All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban | Book Review
My request on Edelweiss was approved by the publisher, so thank you HarperTeen!
My Rating: 2 / 5 🌟
After reading YA novels for years, I have yet to venture into the YA thriller genre. And when I heard about a thriller debut novel releasing, I got really excited as it was an opportunity for me to finally read a book from this genre; especially with the synopsis that was given, which instantly got me intrigued and wanting to pick it up.
Unfortunately, this book was a big disappointment.
The book was told in different timelines, one before the dinner and one during the dinner, and it switches between the two with each chapter. I do like the alternate timeline method that was being used in the book, and I think it was the suitable way to tell the story, as the incidents were told one by one and not by info dumping them all at once. Since the book focuses on the secrets of the main characters, it helps to give some sort of explanation of what might happen in the past (the backstory) that leads to the secret that is being revealed in the present (the dinner). But the drawback of the method in this particular book is that it focuses a lot more on the past and little on the present, which creates this feeling of detachment with the current situation of being trapped in the locked room and ended up making the book felt more like a contemporary instead of a thriller.
The next thing I wanted to point out is the writing, which I really did not like. The story had a big emphasize on the idea of putting different high school stereotypes together in one room, and it was no doubt inspired by the highly acclaimed movie, The Breakfast Club; which I think was the reason why the book read more like a movie script instead of an actual book. The writing felt as if Diana was writing a screenplay instead of a book and it gives me this sense of immaturity in the writing. Although it did make the book easier and much faster to read, it really threw off the thriller element that the story was supposed to give out.
Another thing I couldn't stand was the characters. There were six of them, and I could not even connect with one of them. It is stated in the synopsis how these characters had their stereotype personality, for example the music geek, the star athlete, the queen bee, the valedictorian, the stoner and the loner; but it still did not justify how they don't have any more personality or depth to their character other than their given stereotype. And as someone who didn't grew up with the high school stereotype culture, I wasn't quite sure to what extent these stereotypes are true in the real world, hence making it harder for me to understand why the characters were the way they were. And in the end, had me feeling a sort of dislike for the characters and my overall lack of connection with any of them. And the last thing that set the deal to why this book disappointed me was the story itself. Going into the book, I had assumptions on how the story was going to play out, but it was completely different than what I had expected, and not in a good way. As I mentioned, the book felt more like a contemporary than a thriller, and I think that was what really threw me off, as what I wanted from the book was that sense of anticipation and uncertainty of what was going to happen next. And although the thriller aspect was still there, it was just not enough for me to be blown away with the story as I was hoping to.
Despite all the aspects that I didn't like, I won't deny that this book is addicting and a really fast read, considering I was really invested to see how the story will end and actually finished the book.
All in all, All Your Twisted Secrets was simply not the book for me, but I do think I will give Diana Urban another chance when she releases another book in the future. If you are interested in reading the book, do give it a go as you might just be the book's targeted readers and enjoy the story much more than I did.
Thank you so much for reading and click here to add "All Your Twisted Secrets" by Diana Urban to your Goodreads!