Secrets So Deep

By Ginny Myers Sain

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of Dark and Shallow Lies comes a moody and atmospheric paranormal thriller about a seventeen-year-old girl returning to an exclusive theater camp to uncover the truth of what really happened there twelve years ago, the night her mother drowned.

Twelve years ago, Avril's mother drowned at Whisper Cove theater, just off the rocky Connecticut coastline. It was ruled an accident, but Avril's never been totally convinced. Local legend claims that the women in the waves--ghosts from old whaling stories--called her mother into the ocean with their whispering. Because, as they say at Whisper Cove, what the sea wants, the sea will have.

While Avril doesn't believe in ghosts, she knows there are lots of different ways for places, and people, to be haunted. She's spent the past twelve years trying to make sense of the strange bits and pieces she does remember from the night she lost her mother. Stars falling into the sea. A blinding light. A tight grip on her wrist. The odd sensation of flying. Now, at seventeen, she's returning to Whisper Cove for the first time, and she might finally unravel the mystery of what really happened.

As Avril becomes more involved with camp director Willa and her mysterious son Cole, Whisper Cove reveals itself to her. Distances seem to shift in the strange fog. Echoes of long-past moments bounce off the marsh. And Avril keeps meeting herself--and her dead mother--late at night, at the edge of the ocean.

The truth Avril seeks is ready to be discovered. But it will come at a terrible cost.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593403991
• ISBN13: 9780593403990
• Release Date: September 2022
• Publisher: Razorbill
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

A good premise but...

I don't know. The blurb got me really excited to read this book and though the atmosphere was nicely creepy with the mysterious figures in the mist (and the whole ghost story about the mothers and children who walked into the sea long ago) as well as a mom (Nicole) who mysteriously drowned (was she also drawn to the sea?) while the daughter, Avril, who also drowned but survived but forgot and is now back for answers (and to do a summer theater immersion with world famous Willa), it fell short for me. The way it was explained, plus the reason for the whole mess felt quite trite (plus it was easily guessable, so I was not surprised at all). I was not a fan of the romance between Cole and Avril. It felt very self destructive, especially what they were doing with the flames and blind cliff walking. I feel that her first book, Dark and Shallow Lies, was much stronger than this one. This one left me with the feeling of what the heck happened with the ending? Very abrupt after the final reveal (and subsequent fire).

Eerie, atmospheric YA paranormal mystery

High school drama student Avril Kendrick is returning to Whisper Cove, Connecticut for two reasons: she has won a spot in a prestigious theater camp run by a famous playwright, and it is where her mother drowned with Avril by her side, 12 years ago. Avril survived the icy water, but her mother did not. Avril has no memories of her life leading up to her mother's death and wants to learn about her mother and make sense of her death. As Avril makes friends with some of the other students, immerses herself in the lead role of the play, and becomes close to the camp director's teenage son, she experiences strange occurrences, ghostly apparitions in the fog, sleepwalking, flashbacks and fainting. Realistically, a student at a summer camp exhibiting these disturbed behaviors would have had her parent called and been sent home. I liked Avril's friends Lex, Jude and Val. The isolated coastal setting was eerie, chilling and dangerous. The author has a talent for haunting, atmospheric prose. The pacing was slow, yet the story ended abruptly without enough closure. Overall, an enjoyable YA paranormal mystery, but the execution could have been better. Thank you to BookishFirst for a copy to review.