Sam Hall and a few close friends have been holding funerals for their secrets in an old hut abandoned by one of their moms. It’s in the woods and they call it the Dark Place. It has been freeing for Sam, a former child star, who has a lot of worries. Or it seems as if he does, but then they are teenagers and all of their actions seem more important than they are.

This year when they enter the hut under cover of darkness on Halloween, someone else is there. Unseen, but not unheard.

Are their secrets coming to life to haunt them? Or is this a game someone else is playing?

When they all begin receiving cryptic texts which become threatening, someone needs to come clean before this gets out of hand.

As much as I enjoyed the story concept, the characters left me unimpressed. Such angst they had but I couldn’t have cared less.

NetGalley/ September 26, 2023, St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday

Oh my gosh, this book is soooooooo good.

The story as so unique and original, the plotting was superb and the characterizations were excellent. But without doubt, the best part was the dialogue; it was realistic, hilarious and spot on. It made reading this corker so, so enjoyable.

I gobbled this up in a day. I couldn't put it down!

This book was so good! I didn’t want to put it down, and I completely loved the characters and all of the secrets that they held. I love the multi generational aspect, and how detailed but not over done everything wise. This was a wonderful story, and it kept me guessing to the very end! I would love to see a follow up to this book to know what happens next, I felt like the author left potential for more in a series. I promptly signed up for his email list, because this book was absolutely phenomenal!

3.5 rounded up
Fast paced story with relatable characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me, It has such a great premise. I also loved the whole back story for the main character Sam and how he was a child star that had a bad experience. After that it just wasn't my cup of tea. The other characters felt forced like there was a quota to fill. I hope to check out other books by the author in the future. Thanks to NetGalley for the gifted copy.

thank you netgalley for the advanced readers copy!!! :)

Vincent Ralph does it again. I read 14 Ways To Die a couple months ago and was in awe so I was so eager to read this one. I just love his writing style! This is definitely a book you can read in one sitting because you’re always left at the end of each chapter wanting more! The characters were enjoyable and I really loved the eeriness/spookiness of this one too! Sometimes I forgot I was reading a YA book. Definitely a book I will be recommending!!!

I enjoyed the book but the ending was confusing. I still have no idea who did what to who. All in all I was lost and thus ruining my experience overall.

This was another great book from Vincent Ralph, it had what I enjoyed from other books. The characters were what I was looking for and it worked in the thriller genre. I was invested in what was going on and really enjoyed reading this.

"Haran and Elisha both think Dom is bad news, and they’re right. And yet: Dom saw me at my most broken and found a way to help. He took me to the Dark Place. He might blow hot and cold, but we have history. He was a bully, although never to me. He’d picked a few wide-eyed kids and made their lives worse for two horrible semesters. He was sly about it, though. Parents think he’s the nicest kid in school."

A classic story of revenge. I liked that the main character was male, I don’t read enough of those. I liked the familiar comfort of having a little bit of an idea of what happened next but I was still shocked when all was said and done. I like being a gullible reader.

I’ve read one of this authors previous books so when I saw this one I wanted to read it. I really enjoyed this book too and would recommend it.

Pretty fun, although predictable and tropey at times. Still, this had all the things I like in young adult thrillers: secrets and mysteries, good pacing, easy writing style. I could recommend this to other readers.

This was a really good YA book. I found this to be a quick read for me. I was invested from beginning to end. There are a few twist and turns that will make you think omg I didn't see that coming. I would definitely recommend this book for someone wanting a good YA mystery and thriller.


Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for allowing me to read this ARC in advance for my honest opinion.

While it took me a few chapters to get into the book, things quickly pick up and every time I thought I knew what was happening, I was wrong - which kept me reading and on my toes. I enjoyed the way that the author wrote the characters and the way they responded to certain things was believable for their age. I have to admit, certain parts of this book had my heart racing more than I anticipated.

Well, I had hoped to enjoy this book as much as "14 Ways to Die" or "Lock the Doors," but unfortunately, I did not.

Don’t get me wrong; the action-packed pacing, short chapters, quick start, increasing tension, and minor and major twists are still strengths of this book. I finished it in one sitting. The last quarter, in particular, was extremely exciting. However, I found the entire cast of characters to be one-dimensional, and the secrets they carried were not earth-shattering enough to serve as blackmail material.

The backstory of Samuel, the child star, was a great choice, but the execution of the story didn’t provide enough emotional depth to his character. We read about the situations, but we don’t sense how those incidents shaped the character’s personality. The author also kept us in the dark about the other characters. Dom is a privileged, bullying, pretentious one, but we don’t know much about what made him act that way. There was also not enough material for us to understand the romance between Elisha and Sam. Until the second half, we don’t know much about Elisha or her family issues. Harran was also portrayed as a queer poor boy and Sam's best friend, but we didn’t get much information about the character’s attributes.

I only liked the prodigy kid, Molly, but even she was a little exaggeratedly portrayed: she read minds and had artistic photographic skills at the age of five!

The plotline is interesting. Sam, Harran, Elisha, Laureen (Dom’s college student sister, queer, and that’s all we may learn about her character) and Dom gather around the woods every Halloween to make confessions at their sacred place, which they call "Dark Place." But when they conduct their ritual, they realize somebody threw eggshells filled with blood to their place, and the very next day, they start getting text messages from a person called Sasha Craven, who already knows their secrets and starts blackmailing them. They should find her identity before she ruins each of their lives.

