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Summer of Secrets
SUMMER VACATION ISN'T GOING VERY WELL...
Lost on a dark country road, Gayle and her best friend Stephanie are hit by a truck that was following them without any lights. But their damaged car was only the beginning...
They didn't expect to find an arm buried near the road. And when they finally reached the farmhouse of Gayle's Aunt Pat, no one is there to greet them. There's only a note that reads "Be back soon."
What happened to Aunt Pat? Why are mysterious "accidents" suddenly occurring? What about the rumors of other disappearances in this small town?
Gayle knows she must find the answers soon, but whom can she trust? Travis, the hired hand? Mark, who works at the hospital? Or Doug, the helpful neighbor? Friends...or suspects?
Gayle is running out of time.
Danger - and her fate - are only a heartbeat away!
Lost on a dark country road, Gayle and her best friend Stephanie are hit by a truck that was following them without any lights. But their damaged car was only the beginning...
They didn't expect to find an arm buried near the road. And when they finally reached the farmhouse of Gayle's Aunt Pat, no one is there to greet them. There's only a note that reads "Be back soon."
What happened to Aunt Pat? Why are mysterious "accidents" suddenly occurring? What about the rumors of other disappearances in this small town?
Gayle knows she must find the answers soon, but whom can she trust? Travis, the hired hand? Mark, who works at the hospital? Or Doug, the helpful neighbor? Friends...or suspects?
Gayle is running out of time.
Danger - and her fate - are only a heartbeat away!
211 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1996
1 person is currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Richie Tankersley Cusick
50 books798 followersRichie Tankersley Cusick is the bestselling young adult author of over 25 titles, including two adult horror titles, Scarecrow and Blood Roots. Her popularity grew at the height of the horror/YA boom in the late '80s/early '90s, particularly with books like Lifeguard , Trick or Treat and Teacher's Pet, just to name a few, allowing her to keep company on the bestseller paperback lists with the likes of R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. Her fan base expanded about the time she changed publishers to Archway/Pocket Books with titles like Vampire and Someone at the Door.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 24, 2021
Let’s play RTC’s favorite game: Which Sketchy Hot Guy Is The Murderer? - Small Town Summer Edition ☀️
December 22, 2007
For me Richie Tankersley Cusick was the queen of teen romance in my middle school days and i remember reading her books with such anticipation and secret smiles. Ahh, just the memory of it puts that smile back on my face. It is wonderful that her writing can still intrigue me after all these years, and bring me back to that place of testing limits with boy crushes and all that "not a girl, not yet a woman" teeney angst.
The downside of re-reading a book i loved in my adolesence in my adult years is that now the plot direction is not so unflawed, the coincidences and character motivations can not be swallowed so easily; hence the four stars as opposed to a five star novel i remember. Either way i still love this author and her many mystery/romance novels that helped fuel my love for reading in those days and introduced me to one of my favorite litrary genres.
I love Travis and Gayle, when they are on the page together it just glows even with all the uncertainty and deception surrounding them. I wish the storyline of the Pine Ridge Stalker had a bit more depth to it and the ending was rushed. Things that were all oblivious to me the first times i read it.
The downside of re-reading a book i loved in my adolesence in my adult years is that now the plot direction is not so unflawed, the coincidences and character motivations can not be swallowed so easily; hence the four stars as opposed to a five star novel i remember. Either way i still love this author and her many mystery/romance novels that helped fuel my love for reading in those days and introduced me to one of my favorite litrary genres.
I love Travis and Gayle, when they are on the page together it just glows even with all the uncertainty and deception surrounding them. I wish the storyline of the Pine Ridge Stalker had a bit more depth to it and the ending was rushed. Things that were all oblivious to me the first times i read it.
August 25, 2021
The evil doctor did it!! He's killing all the redheaded girls in town because....he lost a redheaded girl of his own due to malpractice? Ok that makes perfect sense!
If you find A BURNT ARM in a trash bag on the side of the road, PLEASE drive to your nearest police station and tell them! Oh wait, this isn't 1996 like in the book...you can CALL the police now on your cellphone.
Also beware the sausage quiche. You could become ill and FALL on a knife (does this actually happen in real life??)
Alternate book title: Summer of Hunky Suspicious Boys.
If you find A BURNT ARM in a trash bag on the side of the road, PLEASE drive to your nearest police station and tell them! Oh wait, this isn't 1996 like in the book...you can CALL the police now on your cellphone.
