Secrets In The Shadows by T.L. Haddix

Reviews: 4.1 Stars out of 5 from 23 reviews and 103 Facebook Likes

Secrets is a Well Kept Secret Needing to be Discovered
This book is not a genre mystery (though there is a mystery in it). It is not a romance (though there is plenty of romance). It is not a psychological thriller (though the psychology is as twisted and creepy as any you might read about in your most lurid of true-crime exploitations). What you have here is an honest-to-God literary work that deals with the secrets of people that could very well be your next door neighbors. Secrets masqueraded beneath the thin skin of normality, that take us all by surprise when they erupt in sudden and dispicable violence. And it is pulled together by a newly published author who is only going to get better. The prose is sometimes lyrical, but the dialogue is as rough and real as the every day America. You never have the feeling she is putting words in her characters’ mouths.

The author is not dealing with mythical monsters, but the real ones that feed off that dark stream of malignance that runs through the heart of every idyllic American town. Living in the shadow of evil affects us all. And she tells us through the lives of her people that even the best of us are scarred. Even those who fight evil are touched by it and can never be the same.

The true mark of a good book is that reading it makes you want to read more. I was about fifty pages into this better than three hundred page book and I was already wanting the next one.

Secrets in the Shadows
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in reading stories about sexy supernatural beings, fairytale endings and demonic monsters, that we push aside the reality that you don’t have to have supernatural abilities to be a real life monster. The monsters I am referring are like those found in the book one of the Leroy’s Sins series, Secrets in the Shadows by T. L. Haddix. These monsters can be your best friend, your next door neighbor, the guy who always smiles and says hello as you pass each other on the street, or even your closest family member. Living a seemingly normal life by day but lurking in the shadows at night, they leave a trail of emotional destruction where ever they go. In Secrets in the Shadows, such is true for cousins Margie and Lauren, as we follow their shared story and learn why sometimes people have to do the unthinkable just to be able to survive. T. L. Haddix covers some real life issues such as rape and abuse and how hard emotionally it is to overcome such terrible struggles, especially when there are unanswered questions preventing the healing process. The first couple of chapters are a little slow moving, but it quickly found its pace and moves along and keeps the reader intrigued and wanting to know what happens next! One thing that I particularly liked, was that T. L. Haddix doesn’t sugarcoat these issues and have the stereotypical fairytale ending, where everyone goes skipping off happily into the sunset. The reader feels the raw emotions and struggles that they character is facing and not everyone is lucky enough to make it out alive. I can’t wait to see what happens in book two of the Leroy’s Sins series, Under the Moon’s Shadows.

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