BOOK REVIEW: The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart

Sometimes there is truth in the craziest most unbeliveable stories.

This was another one of my 12 books in 12 months challenge books. When it was recommended to me and went onto my chart, I had no idea it was a middle grade book. I honestly haven’t read a middle grades book since I taught middle school. Once my kids began reading on their own, it was them reading those books on their own, and me reading more young adult type books out loud to them.

Needless to say, I was a little surprised, but it was fine. I will say though, the last book I read that had an 11-year-old protagonist was Harry Potter, so this wasn’t the best comparison for little Rueben.

Basically Rueden finds a mysterious watch with very cool abilities and goes out on his own, after lying to his mother, for a weekend adventure trying to learn the secrets of the watch, solve the mystery and, in essence, save the city from The Smoke, a mysterious man who holds the city in a state of fear. Hmmm…I’m all for the rebellious, adventurous kid, but this book just was a little hard to get into, and it was about 100ish pages too long. 

When it comes to the characters, I thought that while Rueben was clever and at times brave, he was also a little selfish, naive and unreliable. I get it, he’s 11 and this book wasn’t written for me, but I wish that I could have rallied behind him a little more than I did. Instead, I found myself rooting for the other characters like Mrs. Genevieve, Penny and Jack. They held all the intrigue, and I enjoyed the book much more when they came into the fold.

Jack was by far the best. He was pretty complex, and while we don’t really get to dive deeply into the layers of his personality, there is enough there to see what fun he might be. He is just as clever and ingenious as Rueben; however, he should have been a little more aware and observant since it’s not like he was 11.

The book is really separated into 3 major chunks. You have the first third where Rueben finds the watch and the immediate conniving that ensues. Lying to his mom, roaming the city trying to figure out how it can help him and his mom. This is where we are introduced to the Directions. The Smoke’s hencemen that are out patrolling the city, observing everything that is happening. Definitely important to establish the setting, Reuben’s personality and motives, but excessively long.

Part 2 is really about his weekend adventure to the lighthouse where he meets Penny and her family. This is where he learns the truth about the watch. Quite an interesting story. I appreciate this part and would say that it is the one section that I felt was just right in length. There were more things happening to be engaged with, and it didn’t feel redundant or inconsequential. Besides all that, I love big, loud, and crazy families.

Part 3 clearly is the building to the climatic moment where an 11 year old kid outsmarts the smarmy, much wiser Smoke. Again, I felt that it was dragged out a little too much; however, I did love the mansion. This was probably the most creative aspect of the entire book and really helped to develop the character of the man who lived there. Much appreciation for this. But, the youthful plan has so many faults and holes even though he attempts to think it through. Again, just too much of everything.

In the end the book was ok, just not directed to me as a reader. I liked the  premise, and I liked the side characters. Now, I don’t see any issues on why parents shouldn’t let their kids read this book. I get that Rueben is reckless and lies to his mother and goes off randomly and doesn’t seem to get in trouble, but that doesn’t mean that a random kid reading this book is all of a sudden going to start behaving that way! Reuben loved his mother, and was doing what he thought he could to help her.

Reuben went from an introverted boy with no friends to learning how to open up and trust others he was able to save the city, his mother and make some friends along the way. What’s not to love about that conclusion?

Where does this land on my bookshelf?

It’s probably pretty clear that it’s not going on the top shelf, but I didn’t hate it. I would put it in the middle of the middle shelf. I appreciated the story and the world that was created throughout the book, but as I’ve mentioned about seven times, it was just too long. Reuben was a little all over the place, which may be more realistic of an 11 year old, but still, he wasn’t up to the level of the characters I want to read about. I do think that this would have been a good book to read out loud during family reading time when my kids were younger. I could seem them getting into the story and I probably could have really embellished the reading. There were some illustrations in it as well that were fun. Overall, this is just one of those books that I think didn’t translate well from middle grades to adulthood.

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