Also beware the sausage quiche. You could become ill and FALL on a knife (does this actually happen in real life??)
Alternate book title: Summer of Hunky Suspicious Boys.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2021
Is your ideal protagonist an idiot who will spend the entire book swooning over every one of the many guys who assaults her and randomly lying to further the plot, while the men solve the mystery for her? Then you may think one star is a harsh review.
July 15, 2025
I actually really liked this one 😂
I think this is a reread but I don't remember for sure. Would've been over 20 years ago when I first read it.
I think this is a reread but I don't remember for sure. Would've been over 20 years ago when I first read it.
August 29, 2022
I love Head Empty YA Horror Girlies... She's like a wife to me.
August 17, 2024
3.5
1990s teen horror fun.
The cover does the actual story a disservice, but man there really is some ridiculous "romance"/"instalove" thrown in for absolutely no reason. The author never got the memo that teens can meet and not instantly think about doing it especially when people are getting stabbed and dismembered out there. Again, 1990s teen horror.
1990s teen horror fun.
The cover does the actual story a disservice, but man there really is some ridiculous "romance"/"instalove" thrown in for absolutely no reason. The author never got the memo that teens can meet and not instantly think about doing it especially when people are getting stabbed and dismembered out there. Again, 1990s teen horror.
July 16, 2021
This was so much fun!!!
Finally, a Richie Tankersley Cusick novel with a love interest I actually liked. Although she did get her novelery quota of near-rape in there with Mark’s roll in the hay.
I enjoyed this - I liked the boys being suspects and the summery setting and the getting lost! It was fun.
Finally, a Richie Tankersley Cusick novel with a love interest I actually liked. Although she did get her novelery quota of near-rape in there with Mark’s roll in the hay.
I enjoyed this - I liked the boys being suspects and the summery setting and the getting lost! It was fun.
March 17, 2022
RTC’s favorite things:
1)reverse harem
2)clues appearing and then….they DISAPPEAR. Basically she likes gaslighting her heroines.
3)having a random ass person mentioned once in passing turn out to be the killer
1)reverse harem
2)clues appearing and then….they DISAPPEAR. Basically she likes gaslighting her heroines.
3)having a random ass person mentioned once in passing turn out to be the killer
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2022
So far I am seeing a pattern that the later into RTC's work I go...the less I am thrilled.
Descriptive text is still detailed but a little too detailed where I am just wishing for something to happen with actual dialogue.
Some actually terrifying scenes though once you get to the meat of the story.
Gayle is going to visit her Aunt Pat with her best friend Stephanie in tow to just get away from their families and Gayle's parents subtly hint they want Gayle to check on her aunt, who is getting older and about to sell most of her farm land for money.
The girls get hit by a truck and the impact messes up their trunk. It wasn't really Stephanie's fault driving Gayle's car...the young man came up behind them without his headlights on.
The girls try and search for a rope to quick fix the trunk and find a bag dumped under some other trash. Wanting to use the tie, Gayle finds the remains of an arm...a part of a body someone was trying to burn.
Horrified, the girls head off to the farm but Aunt Pat isn't there and the house isn't locked up. They make their selves at home with food and showers but when Gayle comes down stairs, she finds Stephanie bleeding on the floor and the young man who hit their car standing over her with a knife.
His name is Travis McGraw and he is the hired hand helping Aunt Pat. They rush Stephanie to the hospital in town and get some strange looks from the staff, ugly ones in particular from an orderly no older than Travis named Mark Gentry.
Something is going on in this town and now Gayle is caught in the middle of it while her friend is in the hospital. Stephanie has food poisoning...how? Where is Aunt Pat? Who is the stalker of this local town? What happened to the arm...where did it disappear and who got rid of it?
Why are only redheaded young women being targeted and when...will the next one go missing?
The doctor at the hospital and the sheriff are all a little shifty and add to the suspect pool of the usual handsome suspects that are potential romantic interests and psycho killers. Besides Travis and Mark there is also Doug, the neighbor's boy, and of course local girls have gone missing so it's easy to pin it on the later two. Travis is an outsider so blame is easy to pin on him.
Doug also has this grandmother who is supposed to be psychic and she is the only character that brings a bit of humor to the book which is mostly serious with suspense and sexual tension between Gayle and the three young men about her. Stephanie is really a wasted character...no more than a plot point.
The reveal of who is behind the young women going missing isn't who you expect and the reasoning is slightly touched upon but not in great detail. We have the potential of a really good climax but it gets glossed over with exposition and a vague ending.
