Review: Don't Tell a Soul by Kirsten Miller

Author: Kirsten Miller
Publisher: Delacourte Press
Publication Date: January 2021

 All Bram wanted was to disappear—from her old life, her family's past, and from the scandal that continues to haunt her. The only place left to go is Louth, the tiny town on the Hudson River where her uncle, James, has been renovating an old mansion.

But James is haunted by his own ghosts. Months earlier, his beloved wife died in a fire that people say was set by her daughter. The tragedy left James a shell of the man Bram knew—and destroyed half the house he'd so lovingly restored.

The manor is creepy, and so are the locals. The people of Louth don't want outsiders like Bram in their town, and with each passing day she's discovering that the rumors they spread are just as disturbing as the secrets they hide. Most frightening of all are the legends they tell about the Dead Girls. Girls whose lives were cut short in the very house Bram now calls home.

The terrifying reality is that the Dead Girls may have never left the manor. And if Bram looks too hard into the town's haunted past, she might not either. 

In Don't Tell a Soul, Bram has come to live with her uncle to escape something that happened back home.  Hoping to make a fresh start, she tries to settle in to her new town. Strange things are happening in the big creepy house. Soon she gets roped into finding out more information about the "Dead Girls.  I'll start by saying that part of my disappointment with this book was my thinking it was a paranormal YA.  That is what I was expecting, but that isn't what I got.

Don't get me wrong, I did ultimately like this book.  The mystery was good and there were a couple of surprises.  I liked that Bram didn't know who she could and couldn't trust.  Bram herself was a strong character in spite of what she had been through the past few years.  Her mother was a real winner.  I actually felt badly for Bram.  The beginning was a bit slow, but by the 25% mark it picked up and I was hooked.   I think YA mystery readers will enjoy this.  Just don't go into it expecting ghosts like I did.