Overall, as I mentioned before, the pacing, twists, and eerie ending of the book were the best things I enjoyed, but I couldn’t connect with the characters, and I wish the secrets they kept were more life-changing (especially Sam’s secret) to serve the entire mystery better.

I loved the author's previous works a little more. I am still looking forward to reading his next work and keeping my fingers crossed that I will enjoy it more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for sharing this digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

3.5⭐️

I enjoyed this book and the pacing of it a lot. The chapters were very short and there was action from the beginning. Overall, this was a twisty thriller that left me guessing until the end!


This ARC was provided to me by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

I really liked that the story immediately got right to it and I enjoyed the pacing. I liked the characters, they were likeable and well layered. I also found the story to be a bit creepy and gave me chills, so it did what it was supposed to! A 3.75 star book for me!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Every year Sam Hall and his friends hold funerals for their secrets in an abandoned hut in the woods that they call the Dark Place. But this year, their secrets are coming back from the dead…to terrorize them.

When I read the synopsis for this book and saw the cover, I was instantly intrigued by this book. I am pleased to say that this book did not disappoint at all. The book starts out at Dom's Halloween party, which is the party of the year for this group of friends, but not for the reasons you might originally think. Every year, they sneak out of the party and go to the Dark Place to whisper their secrets. But this year is different. Someone knows about the Dark Place and their secrets and isn't going to stop using those secrets against them until their lives are destroyed.

This book was a great, fast-paced read. The characters were relatable and likeable. The story doesn't have a slow take off. It gets right into the main plot and I felt like the very few parts that were slightly slower were important to the main plot of the story and character development. I really loved the unexpected plot twists in this book. There were a few that I thought I had figured out and then realized I had no idea what was actually happening. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves YA thrillers. Definitely a good one!!

So this was definitely one of those books that I thought I had it all figured out, but I could not have been more wrong. In the middle of this book there is a massive plot twist that I never saw coming and made the book even cool and more interesting. Halloween has always been a special time for this group of friends, their chance to go to the dark place and let out their secrets and start the year oh fresh. However where they were that someone may have been listening to their secrets things will never be the same. Friendships and families will be broken and who knows if they’ll ever get the trust back. This was a great read and really kept me on the edge of my seat

**I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

The first few chapters were hard to get into, even though on could argue the action starts fairly quickly. Then the story gained momentum. For me, a 3 stars usually means it was readable and meh. In this case, it means I enjoyed it and will read more from this author but I had some issues. I really enjoyed Ralph's other book, 14 Ways to Die. I would also like to read Lock the Doors. But "friends go into the woods for a weird ritual" is overdone, to me. I've seen a lot of book plots start off that way.

Brief summary: 4 friends go to a secret place in the woods to confess their secrets on Halloween. No one knows anyone's secrets...or so they think. Because the secrets start coming out and dangerous things start happening.

Characters and first impressions: Dom is one dimensional and bleh. I don't care about Sam's excuses for his douchery. Elisha, Lauren, and Molly are surprisingly fleshed out. Even Sam is kind of one dimensional - all you know about him is that he was a child star and feels guilty all the time. But it IS very refreshing to see a brother who loves his little sister and wants to protect her. Haran...I'm not sure about him. It seems that he gives a lot to Sam, way more than he gets in return. All I know about Haran is, he's poor and likes theater and is Sam's bff. Sam's dad's character is vivid, which in other novels the parents can just be background characters (sadly Sam's mom is one of these).

I don't want to give any spoilers but the blackmail in Sam's case was not believable at all. However, I do feel like the way he reacted to it is very true to his age. He acts before he thinks when a lot could've been avoided with some reflection. I'm torn between thinking this is typical of teens and wondering if the author is not giving teens enough credit with their thought processes. When i was a teen I was an idiot so judging by myself, I think he's right on track. I want to know what everyone else thinks, though.

Just gonna put this out there - didn't like Sam's & Elisha's relationship. It wasn't deep enough to see the chemistry and I felt that Elisha didn't give much to Sam in the way of support or literally anything. I don't only blame her trust me, but Sam has no depth besides GUILT so it makes sense.

The twist was interesting. There's like a mini twist *gasp* and then kind of a bigger twist *extra gasp*. I'm not being sarcastic; I was very surprised. I think the characters had some growth over the book's course which is the sign of a good author.

Thanks Wednesday Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I absolutely loved this book so much I read it all in one day! I just couldn’t put it down! Have you ever wished your secrets could die? Sam and his friends have found a way to allow this to happen. A remote dwelling where one by one they go is and whisper their secrets aloud, they call it the Dark Place. It’s freeing to get away from the guilt, fear, and pain their secrets bring. That is until someone starts using their secrets against them. How is that possible? No one knows about the Dark Place right? And how far will they go to keep their secrets? There were twists on top of twists, secrets, revenge, tension and intrigue, this book had it all! Definitely a favorite Vincent Ralph book! If you like twisty mysteries that’ll have you needing to know more then I highly recommend this book! Can’t wait for it to come out!