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Secret Diaries #2
Betrayal
After discovering, to her horror, that her boyfriend and his friends are responsible for a girl's death, Joanna agrees to cover up the truth, until one of the group turns to blackmail. Original.
300 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 2, 2025
Since it is part of a trilogy expect spoilers for Temptation.
Joanna Rigsby wanted to be a part of Penn Parrish's life and his circle of friends but arrived at a time when they were in the midst of having one of their own missing.
Everyone thought Laurie Jenkins ran off because her life wasn't perfect in this small North Carolina town. They were wrong because Joanna figured it all out and had to beg Penn for the truth.
Laurie was dead but it was an accident...Stephen didn't mean to push her over the cliff of Lookout Point but he was angry. Casey changed his grade on a test freshman year, and he also wiped Penn's driving record clean with his skills as a computer genius and being Casey, he had to brag to someone.
Laurie was going to tell what Casey did and they argued so one push from Stephen caused Laurie to fall, and the impact broke her neck. Penn and Tessa and Stephen couldn't hide the body in the low running river, so they moved the body.
Circumstances needed them to move the body again, so Stephen and Tessa set his car on fire to get rid of the evidence and wore gloves. Penn used an old typewriter to write a note from Laurie telling her mother she was in Washington D.C. but Bobby, her stepbrother, couldn't just leave it as the end.
While he went to find Laurie, her body was discovered in the woods. At first, eyes dart to Penn and his friends and then suspicions turn to Bobby with his violent temper. Yet the police won't leave Penn or Stephen alone, yet Joanna and Tessa aren't repeatedly being asked to come to the police station for hours on end.
During all of this, Joanna writes about every detail in her secret coded diary.
During all of this, only Casey seems to be keeping his cool as if everything were a big joke. He has Tessa doing his laundry, Stephen picking him up pizza and Penn taking him shopping for a whole brand-new wardrobe of shirts. Casey now has Koo Ambler of the gothic chic on his arm and Joanna is having to placate his ego.
That all changes when Casey isn't accepted into MIT like he wanted for college, and he starts drinking. Already with no inhibitors, Casey could easily go and tell the police what his friends did.
With a push of a computer button, he could wipe out Penn's college fund or dial a number on the phone and tell Bobby that Stephen killed his sister. Running out of time and money to keep Casey quiet, Penn and his friends are thinking of ways to commit murder.
This time, Joanna may not be an outsider or a helpless bystander...
You know what's in store for Casey you just don't know how or when or...whom will be responsible.
There probably isn't any reason to drag it for so long but we begin to get the facts that perhaps none of the characters are the way we have come to know them...even Joanna as our main character and narrator. She and Penn are in love with each other just as much as Stephen and Tessa but in the short time she knows Casey, Joanna can't even stand him because he is threatening Penn.
Betrayal is more of a case study despite being a teen drama/thriller compared to the first book and the way it leads up to the climax and setting up Escape as the final book is done well. Harrell is doing a great job at keeping me interested to how this is all going to end...so far.
Joanna Rigsby wanted to be a part of Penn Parrish's life and his circle of friends but arrived at a time when they were in the midst of having one of their own missing.
Everyone thought Laurie Jenkins ran off because her life wasn't perfect in this small North Carolina town. They were wrong because Joanna figured it all out and had to beg Penn for the truth.
Laurie was dead but it was an accident...Stephen didn't mean to push her over the cliff of Lookout Point but he was angry. Casey changed his grade on a test freshman year, and he also wiped Penn's driving record clean with his skills as a computer genius and being Casey, he had to brag to someone.
Laurie was going to tell what Casey did and they argued so one push from Stephen caused Laurie to fall, and the impact broke her neck. Penn and Tessa and Stephen couldn't hide the body in the low running river, so they moved the body.
Circumstances needed them to move the body again, so Stephen and Tessa set his car on fire to get rid of the evidence and wore gloves. Penn used an old typewriter to write a note from Laurie telling her mother she was in Washington D.C. but Bobby, her stepbrother, couldn't just leave it as the end.
While he went to find Laurie, her body was discovered in the woods. At first, eyes dart to Penn and his friends and then suspicions turn to Bobby with his violent temper. Yet the police won't leave Penn or Stephen alone, yet Joanna and Tessa aren't repeatedly being asked to come to the police station for hours on end.
During all of this, Joanna writes about every detail in her secret coded diary.
During all of this, only Casey seems to be keeping his cool as if everything were a big joke. He has Tessa doing his laundry, Stephen picking him up pizza and Penn taking him shopping for a whole brand-new wardrobe of shirts. Casey now has Koo Ambler of the gothic chic on his arm and Joanna is having to placate his ego.
That all changes when Casey isn't accepted into MIT like he wanted for college, and he starts drinking. Already with no inhibitors, Casey could easily go and tell the police what his friends did.
With a push of a computer button, he could wipe out Penn's college fund or dial a number on the phone and tell Bobby that Stephen killed his sister. Running out of time and money to keep Casey quiet, Penn and his friends are thinking of ways to commit murder.
This time, Joanna may not be an outsider or a helpless bystander...
You know what's in store for Casey you just don't know how or when or...whom will be responsible.
There probably isn't any reason to drag it for so long but we begin to get the facts that perhaps none of the characters are the way we have come to know them...even Joanna as our main character and narrator. She and Penn are in love with each other just as much as Stephen and Tessa but in the short time she knows Casey, Joanna can't even stand him because he is threatening Penn.
Betrayal is more of a case study despite being a teen drama/thriller compared to the first book and the way it leads up to the climax and setting up Escape as the final book is done well. Harrell is doing a great job at keeping me interested to how this is all going to end...so far.
February 6, 2021
I love the Secret Diaries so far. I'm still in suspense as to what is going to happen. I can't wait to read the last book!
February 7, 2022
Rounded up from 3.5
April 17, 2012
You can read my review here: http://wp.me/p2b9fU-dL
May 16, 2011
I loved this series when I was a kid and it turns out I still love it. There isn't much depth but it's fun and I always loved the characters. Maybe because they were so different.
September 12, 2016
Kaut kad skolas laikā izlasīju visu triloģiju ar lielu aizrautību. Ļoti patika.
April 15, 2014
I loved this trilogy as a teenager. Hoping I can find it on Amazon for nostalgias' sake. :)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews