Tami Hoag’s Secrets To The Grave is the sequel to Deeper Than The Dead. It’s a year later and the characters are doing their best to recover from the horrific events that took place in the first book.
You’d think they could catch a break, after all, that mayhem, but such is not the case. A young woman, a single mother, is found brutally murdered. The only witness, her four-year-old daughter, left for dead but miraculously still alive. Traumatized beyond belief, as expected. Vince Leone is “on the case” along with his wife, Anne, a specialist in childhood development. While Anne tries to help the little girl, Vince tries to dig up clues. Who could possibly harm a woman who, on the face of it, seemed just lovely?  Further, who could try to kill a little girl?
These books are written in present-day, but take place in the ’80s. As such, Vince has to investigate the case the old fashioned way. No DNA tests. No database of fingerprints to match against. Not even a cell phone or a computer. This is the 80’s and these things are barely a thought in anyone’s head. At least, in this book, we weren’t hit with this information over our heads. In the last book the characters were prescient beyond belief about technology that would someday be available. In this book, the characters were less aware and frankly, more believable.

That said, we have an intriguing case and a story that gets more and more twisted the further we go. And while I wouldn’t say these are the most likable characters I’ve ever read about, they were “ok”. The little girl was pretty obnoxious but I guess I can give her a pass given all she’d been through. Still, I would have written her a bit gentler, a bit less cringe-worthy.
And while it’s not required to read the books in order, it makes more sense to do so. Especially as the events from the first book are frequently mentioned in this book. Overall, Secrets To The Grave is a decent thriller.
Also by Tami Hoag

Cry Wolf
Deeper Than The Dead
The 9^th Girl