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Book review: All My Secrets

Sophie McKenzie's All My Secrets builds an interesting premise, then ropes in every young adult fiction cliché there is.

Despite the overwhelming amount of negative attention since the release of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, I'm just going to say it - I like young adult (YA) fiction. And before you instantly start groaning because of its now-tainted association with love triangles between werewolves and vampires, pick up a good YA novel (and I'm going to have to emphasise on the word 'good' here), and you'll often find that it is better-crafted and more addictive than a lot of adult novels. Case in point, J. K. Rowling's magical Harry Potter series that gave the YA fiction its initial surge in popularity.
However, sadly, none of that is reflected in British author Sophie McKenzie's latest standalone novel All My Secrets. The book introduces us to protagonist Evie Brown, whose world is turned upside down when she receives a massive inheritance from a woman she never knew - her birth mother, Irina Galloway.
Stunned by the secret her parents have been keeping from her, and angered by their refusal to talk about Irina, Evie decides that she no longer loves her parents and 'makes a conscious decision to stop calling them mum and dad - from now on, they'll be Janet and Andrew'.
The plot escalates quickly, with Evie running away to meet 'Uncle Gavin', Irina's brother, a man whom she traces online and has an instant liking towards. Soon after this meeting, Evie has a near-death experience when a car tries to run her down - all of which takes place in the first 25 pages of the novel.
To help Evie deal with her new-found inheritance, her parents team up with Uncle Gavin to suggest she enroll in a boot camp-like programme in the ghostly island of Lightsea. There, Evie is introduced to five other 'troubled' teens, all of whom are forced to live without any contact from the outside world, which makes things dangerous - especially when a storm makes it impossible for them to leave.
To be honest, the book does create an intriguing premise - Lightsea island, with its jagged rocky base and treacherous cliffs, is something straight out of an Enid Blyton novel. And when mysterious events start taking place around the island - a teen disappearing, a knife being found under a pillow, and a mysterious presence that seems to follow Evie around, it does tend to keep you hooked.
Unfortunately, author Sophie McKenzie keeps the mystery and suspense in the background, choosing to play up the romance angle instead. Along the way, she seems to hit every YA cliché there is - teenagers isolated from their homes, evil adult characters, the quintessential 'I hate my life' attitude, a mystery that only the teenagers can solve, a protagonist who is good-looking but does not know it, and the inescapable love triangle that is bewildering, as it is always obvious who the hero or heroine will choose. Moreover, the protagonist in this particular novel is highly unlikeable; Evie comes across as a self-centred, one-dimensional character, who, upon finding out that Janet is not her birth mother, instantly decides she has no love for her.
Neither does she think about her twin siblings or her so-called best friends throughout the rest of the novel. Instead, she idolises Irina, and obsesses about uncovering her death, which, she is convinced, was murder. And although dealing with the possibility that there may be a murderer trapped on the island, singling Evie out, her love life takes prime importance.
Sophie McKenzie is a best-selling children's author, mainly known for her Girl, Missing series, a popular one amongst teenagers. And although All My Secrets is riveting enough to keep you interested, it is definitely not her best work. This may be because it felt like the book was aimed towards a younger audience - those under the age of 12 would have much better appreciated it.
Writing YA novels is always a tricky thing, because it involves finding a balance between being easy to comprehend, without talking down to the readers. Unfortunately this also means most YA novels tend to be hit or miss. And in this case, it's definitely leaning towards a miss.
janice@khaleejtimes.com