I Know Your Secret (A Secrets & Lies Novel)

by Daphne Benedis-Grab

Overview

"A compulsive middle grade thriller." — Book Riot

The email arrives Sunday night: Do exactly what I say, when I say it, or I will reveal your secret.

On Monday morning, seventh graders Owen, Gemma, Ally, and Todd, who have nothing in common and barely know each other, must work together and follow the instructions of an anonymous blackmailer. None of them want to go along with the blackmailer's strange instructions, but each of them have a secret they must protect at all costs.

Set during a single day of school, the students race against the clock to complete a unsettling list of tasks. They'll do whatever it takes to keep their secrets hidden . . . but when they discover what the blackmailer has in mind, they realize things may have just gone too far. Can they put a stop to the plan, or is it too late?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338746334
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	12/07/2021
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	48,629
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Daphne Benedis-Grab is the author of the middle-grade thrillers I Know Your Secret and I Know You’re Lying. She is the part-time school librarian at PS 32 in Brooklyn, where she gets to hang out with kids and books all day (she is a very lucky person!). She lives in New York City with her husband, two teens, and a cat who has been known to sit on her computer if he feels she has been typing too long. Visit her at daphnebg.com

Editorial Reviews

10/18/2021

It’s Explorer’s Day at Upstate New York’s Snow Valley Secondary, where most of the Gold Star Award–receiving middle school’s students are thrilled to experience electives that aren’t normally part of the curriculum. But the day’s promise of gleeful chaos takes a far more sinister turn for four students—goofball Owen, popular Gemma, tough-guy Todd (all of whom read as white), and quiet Ally (adopted from Kazakhstan)—when each receives a threatening anonymous message. If they don’t together perform a series of seemingly unrelated tasks around the school, they’re told, their darkest secrets will be exposed. PW contribuBenedis-Grab (The Chocolate Challenge) keeps the tension high from the start of this taut whodunit, alternating third-person perspectives among the four tweens and a group transcript. As they reluctantly follow the blackmailer’s orders, strong character development reveals their shared compassion and understanding. Though the climax’s sympathies feel slightly muddled, this enjoyable, pared-down thriller admirably tackles bullying, environments in which it is allowed to propagate, and the importance of speaking truth to power. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for I Know Your Secret:

“[A] compulsive middle grade thriller.” — Book Riot

"The twists and turns offer thrills... An entertaining story." — Kirkus Reviews

“This enjoyable middle grade thriller tackles bullying, environments in which it is allowed to propagate, and the importance of speaking truth to power.” — Publishers Weekly

“A middle-grade tour de force. An exploration of why we conceal the truth, I Know Your Secret forces four children to come to terms with the secrets they have hidden from everyone.” — The Nerd Daily

“If you wished you had a middle-grade counterpart to a Karen McManus or Pretty Little Liars novel, you should definitely pick up this twisty and compelling novel.” — The Young Folks

“Unique … A well done young adult mystery novel in the same vein as Lois Duncan and R.L. Stine – just creepy enough to entertain and short enough to keep the reader engaged.” — This Bliss Life

From the Publisher

2021-09-29
Friendship doesn’t come from secrets...unless blackmail is involved.

It doesn’t seem like Owen, Gemma, Todd, and Ally have anything in common until a mysterious puppet master emails each seventh grader claiming to know their secret. Each of their respective secrets will be revealed unless the four puzzled (and scared) students do exactly what the blackmailer commands. Over the course of the following school day, the foursome must work together to complete what initially appears to be a series of meaningless tasks that slowly become more and more sinister. Suspects abound as the four try to determine what connects them, the tasks they’re forced to complete, and how both relate to a potential fifth victim. The twists and turns offer thrills as the narrative shifts among each of the four victims as well as a transcript of their conversations as they try to piece together clues. Readers may feel cheated, though, when the blackmailer is finally revealed, as the clues and the denouement aren’t fully linked. Additionally, resolution leaves a lot to the imagination: Did the blackmailer work alone? What ultimately happens to the blackmailer? What were the ramifications of the day? It’s an entertaining story, but the finale is less than satisfying. Main characters default to White; Ally was adopted from Kazakhstan, and names signal diversity in the supporting cast.

Fun but inconsistent in execution. (Mystery. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews