The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep
By: Laurie Faria Stolarz

Mysterious and tense read.

Terra was taken for 4 days, but no one noticed she was gone. She escapes but eventually the investigation of her story turns up no evidence to back up her claims and she is blasted for making it up. Still dealing with the trauma of her parents’ death from their house fire, her history of lying, skipping school, not taking her meds, and making up stories, makes her unreliable.

As a reader we are left to figure out if we can trust her narration or if this is a made up story.

Is this all in her head or is there someone out there who is setting her up, who is playing on her weaknesses and is maybe still hunting her?

Terra is on a mission to prove that what happened to her was real. She must find the water well she was kept in and the book her captor left with her depicting a foreshadowing of her captivity. But she questions the reality of everything she finds. It doesn’t help that her own aunt doesn’t believe her and thinks she needs more therapy to deal with the trauma she has endured.

Meanwhile, Terra develops an online friendship with a girl named Peyton in an anonymous chat room for victims of abuse. When Peyton expresses fear of her captor coming back for her, that she’s in danger, and then stops showing up in the chat room Terra feels responsible to track her down and save her.

This book kept me guessing!

I kept going back and forth- it must have happened, no it must be in her head, no I think it was real. You become suspicious of every character, questioning if they’re real, questioning their motives, and wondering what part, if any, they played.

I didn’t particularly like any of the characters but I was still invested in the story. The suspense was good and the plot movement compelling.

Definitely a book I would recommend!

**Received an ARC via NetGalley **

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