Dark Secrets 2: No Time to Die & The Deep End of Fear by Elizabeth Chandler

In No Time to Die, Jenny is distraught at the recent death of her sister Liza. She decides to enroll in the drama camp that Liza was in when she died. But even though all the evidence points to a serial killer as Liza’s murderer, Jenny is starting to get the sense that’s not really what happened. But setting out to find the truth on her own might be a deadly decision. In The Deep End of Fear, Kate returns to her childhood home after her father dies. She takes a job there as the tutor for a young boy named Patrick. She expects to have strange memories of her time a child there, but what she doesn’t expect is for Patrick to have a capricious imaginary friend named Ashley—who has scary similarities to Kate’s childhood friend who drowned. Kate must figure out what is really going on before it’s too late.

Dark Secrets 2 contains two more murder mysteries from skilled author Chandler. As in Dark Secrets 1, Chandler’s stories here take place in or around the town of Wisteria and are filled to the brim with murder, secrets, lies, danger, and an element of the supernatural. All of this makes for a couple of very enthralling reads. Even though the gist of No Time to Die and The Deep End of Fear is extremely similar to that of Dark Secrets 1, I still thoroughly enjoyed Dark Secrets 2. Chandler has this way of drawing the reader into her stories that makes even the most comparable storylines interesting. In addition to fantastically created mysteries, Chandler always includes a bit of romance, which rarely come to fruition until the very end. Although I these romances are very sweet, it bothers me that just as the mystery is solved and the danger has passed, the heroine realizes that she is in love. The validity of these romances has always been a little iffy to me, but I can’t deny that Dark Secrets 2 as a whole is incredibly enjoyable to read.

I recommend Dark Secrets 2 to those who enjoyed Dark Secrets 1 and Kissed by an Angel, both by Elizabeth Chandler, Possessed by Kate Cann, and Dark Visions by L.J. Smith.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from publisher Simon & Schuster UK