Review by Astrid Finlay, aged 11
Published by Bloomsbury
Secret of the Shadows is a dark story of a girl named Tyler Lawless, who, when packing up her dead grandmother’s house one summer holiday, discovers that the house has a dark secret within.
It all starts when the door of her icy cold room closes, despite her efforts to keep it open. Strange things seem to happen, until Tyler, after following a number of clues – for example her grandmother explaining in a letter that something had bothered her before she died, or her bedroom door shutting without a noise – comes to the conclusion that her grandmother’s house must be haunted.
Can Tyler stop the mysterious happenings before the house takes in another visitor…?
Secret of the Shadows is a compelling, mystery story, which you cannot put down. It is very scary but once you have started reading, you can’t stop. You will not predict the ending, even if you try to add up the clues in the story, which is what I tried to do, but I was still shocked at the end.
The ending is guaranteed to send shivers up anyone’s spine, even an adult. I would say this would be a good book for age nine plus, and it is not for bedtime reading!