BOOK TITLE : THE SECRET
AUTHOR : R.L. STINE

This book is about

The story of this book is based on a feud which is centuries old and is between two families, the Fiers and the Goodes. It began when Agnes Fier was wrongly accused of witchcraft, and was sentenced to be burnt by a judge that belonged to the Goodes family; the same family in which Agnes was to be married.
This story consists of three timelines, the present, two centuries ago, and one century ago. The present is brief, where a girl named Nora is nervously penning down all she knows of the history, and immediately attempts to hide her journal away as soon as she hears someone coming.
Two centuries ago, the plot revolves around the family of Ezra Fier, consisting of his wife, and their children Jonathan, Rachel, Abigail. Ezra is aware of this feud, and possesses a locket which has a connection to it. One by one, as the story progresses, each of the family members begin to lose their lives because of the curse of this feud, except Jonathan and Rachel. Ezra is the last to die, and when Jonathan buries his ashes, he buries the locket along with them, ending the curse of the feud for a century.
A century later, Elizabeth Fier accidentally digs the locket out, which revives the curse. A street urchin pretending to ask for help named Frank Goode forces himself into the family by his charm, due to which Elizabeth and her sister Kate both fall in love with him. This makes them more vulnerable, and Frank uses this weakness to kill Kate, the parents, and also attempts to kill Elizabeth, when Simon Fier, their brother, manages to save her with the help of a mysterious old lady. Simon then escapes with Elizabeth. As informed by the old lady that his family name “Fier” is cursed, he changes his last name to “Fear” thinking this might end it all, when in fact, it doesn’t.

My favorite character in this book was

My favourite character was Simon because even though his development as a main character was not as much as Jonathan, he was still a better overall character than him since he is portrayed braver and smarter. Out of all characters in the book, Simon was the least naïve and actually saved his sister out of the face of danger. He was better because he fought to keep himself safe; Jonathan’s survival just felt like it was his luck because he got fooled a few times. As for all other characters, not much development or detail was provided since the book was short and fast-paced.

I liked / didn't like this book because

I liked this book since I really like to read books in which the story progresses at a rapid pace. The plot was intense, and was also an emotional rollercoaster. The book really succeeded in giving chills to the reader and was able to give off that captivating vibe.

You should / should not read this book because

You should definitely read this book if you like thrillers or are interested in the horror genre. The writer did a great job penning this book down, and it is guaranteed to keep all the readers at the edge of their seat, and their eyes glued to the pages.