Thank you Titan for my gifted copy!

“Trees and witches, witches and trees.”

I’ve never read anything by Tim Lebbon, but I’ve seen his work everywhere. And I get it. I get the hype. What a writer.

Secret Lives of the Dead had me in a chokehold. It’s one of those books that will stick with you. A fresh (to me) premise, with characters who are fully developed right off the bat. I was horrified and shattered after certain scenes. Nightmares and daydreams of this book stuck with me for days. It reminded me of watching a classic slasher, with gore and lore tastefully done, which is right up my alley. I’m not one for intense body gore and gallons of blood spilled, but that doesn’t mean this book didn’t have some gnarly gore scenes. I know for damn sure I will be reading more of Tim Lebbon’s books. This is the perfect spooky read going spooky season and I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you’re looking for a read to completely suck you in.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Goodreads.

'Secret Lives of the Dead' is an excellent folk horror novel. Lebbon's prose is on point throughout the book. Several times I stopped reading just to turn his words over in my mind. The novel has multiple time lines and POVs leading to a consistent storyline. No one writes horror quite like Tim Lebbon. His style is as unique as a fine wine. 5 stars.

This book is a page turning, edge of your seat horror thriller. The tension keeps building throughout the book, right up to the nail-biting finale.

In this book we meet Jodi, her boyfriend BB and their best friend Matt. When Jodi suggests breaking into a rundown and abandoned old house to see if they can find some forgotten treasures, BB and Matt are apprehensive, but decide to go for it. It will be an adventure if nothing else.

When someone from Jodi's past finds them at the house everything becomes dangerous. The three of them must escape the house and run for their lives, but Jodi's past is right on their tail. He wants something from Jodi, and doesn't care what he has to do, or who he has to hurt to get it.

This book was so hard to put down, especially when it got to the 70% mark. I just wanted to keep reading.

If you like horror books that are filled with terror and huge drama, with a touch of the supernatural, then grab yourself a copy of this book. You don't regret it.

Tim Lebbon returns to the territory he masters: the space between folk horror and the psychological thriller. In Secret Lives of the Dead, published in August 2025, he delivers a fiercely paced narrative set over the course of a single day, where reckless decisions and ancestral obsessions converge in a brutal climax. The plot begins with an apparently adolescent dare — the challenge of breaking into a decaying mansion to steal relics and jewels shrouded in rumors of a curse — but it quickly transforms into something darker and more relentless, driven by the presence of Lem, a man who bears the hereditary weight of his bloodline and a morbid fixation on “correcting” the mistakes of the past.
The novel’s greatest strength lies in its ability to weave relentless tension with dense psychological construction. Lebbon does not simply chase characters in flight; he strips them bare. Lem, ruthless and obsessed, takes on the contours of a near-mythic figure, both villain and victim of a family destiny that has hunted him for generations. On the other side, Jodi emerges as an anti-heroine scarred by grief and resentment, whose choices make her both survivor and accomplice to her own tragedy. Around them, BB and Matt orbit like fragile, expendable pieces, their roles serving to heighten the central clash between obsession and survival.
The horror here does not rely on explicit apparitions but on a corrosive doubt: does a curse truly exist? Or are it the beliefs, passed down like a poisonous inheritance, that shape violence and despair? This ambiguity keeps the reader suspended, oscillating between superstition and brutal reality. The effect is powerful: the horror never crystallizes into something visible, but lingers like a suffocating mist — as psychological as it is physical.
Lebbon’s style is visual, almost cinematic, and makes the narrative unfold with the velocity of an action film, without sacrificing emotional density. It’s true that some moments could carry more impact — certain character fates feel less explosive than expected — but overall the result is a work that balances spectacle and introspection with rare skill. The ending, in particular, has been described by critics as devastating, capable of sucking the air out of the room and leaving the reader stunned.
Secret Lives of the Dead is not merely a story about curses or pursuits. Above all, it is a novel about how the past haunts us, about the corrosive power of belief, and about how far someone might go to escape an inherited fate. Brutal, beautiful, and ambiguous, it is a book that grips with adrenaline but lingers because of the humanity it exposes.

I want to thank NetGalley for providing the e-ARC, and especially to Charlotte Kelly, Publicity and Marketing Executive at Titan Books for sending me the print ARC.

I had high expectations for this book, and was immediately drawn to the cover art, like a witch's spell.

As I read the book, I kept switching between loving and hating the cover art, as the story evolved deeper. At first it made no sense, was described in accurate detail, and towards the end, I hated it. By the actual completion of the novel, the cover art makes sense, and my final conclusion is the cover art is so spot on within the book's story. I genuinely like how the cover artist, Natasha Mackenzie portrayed it based on Lebbon's description.