I am hoping the other books by RTC I have yet to read are a little more interesting than Summer of Secrets. It has a few good points so if you are curious I'd recommend it for a quick read if you have an hour or two to kill.
Descriptive text is still detailed but a little too detailed where I am just wishing for something to happen with actual dialogue.
Some actually terrifying scenes though once you get to the meat of the story.
Gayle is going to visit her Aunt Pat with her best friend Stephanie in tow to just get away from their families and Gayle's parents subtly hint they want Gayle to check on her aunt, who is getting older and about to sell most of her farm land for money.
The girls get hit by a truck and the impact messes up their trunk. It wasn't really Stephanie's fault driving Gayle's car...the young man came up behind them without his headlights on.
The girls try and search for a rope to quick fix the trunk and find a bag dumped under some other trash. Wanting to use the tie, Gayle finds the remains of an arm...a part of a body someone was trying to burn.
Horrified, the girls head off to the farm but Aunt Pat isn't there and the house isn't locked up. They make their selves at home with food and showers but when Gayle comes down stairs, she finds Stephanie bleeding on the floor and the young man who hit their car standing over her with a knife.
His name is Travis McGraw and he is the hired hand helping Aunt Pat. They rush Stephanie to the hospital in town and get some strange looks from the staff, ugly ones in particular from an orderly no older than Travis named Mark Gentry.
Something is going on in this town and now Gayle is caught in the middle of it while her friend is in the hospital. Stephanie has food poisoning...how? Where is Aunt Pat? Who is the stalker of this local town? What happened to the arm...where did it disappear and who got rid of it?
Why are only redheaded young women being targeted and when...will the next one go missing?
The doctor at the hospital and the sheriff are all a little shifty and add to the suspect pool of the usual handsome suspects that are potential romantic interests and psycho killers. Besides Travis and Mark there is also Doug, the neighbor's boy, and of course local girls have gone missing so it's easy to pin it on the later two. Travis is an outsider so blame is easy to pin on him.
Doug also has this grandmother who is supposed to be psychic and she is the only character that brings a bit of humor to the book which is mostly serious with suspense and sexual tension between Gayle and the three young men about her. Stephanie is really a wasted character...no more than a plot point.
The reveal of who is behind the young women going missing isn't who you expect and the reasoning is slightly touched upon but not in great detail. We have the potential of a really good climax but it gets glossed over with exposition and a vague ending.
I am hoping the other books by RTC I have yet to read are a little more interesting than Summer of Secrets. It has a few good points so if you are curious I'd recommend it for a quick read if you have an hour or two to kill.
July 11, 2025
4.5 stars. Gayle and her friend Stephanie go visit Gayle’s aunt during summer vacation. The Pine Ridge Stalker is afoot and slashing redheads. Gayle meets several new friends/suspects while she’s in town and soon finds herself being stalked.
This was an awesome summer read. Part of it takes place at a country farm house and the other part takes place at a hospital. I found the characters really likable (unlike some other Cusick books I’ve read) and enjoyed the classic stalker plot.
This was an awesome summer read. Part of it takes place at a country farm house and the other part takes place at a hospital. I found the characters really likable (unlike some other Cusick books I’ve read) and enjoyed the classic stalker plot.
January 18, 2023
3.5
A classic 90's thriller.
Gayle and her friend Stephanie go to visit Gayle's aunt. When they get there her aunt is missing, Stephanie has an accident and there is a killer on the loose. While there Gayle meets three young men who all fall under suspicion of being the killer. Who is the killer and will Gayle make it out alive?
A classic 90's thriller.
Gayle and her friend Stephanie go to visit Gayle's aunt. When they get there her aunt is missing, Stephanie has an accident and there is a killer on the loose. While there Gayle meets three young men who all fall under suspicion of being the killer. Who is the killer and will Gayle make it out alive?
August 25, 2021
I thought the story was okay, but Gayle was a little too hysterical and too.... willing to put her foot in it. She kept getting herself in dangerous situations. The villain was unexpected. The story wasn't too glurgy.
September 9, 2021
It was okay.
June 14, 2023
Fun, but silly.
May 30, 2011
This book has a bit of everything: intrigue, murder and humor. The character are real. You are sucked right from the begining.
November 15, 2016
Definitely NOT my favourite of RTC's. If I'd ever read it before I can see why I wouldn't remember.... So much for a nostalgic re-read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews