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Book Title: Deadly Secrets

Book Genre: General Fiction

Date of Review: March 12, 2016

Chapter(s) Reviewed: 1, 2 & 3

Approximate Chapter Length: 1500, 1100, & 1500

Content Flags: Mild Profanity

Summary (copied from book description)

Everybody has secrets, something to hide. Some say your secrets are your blood; when you shed too much of it, you die.

For Zara DeRealis, nothing is as heavy a burden as her tempestuous past. Orphaned as a young child, she was passed from foster home to foster home, each form of abuse worse than the last. Every single day was lived in fear, and even now, as a senior in high school, there are things nobody can know about her.

Like the fact that she's part of a gang of delinquents, with no lock or pocket too hard to pick.

Or that she has somehow gotten entangled in the dark, murky depths of New York City, courtesy of Maximilian Rubair, whose father's company is involved in the manufacturing of a new, highly addictive psychoactive drug: the 'Butterfly'.

Her secret? She stole it.

Everybody has something to hide. Do you?

Review

Deadly Secrets opens with Zara's friends waiting for her below her apartment while she searches for a crowbar. The four of them drive to a middle class neighborhood in Brooklyn and go over their plan for burgling a home. Three of them sneak toward the house while the fourth drives the car, essentially circling the block so that it won't remain suspiciously parked on the block.

Zara has a bad feeling about the job as she approaches the house. She almost takes out one of her friends, Orion, when he sneaks up beside her unannounced. She suggests bailing, but Aurora and Orion won't hear of it. They start casing the outside of the house for entry points.

Once inside, they gather quite a lot of loot, but Zara hasn't gotten to the bathroom yet when the homeowners flick a light on, alerted to the noise of the burglary. Orion and Aurora bail, but Zara insists on raiding the bathroom first. The homeowner has a gun; Zara manages to escape out the bathroom window, but not without being fired on. After an anxiety-inducing pause on the sidewalk, the getaway driver pulls up and Zara jumps into the car with the others.

Certainly an eventful opening three chapters, and even better, the writing is very clean and compelling. There are very few typos or errors. The descriptions are effective, placing the reader in the scene without stopping the action, and the dialogue between the friends (or crew members?) feels authentic and entertaining. I found it interesting that Zara turned out to be the sort of person who will forgo a mission because she has a bad feeling, but stick it through once she's in even when it hits the fan.

So far, this book is absolutely a good read. It sets up an uncommon situation right away, building conflict easily. The characterization is built deftly through dialogue and action. There is not a drop of telling in this story; it's all showing, giving the reader the scene and allowing them space to interpret.

Deadly Secrets is admirably done. I recommend it, especially for readers who already love this genre.