna keep buried. I will certainly check out the next books in the series when they release!