Marlene Austin’s Grave Secrets was actually really good. I was a little shocked to find that the author is LDS. Well not really shocked but surprised. I wasn’t quite sure how the religious aspect would pan out. Austin actually did a really tasteful job of writing a thrilling mystery with a taste of religious detail instilled.
The first thing that impressed me about Austin’s book was the dedication. Now I’m not one who usually reads them but in Grave Secrets, I read the entire thing. It was written so well that I could almost feel her emotion as she commemorated others. The really touching part to me was the fact that in thanking these people for their stories, she is actually immortalizing them. The people she thanks aren’t people living today, or even recently past. Austin thanks the people whose stories she read to help her write such an amazing novel. They were people she never could have met because Austin thanked history.
Throughout Grave Secrets Austin packs action in at every turn. In great detail she helps the reader envision the pain, agony, and struggle of the main character Bethany. Her struggles to find out who she is, who her family is, why no one loved her, and why her grandmother left the inheritance she did, all feel like your own struggle. Bethany struggles through the book to know who is telling the truth, who’s lying, and what memories are reality. The story is so vividly told it was like watching a movie.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
Source: Personal Experience