One night a year, Sam Hall and a very small group of friends traipse off into the wood to tell their secrets to a private little hut. A place, or an object that lets them unburden themselves of the weights on their shoulders.

Sam a formal child TV star has lots of secrets. Secrets about a fire, about his dad, about his life. But so does everyone else. And now the blackmail has begun. Secrets leak out, some small, some large, causing problems and danger for all.

This book was okay. It starts on Halloween and goes a few more days. The adult in mean screams “talk to your parents or trusted adults” and this book wouldn’t exist. To me, this book was nothing special. It will have a hot flash in the pan this year but die off by next. ( )

Former child star Sam Hall has a secret, and so do some of his friends. Every year on Halloween they go to the Dark Place and whisper into the night what their secrets are, only this year, someone has been listening... and plans to use their secrets against them. ( )

This book reminds me of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream". I like the mysterious messages, the creepy masks, the dark secrets, and the twists and turns we experience, as the author weaves us through the story.
Christopher Gebauer and Jennifer Jill Araya do a great job narrating this novel. I will definitely look for more books narrated by them in the future. ( )

Secrets, like procrastination, tend to grow ever larger in your mind. Five teens have had a ritual for several years. On or near Halloween, they sneak off to an abandoned building in the woods and tell the darkness their biggest and worst secrets. The intent is to give them some sense of relief. It has worked until the night someone destroys any chance of serenity by attacking the building with eggs full of rancid blood. That's followed by text messages, emails, and extremely scary/creepy videos.
The affected teens are baffled and scared, especially when they're ordered to do and say things that up their stress level while fracturing their trust. When they go on the offensive, what they uncover is so far from anything they expected, it's chilling and involves other people as a result of what happened a long time ago. High creep factor here and a darn good read. ( )

*Thank you to NetGalley for a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Actual Rating: 3.5

I Know What You Did Last Summer meets One of Us Is Lying in this teen mystery thriller!

Secrets Never Die starts one fateful Halloween. Sam Hall and his friends have an annual tradition. Every year, they visit an abandoned hut in the woods where they each go in, one at a time, to share their deepest, darkest secrets and get it off their chest. Most of them come out lighter and relieved. This year, after a series of weird occurrences, San starts to realize that things aren’t quite right. And when everyone starts getting threatening texts that are personalized to each of them, their greatest fear is confirmed: someone knows ALL their secrets.

The premise itself is really interesting and I loved the tension that was created by reading from the perspective of a character who had secrets, with the primary antagonist being someone masked and mysterious.

It definitely took me a little while to get the hang of the story and all the characters — especially again near the final 20% of the book where the cast expands again. However, I think it really helps that the entire book was written from Sam’s perspective. We knew who he was closest with, who he didn’t like, who he did, and most of all, his own secret. Being an ex-child star is really not a characterization I've read much so it was super interesting to see. So to be expected, Sam had the best and most intriguing backstory of all and I also liked how some of the others had secrets that were intertwined with his history.

Plot-wise, I do have mixed feelings on how the final story turned out; on one hand it was definitely unexpected (and the good mysteries are the unpredictable ones) but it also seemed a little underwhelming for not being as tied into existing thread lines as I wanted. I felt similarly about some of the secrets, especially if they were built up until the very end as something so extreme it would change the course of the story.

Ultimately, the climax did deliver, the ending is satisfying, and I had a really good time trying to read between the lines to figure out who did it and what the characters’ secrets were. I’d definitely recommend this for fans of ensemble mystery stories. ( )