Official Review: Dark Secret's by Mikki Smith

[Thimble]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Dark Secret's" by Mikki Smith.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Misty just wanted to be a normal teenager that Halloween night. To her dismay, she could never lead a normal life and was instead thrown into a nightmare.

In this unintentionally funny Christian horror novel, we find out exactly what that nightmare is. Dark Secrets, by Mikki Smith, has an intriguing story, and has a diverse cast of Christian and non-Christian characters. It’s relatively short at just over 200 pages. Despite the potential of the story, this book does have a plethora of flaws, which I will get out of the way first so we can move on to the good stuff.

There are many syntax, punctuation, and formatting issues. The book is full of them and they’re hard to ignore. However, it’s not like a book written by someone that doesn’t know English well. It’s mostly just a book that hasn’t been edited well. This can also be seen in how the narration and dialogue are written. Sometimes there is too much narration, sometimes there is not enough. Also, while almost all of the book is written in third person omniscient, it occasionally switches to first person for a sentence or two. The last three major flaws worth mentioning are as follows: the lack of personality in the characters, the lack of a climax at the end, and the tone shifts too much. It’s important to note here that the shifting of the tone is actually what makes the book kind of funny and entertaining to me, but it’s obviously not intentional. Overall, I think with an editing overhaul and rewrite, all of these things can easily be fixed.

Aside from the imperfections, the plot is interesting and has a lot of potential. The story is of a high school senior named Misty in 1975 Indiana. Shortly after her grandmother dies, she is finally free to go out and party on Halloween night with her friends. For unknown reasons, her “Grams” and mother have kept her sheltered in a very strict Christian lifestyle her whole life. Misty has always been very accepting of this and is just really excited to go out and try new things. Unfortunately, things go downhill very quickly. A satanic High Priest tries to kidnap her and make her his bride and that’s where the story really begins. Why did he choose her? What was her family hiding from her? Who can she trust?

As mentioned, one of the strengths of Dark Secrets is the diverse cast of Christians. No Christian is alike in this book. There is the devout and strict one represented by Grams. There is the follower that trusts God completely but doesn’t trust people. There is the person that grew up in church but hasn’t attended in a while, as well as other types in between. Almost everyone is represented and it’s very refreshing. The only downside to this is that there is a lot of misplaced proselytizing. A few times it fits, but mostly it seems to come out of nowhere and adds to the inconsistent tone.

The contrast between King Bob (at least that’s what I call him) and the other characters also messes with the tone of the book. Bob is the main antagonist and has the most personality out of all of the characters. If this were a movie, he’d be twirling an evil mustache and chuckling demonically. He’s outspoken with his evil intentions, but sneaky. He’s supposedly charming, but also creepy. There are also many other less important antagonists, but they’re not particularly interesting.

The main protagonist, Misty, also is not really interesting. After reading the book, I can’t think of anything she did that really moved the plot along. Everything just happens to her. As a character, she’s very passive and I can’t pinpoint her personality. Bill Norris, a young seminary student-turned-detective, is the other prominent protagonist. He has a little more personality than Misty and he says “We’ll leave no stone unturned” a lot. There are a few other side characters like Laura and Robbie, but there’s not much to say about them other than that they are in the story and they do some “spoilerific” things.

I rate Dark Secrets a 2 out of 4. Even though the story is good, it’s not written well. It was an enjoyable read when I just accepted the flaws as they are, but I know not every reader can do that. I can’t recommend it in its current incarnation, but if you’re curious I wouldn’t discourage you from checking it out. It was very entertaining to me.

As a disclaimer, the book contains explicit descriptions of various dark witch crafts. It also has rape, molestation, murder, torture, kidnapping, stalking, and implied pedophilia. There is accepted underage drinking and smoking due to it taking place in 1975. I would recommend it for ages 15 and up.

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Dark Secret's
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Like Thimble's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Mikki Smith 1962]

I had the book pulled and corrected

-- 15 Mar 2016, 12:35 --

I had the book pulled and corrected

[chytach18-]

Very detailed review, Thimble. As one of the characters form the book would say, you left "no stone unturned".

[Thimble]

I had the book pulled and corrected

-- 15 Mar 2016, 12:35 --

I had the book pulled and corrected

That's great, Mikki . I look forward to seeing how the story is shown off better with more editing.

[kimmyschemy06]

The premise sounds promising. Will be waiting for the edited version. Great job on the review.

[bookowlie]

I enjoyed your insightful review. Although the plot doesn't seem to be my cup of tea, I think many readers will find it interesting.

[Thimble]

Very detailed review, Thimble. As one of the characters form the book would say, you left "no stone unturned".

Thanks! However, I can only hope that Detective Norris would be proud of my investigation abilities.

-- 16 Mar 2016, 14:40 --

The premise sounds promising. Will be waiting for the edited version. Great job on the review.

Thanks for checking out the review. I'll be keeping my eye out for the revised version as well.

-- 16 Mar 2016, 14:44 --

I enjoyed your insightful review. Although the plot doesn't seem to be my cup of tea, I think many readers will find it interesting.

Thanks, bookowlie! I agree that the premise is not for everyone.

[CrescentMoon]

Great review! I love how you explained thoroughly what it was you did or didn't like about the book. I'll keep my eye out for the edited version.