I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Hidden Diary
by Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar
Series: Bone Chillers #2
Series Rating:
Published by Unveiling Nightmares Press on December 22, 2024
Setting: Webbing, Pennyslvania
Genres: Middle Grade Horror, Middle Grade Mystery
Pages: 175
Format: Kindle, Paperback
Source: the Author
Goodreads
Storygraph
Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Following her parents’ divorce, twelve-year-old Alyssa Morgan moves into an old house with her mother and little brother. She soon stumbles across the abandoned diary of a girl whose family disappeared decades earlier from the same residence.
Determined to find out what happened to the girl whose troubles and fears become her own through the power of the written word, Alyssa strives to unravel the mystery with her new friend Jeremy.
But will they put themselves in danger by digging up old secrets?
The Hidden Diary by Cassandra O’Sullivan Sacher is the perfect way to start October, as we help Alyssa solve the mystery of what happened to the owner of the diary and her family.
Will Alyssa and Jeremy solve the fifty-year-old mystery?
Alyssa Morgan
The Morgan family moved into an old farmhouse at the beginning of summer in the small town of Webbing, Pennsylvania. Alyssa, our point of view character, is the oldest sister with a mom and a little brother. They moved there after the family’s divorce, and Alyssa is soon drawn into a mystery after a neighbor boy tells her about the stories surrounding her house. I must say that I was intrigued from the moment I began reading this book. Alyssa is so lively, and I have to say, even I was getting suspicious while just reading the book. I liked Alyssa as a character, and I appreciated that she trusted her instincts in trying to solve the mystery.
The Mystery
Alyssa and Jeremy soon discovered that there wasn’t much to the story of how the family that had previously lived in Alyssa’s house vanished, beyond the rumors circulating. She soon finds a diary hidden in the bedroom that she is now sleeping in, and the more Alyssa reads about Elaine’s life, the more she wants to help her. I must say that I felt so sorry for Elaine. My own gut led me to the killer right away, but I needed to know more about why my gut chose that person. Wow, did Ms. Sacher weave together a brilliant mystery!
Five Stars
My rating for The Hidden Diary by Cassandra O’Sullivan Sacher is five stars. Ms. Sacher had me hooked on the plot summary, and I didn’t even care that this is classified as a Middle Grade Horror book. The reason is that I usually don’t read horror, but I was willing to take a chance on this one. Ms. Sacher did an excellent job on this one, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of trying to solve the horror mystery with Alyssa.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Hidden Diary by Cassandra O’Sullivan Sacher.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
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About Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar
Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar is a writer and associate English professor in Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in more than fifty creative publications including The Horror Zine, The Stygian Lepus, Wyldblood Magazine, and Tales from the Moonlit Path. A member of the Horror Writers Association, she holds a Doctorate of Education with a Literacy Specialization from the University of Delaware and an MFA in Creative Writing with a focus on horror fiction from Wilkes University. She is the author of the Regal Summit Book Award-winning dark suspense novel Darkness There but Something More (Wicked House Publishing), the short horror story collection Keeper of Corpses and Other Dark Tales (Velox Books), the middle-grade mystery The Hidden Diary (Bone Chillers), the horror novella Close the Door (Unveiling Nightmares), and the young adult mystery Lake of Secrets (Horrorsmith Publishing).
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2025 Alphabet Soup-Author Edition-RC
- 2025 Goodreads RC
- 2025 Middle Grade Reading Challenge
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