While I ended up loving the cover art, the story itself is another matter. The plot makes sense, the characters and story building are of great quality. The issue that I had was stopping quite often to google British/European terminology/colloquialisms/and varying other linguistic issues that as a native English speaker from the USA I was completely confused by. This took a lot of time away from the pleasure of actually enjoying the book as a whole.

Additional thoughts:
*Wished that the way in which the relics were found by the villain was explained. The way it was detailed left me wondering how he found them, not how he activated them.
*What was the "something" else that Lem brought back to the cave? This was not clear at all. There's an allusion to what that "something" or "someone" is. But not explicitly. Or even murkily.
*The scene w/ Lem in the cave with a relic, and then in the next chapter Lem & Jodi battle it out while Lem is holding the same relic that he placed in the cave is contradictory to the previous scene in the story.

Favorite quotes:
"Tomorrow is yesterday, and now is forever."
"No one goes back. We only go forwards. Until there's nowhere left to go."

Jodi, her boyfriend BB, and his best friend Matt decide to break into an old abandoned house in search of valuables. What the boys don't realize is that Jodi has another reason to break into the house, an odd wooden relic. One that will permanently change their lives. Lem is also after said relic and will stop at nothing to get it. He'll kill for it.

While I normally love revenge tales, this one felt like it meandered a little too much for me. I didn't connect enough with Jodi for me to really care about the back story of her father. BB and Matt seemed to just be there to advance the plot. Lem was an interesting antagonist, but even then, I wasn't quite hooked for some reason.

For me, the premise was okay, but the path to get there was too muddled.

A great folk horror from Tim Lebbon.
As ever I'm skipping all the blurbs and reoccurring descriptions of the storyline.
What i will say is that this was an extremely fun and refreshing read. Yes its a folk horror but stripped down and with a fresh perspective on the genre.
Great writing throughout and very well paced for the most part. Tim drip feeds us with information throughout but never let's as get a real sniff of the truth.
Id definately recommend this to friends and followers!

I think I'm going to be, unfortunately, quite brief with this review, because I don't feel that there is much for me to say; or rather, there isn't much that this book left me.
I'll start with the positives, the writing is pretty nice, nothing amazing, nor skin-crawling: the novel, as many others before me have pointed out, reads more as a mixture between a simple thriller/revenge story with some slasher elements - not so much folk horror. I definitely would've preferred more of the latter as opposed to the former; still, the gore was nice, and I really enjoyed Lem (more than all the other characters at least).
With that said, and while keeping in mind that I did enjoy the story... I can't feel that it left with a sense of... something?
I usually put 3 stars when books are just a-ok, usually bumping the score a bit when there are some elements that I quite enjoyed, but felt the the overall novel was just alright .

Final vote: 3/5

Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon is a captivating dark folk horror tale.
A wild ride that was very cinematic with great characters.

Thank You NetGalley and Titan Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Tim Lebbon has a truly unique way of delivering a story and that’s definitely the case with his latest book Secret Lives of the Dead. On the surface it may seem like a robbery gone wrong story, but it is so much more. It’s an occult thriller focusing on a family curse and revenge. Given how twisted Lem is, it would probably be wrong to admit he was my favorite character. It’s a fair face paced story, with the tension building to an explosive ending. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-lives-of-the-dead-tim-lebbon/1146606021?ean=9781835413555&bvnotificationId=d7bcf140-824a-11f0-9bb9-0e94886f5319&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/355241023

Included in August Chill Quill at BookTrib: https://booktrib.com/2025/08/12/the-chill-quill-august-brings-the-heat-and-the-horror/

Secret Lives of the Dead is a folk horror novel written by Tim Lebbon, published by Titan Books. A gripping plot about revenge and grievance mixed with an ancient family curse and a pinch of noir thriller, with two individuals on opposite sides of the search for a relic, excellently paced while playing with their timelines in order to give the reader all the pertinent background.

Jodi, BB, and Matt, close friends, are breaking into a local mansion with a legend of being haunted; a fun adventure that shouldn't have consequences. Soon, the situation spirals out of control, as Lem, a psychopathic killer, arrives at the estate, looking for the same relic Jodi was secretly trying to find. Two lives that were already tied by the relic in the past, a past that will be slowly unveiled by Lebbon's multiple timelines in this novel, while we follow a high-paced chase across Mariton in the present.

Even with the author taking a more thriller-like approach to the novel, Lebbon puts a ton of effort into creating nuanced characters, especially on the two sides of the quest: Lem and Jodi. Lem is trying to finally get rid of the curse that has afflicted his family for years, and reuniting the relics has made him a ruthless and emotionless man, something that makes many situations to end in a bloodbath; he has a clear goal, and he won't stop for anything.
Jodi was part of his past, even if he doesn't remember; but she's trying to get the relic as a way to get revenge for her father's death, a moment that she partly feels guilty about. Her past is a secret even to her friends, and that will bite her back.

Lebbon manages to build an excellently paced story while introducing us to the backstories that move our characters; all perfectly marked so there's no possibility of confusion. It was really effective as a way to ease the tension, with many parts ending on a cliffhanger that precedes a jump back in time. The structure is more akin to a thriller than to a horror novel per se; that's partly my only complain, as I feel the horror elements to be more a plot device than actually relevant (there's a rich lore behind the relics, but still, they could have been anything).

Secret Lives of the Dead is a great blend that you will enjoy if you prefer horror novels with a more thriller-oriented idea, without losing in character development, an aspect where Lebbon shines. An enjoyable read that will glue you to the pages until the end.

2.5 stars.

This was almost good. A gory, crime story, with supernatural elements, at times this was compelling, and at times I just didn't care enough. I felt like I didn't know enough about our protagonist to care what happened to her.
The villain of the story was the most interesting character, and even then the lore surrounding his past felt inconsistent and hazy.
The plot flopped about, and the ending did not feel especially fulfilling.
I'm sure other people would enjoy it more than me!

Now I love Tim Lebbon but please for the love of god stop shoe-horning running into every novel you write now. I get it, it's your hobby but it's starting to make your characters feel samey when they all do it too.
I really enjoyed hating main character Jodi, her drive for revenge above all made her as evil as the man she pursued to my mind. This in turn left me caring about BB and Matt as the innocent men caught in a violent storm.
The curse storyline, although fully explained, felt a little simple and the way Jodi got caught up in it to begin with fell flat. I prefer Tim's creature features a la The Silence or Among The Living. Still, I'm grateful to recieve the ARC and look forward to his next novel.

Creepy, atmospheric, and full of folk horror chills. A simple burglary turns into a cursed nightmare, and the stormy Crow Island setting is pure gothic gold.

Tim Lebbon’s Secret Lives of the Dead doesn’t waste time easing you in—it kicks the door down and keeps the pressure on. The story follows Jodi, BB, and Matt, three friends who decide to break into a crumbling country manor for the thrill of it. What should be a reckless dare quickly spirals into something much darker, thanks to a centuries‑old family curse and Lem, a relentless figure whose life has been twisted into carrying out the curse’s violent demands. From that moment on, the book turns into a storm‑lashed chase across Crow Island, driven by fear, survival, and betrayal.

What makes it stand out is the pacing—everything unfolds across a single day, almost in real time, so every chapter feels like it’s happening with your pulse. Lebbon keeps the tension stretched to snapping point, blending folk‑horror atmosphere with the energy of a breathless thriller. Lem, in particular, is unforgettable: brutal, terrifying, but also layered with enough tragedy that you can’t write him off as just a monster. Jodi, too, isn’t painted as a clean‑cut hero. Her survival instincts and hidden motives put her at odds with her friends, forcing you to question whether she’s victim, manipulator, or both.

It’s not without its rough edges—some readers felt the curse lore could have been fleshed out more, or that certain characters don’t connect as strongly as others. But the tradeoff is relentless forward motion, bloody set‑pieces, and a raw emotional current that keeps everything thrumming. By the end, you’re not just watching people run for their lives; you’re watching obsession, grief, and vengeance tear them apart.

This isn’t Lebbon cruising on autopilot. Secret Lives of the Dead is lean, savage, and designed to grab you by the throat. If you’re looking for horror that fuses folklore with emotional gut‑punches and action that barely lets you breathe, this one delivers.

Sadly this was a DNF for me, due to it inadvertently hitting some unexpected personal triggers. I enjoyed the beginning very much though, and hope to return to finish it when I'm able. Apologies.

Another top notch read from Tim Lebbon. A story of curses and revenge, told with flashbacks and a edge of your seat thrills. Good characters and well plotted. I enjoyed this book immensely. Glad to see horror in good hands. Thanks to Titan books and Netgalley for this review copy.

Unsettling, engrossing, and imbued with folk horror sensibilities, this narrative will intrigue and unnerve you, sustaining your attention as the events unfold.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books