Book Review: THE TRUTH ABOUT KEEPING SECRETS

Genre: Contemporary (claims to be Thirller/Mystery)
Age Range: YA
Star Rating: 2/5 stars
Series: Standalone

Synopsis:

Sydney’s dad is the only psychiatrist for miles around their small Ohio town.

He is also unexpectedly dead.

Is Sydney crazy, or is it kind of weird that her dad-a guy whose entire job revolved around other peoples’ secrets-crashed alone, with no explanation?

And why is June Copeland, homecoming queen and the town’s golden child, at his funeral?

As the two girls grow closer in the wake of the accident, it’s clear that not everyone is happy about their new friendship.

But what is picture perfect June still hiding? And does Sydney even want to know? 

Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves herehere.

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Thoughts:

From the title, blurb and – you know – the fact it’s labeled as a thriller, I was expecting a mystery but this book is NOT a thriller. The ‘mystery’ is a weak idea that pops up occasionally and has a really unsatisfying ending. The plot doesn’t revolve around this mystery at all, and it certainly doesn’t move the book on.

This book is a contemporary that deals with grief and relationships. Calling it a thriller is just insulting to both the book and the genre. The thriller aspect is very secondary, simply to push a more dramatic finale – but the cause of the finale and thriller aspect is the relationships.

THE TRUTH ABOUT KEEPING SECRETS handles grief and relationships so well, showing a full range of experiences and coping mechanisms. It should be praised for this, and marketed as such. The denial, the emptiness, the variety of friends and loves we can have and how they can affect us is so well drawn. A variety of relationships are built and destroyed during the book, showing both the messy and the beautiful sides.

If I had gone in expecting a contemporary, maybe I’d have liked it more. Maybe not – I’m not much of a contemporary person. This is a book that’s been mislabeled, probably because of how well thrillers are doing at the moment.

A short review today, mainly because my thoughts are simply disappointment and frustration that I didn’t read the book I was expecting.