A review by pulp_fiction_books
The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins

2.0

This takes place in the early Victorian era which is a setting I very much enjoy, however it feels rather redundant as we get little to no description of our surroundings and also spend no time world building or having any scenes take place in any of the unique locations of the time. There's an issue also of this book not knowing what it wanted to be  early on we get reference to an animal called a jocastar so you'd be forgiven for thinking this was set in a fantasy world but that's not the case and there's never another fantastical or mythical element or creature mentioned again. That coupled with the fact that we never get any reveal as to why a person is paying people for their secrets and hoarding them means this ends on a very flat note. This did get rather dark at moments for a middle-grade book delving into topics like child abuse and murder and at the end of the book it also gives some good historical background to the period. But alas this had a lot of potential which it never attempted to fulfil but instead decided to play it safe.