top of page
  • Writer's pictureMichelle

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz


The Quick Cut: An 18 year old girl struggles to get others to believe her after being held hostage for four days. A Real Review: Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Being a victim of a crime is always traumatic, but that only becomes harder to live with when others don't believe it happened. So you try to prove it happened or move on? This is the case for Terra. For four days, Terra was held hostage and kept in a well dying of thirst. It's been six months since that happened and no one believes her. Her parents are long dead and the aunt who is responsible for her is getting frustrated with Terra's antics. Her only respite? The Jane Anonymous site where she can speak to her experience. Can she get others to see what happened or end up alone forever? I loved the original book, "Jane Anonymous" for the way it put you in the shoes of someone who's been a victim of kidnapping. However, for how well written that story was, this one was decidedly not. Rather than speaking truth to the reality of these situations, this one instead avoids talking about the important details. Terra has alienated everyone in her life except people who are on the Jane site. She's untrusting and anything she says can't be taken as true. I like this in concept, but that ending came with zero payoff. Terra clearly is struggling with PTSD and she never even acknowledges that. A story that sends the wrong message. My rating: 2 out of 5

bottom of page