A review by unwrappingwords
Secrets of the Dead by Tom Harper

3.0

Intriguing for the most part, but there were points where the story seemed to drag. Harper combines the story of Abby in the modern day trying to unravel the secrets surrounding her boyfriend's death with the story of a Roman trying to unravel the secrets surrounding the death of a Bishop. On a whole, I liked it, but it did feel like there were quite a lot of characters that popped up and then just disappeared, and multiple characters that, to me, felt like they could have merged into one as they seemed to serve the same purpose. Although there was some action in the book it did feel quite slow, whereas the ending felt a little too rushed. I didn't really feel too much for the characters that did die; there wasn't really enough connection to them to feel anything.

The plot itself is enough, in parts, to keep the story moving forward, and the only thing that really lets the book down is the characters themselves. Still, I'm drawn in by the style and the use of historical and modern settings, so I will be checking out his other books.