Title: Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets
Author: Chelsea Ichaso
Publication: April 5, 2022
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: YA Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 336
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Piper’s fall was no accident. Did someone want her dead? It’s up to her sister to discover the truth in this shocking new thriller with an unreliable narrator, from the acclaimed author of Little Creeping Things.
Piper Sullivan was in a strange hiking accident last month and has been in a coma ever since. Her older sister, Savannah, can’t pretend to be optimistic about it; things look bad. Piper will likely never wake up, and Savannah will never get any answers about what exactly happened.
But then Savannah finds a note in Piper’s locker, inviting Piper to a meeting of their school’s wilderness club…at the very place and on the very day that she fell. Which means there was a chance that Piper wasn’t alone. Someone might’ve seen something. Worse, someone might’ve done something. But who would want to hurt the perfect Piper Sullivan…and why?
To discover the truth, Savannah joins the club on their weekend-long camping trip on the same mountain where her sister fell. But she better be careful; everyone in the club is a suspect, and everyone seems to be keeping secrets about that tragic day.
And Savannah? She’s been keeping secrets, too…
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Back in 2020, I read a book called Little Creeping Things by Chelsea Ichaso and I loved it. Imagine my joy when I saw her next book come across my screen. I was so quick to snatch it up and I was absolutely not disappointed.
Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets follows the story of Savannah and she tries to find out who put her sister in a coma in the hospital from a “fall” off a cliff. Savannah is determined and everyone is a suspect. Seriously. Everyone. I questioned every single person in this story at least twice while reading it. And I read it in two days, in two sessions. Savannah’s personality is very much like my own. She gets an idea in her head and nobody, no matter how important to her, is going to talk her out of this idea that her sister’s accident wasn’t actually an accident. She puts herself in situations that are far from her norm just to get close to people to solve the crime and I feel this is something very on point with my personality. She’s a strong willed and slightly fearless individual. I would definitely not have wandered off into the woods alone chasing someone who may or may not be a murdered. Seems like a bad idea.
I’m a suspicious person by nature, but every person in this story acted suspect at one time or another. I was not a great fan of Grant and he seemed a bit condescending at times. Noah and Jacey were kind of childish and rude, although I grew to like Jacey a bit more. Surprisingly I really loved Alex, even on first meeting. I was a little suspicious at first, but quickly shut that one down. He had a great personality and I love how you automatically think one thing of him because of his appearance, but really he’s this really nice kid it seems.
Ichaso did a great job of picking a scary setting. There is nothing more terrifying than being hours into the woods with only those around you for help, especially when you trust none of them. I read another book recently with a similar setting and I feel like it intensifies the suspense because something or someone could jump out at every moment and there are a million places to hide. It really moved the suspense up a peg in this book. I also loved how Ichaso gave little tidbits of information, but nothing seemed to fit together until suddenly one piece clicked into place and the rest just avalanched into their place after. I believe I said “Whaaaaaaaat?” out loud. And the ending made me happy!
I’m a big fan of Ichaso and she is quickly becoming my favorite YA/Mystery writer. Her novels are spot on and full of suspense that keeps you flipping pages faster than you can finish the last sentence on each page. Another jam-packed, suspense filled thriller for all ages.
