I really didn’t know what to expect with this one! Completely different from anything I’ve read before and it felt really original - I loved the storyline and felt really connected with the characters. Overall a great book but the ending left me a little confused or like I’d missed something key within the story

The Secret Within by Sean Platt and David W. Wright is a thrilling paranormal urban fantasy that will appeal to readers of all ages. In this stand-alone tale, private investigator Delaney West is on the hunt for her friend Anika's missing boyfriend Jay. Delaney soon discovers a web of mystery and danger that leads her to the hidden realm of her past, where dark forces are at play.

The story is engrossing and unpredictable, with a strong female protagonist and a host of compelling supporting characters. Platt and Wright's weaving of the supernatural and mundane worlds together creates a vivid and believable backdrop for the narrative, establishing the moral ambiguity of the characters and adding a touch of realism and depth to the overall story.

The Secret Within is a fast-paced, entertaining ride that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Platt and Wright's skillful writing and dynamic characters make this a fun read for fans of the paranormal and urban fantasy genres.

Thank you netgalley for providing me the ARC of The Secret Within! This story follows a private investigator with a psychic ability who is approached by a client that wants her to find a missing boy. The story started out interesting but the tone did not stay consistent and my interest waned halfway through. I think it would have been a more successful read if the author stayed focused on the detective story.

This was a very enjoyable book by Sean Platt and David W Wright. I really enjoyed the story/plot, and the pacing to go with it was great. And loved the characters. #TheSecretWithin #NetGalley

Thankyou for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

They say don’t judge a book by its cover but honestly, I’m too fickle for that. This cover was awesome and set a high bar for me. I am unsure however of how the elements on the cover tie into the book now after reading it through.

I found this book difficult to enjoy. It took a really long time to get into this story. Then in the last 30 pages werewolves and alternate realms were introduced into a rushed ending that left me whiplashed.

There were also some things that felt icky and racist in this story.
“She passes a group of young black men standing around a Supra, rap thumping through the car’s metal doors and into her bones.
They look at her suspiciously as she passes. She glanced away, not wanting to provoke them.
She feels a flash of guilt for assuming they mean her harm. Anika’s never considered herself remotely close to racist.”
It would’ve been completely normal for her be nervous of any group of young men eyeing her suspiciously. Writing them as black serves no plot purpose and is unnecessary. She also later again reflects on where the “old black man and the werewolf are”. Again it’s unnecessary as there is only one old man she could be talking about.

Then there’s the demon/monster that has killed numerous scary guys, sometimes in groups, who gets freaked out that the cops might be called?
“No way that b**** won’t rat us out! The cops will be here any minute!”
I haven’t met any alternate dimension face eating monsters in my life but I’d hazard they don’t really care about the police.

Talking about murder, there’s a lot of them that go unnoticed. This seems like an oversight considering how multiple cops were introduced as characters in the book.

Unfortunately the book itself was not enjoyable for me. I’m not usually overly critical about books, I normally find something to like in them. But this book felt like a mess to me. There were many questions left unanswered, and too many details and characters introduced that served no purpose.

This novel starts out fairly well, as a story about a private investigator with a psychic ability that can sometimes help her find what she's looking for, which is usually missing children, a change from her childhood spent as a faith healer in her father's church. Like many fictional private investigators, Delaney is a bit down on her luck and behind on her bills, so when a potential client calls and wants Delaney to find her missing son Jay - who turns out to be 23 - she takes the case. This quickly gets Delaney into Jay's world, which turns out to be heavily involved with illegal drugs. At the same time that the reader is getting Delaney's story from her, there is also Anika's story, which seems, at first, to be unrelated, but the connection becomes clear fairly early on, as Anika is the missing Jay's girlfriend. The story unfolds as Delaney continues to search for Jay, and as Anika tries to avoid Jay's associates in the drug world, who, when they can't find Jay, come after her for the missing drugs and money.

And then, about three-fourths of the way through the novel, the story takes a sudden sharp turn. It felt like something was missing; there wasn't enough support for the sudden appearance of additional characters, and the entire tone and tenor of the plot changed, becoming significantly darker and much more violent. Rather suddenly, a book that had been a fairly decent detective story, perhaps peppered with a bit too much profanity, became something else entirely - something that wasn't as supported by the beginning of the book as it should have been; it felt like chapters were missing. Likewise, the ending was somewhat abrupt; there was this huge plot complication that just suddenly... ended.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The book had already been released, and I was too late to read it. So, I will make sure to receive a copy and still write my review on it on my website. My standard rating is 3, and I will edit it as soon as I read it.

this book has an interesting plot -- think Stranger Things and Venom, but the execution of it seemed a little lackluster. many of the chapters at the beginning were written to provide a background information about the characters and didn't have much going on. my initial interest and excitement started to decrease and it felt draggy from this point onwards.

i thought the "action scenes" weren't written up to expectations, especially since the demon is somewhat a "side main character" of this book.

it might have been more enjoyable if it was stopped at a psychic girl with a gift and her investigation on the missing person. the adding of all those mystical elements complicated things and confused the reader. but i would definitely, 100%, without a chance love to watch if this was a tv series instead.

The Secret Within was an interesting read. It moves a bit slow for me it takes about 70% of the book before you really start to get a sense of what’s going on and even then it’s a bit confusing. I would have liked a more in-depth build up and exploration of them powers and or the possession aspect. But otherwise it has potential to be a decent book.

Interesting read - but the plot had more potential.
I was into the book from the beginning, it had a promising plot. Now that I have finished it, I think there could be a little bit more added to the storyline.
It felt a little rushed and at times I had to check, that I have not missed a view pages, because sometimes things happend so fast. The book is written from two POWs that switch every chapter. And what the authors did really well: You get just enough information, that you want to know more and keep reading. There also are some nice plot twists, that you don‘t see coming.

All in all I would give „The Secret within“ 3.5 stars. If you like psycic/supernatural storylines, and are searching for your next quick read, give this book a try.

Thank you netgalley.com for providing me with this book as an ARC. This review is 100% my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well thought out and written. The characters were well developed and the story flowed well and kept me interested. I could definitely see this turning into a series with Delaney as the main character solving supernatural crime and I think that would be really fun to read. I was thrown a bit by the last few chapters of the book, it seemed a bit rushed and I agree with many other reviewers that one of the plot twists was very convenient. I disagree that it came out of nowhere, there was definitely hints of it throughout the book. Despite the last few chapters feeling a tad chaotic I thought it was still effective. The ending definitely set this up for a sequel and I look forward to reading it in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley.com and Sterling & Stone for access to this ARC!

I enjoyed this psycho thriller. The storyline is good vs. evil The novel keeps the reader riveted until the last page.

The Secret Within – Sean Platt and David W. Wright



I was given a copy of this story through Net Galley in order to provide an honest review.


Sean Platt is an American author who is also the co-founder of Collective Inkwell and Realm & Sands Imprints and writes for children under a different name.

David W Wright is also an American author, and has co-authored many stories and is also an avid cartoonist.



Delaney is a young private investigator, taking cases to help pay her bills and pay the home looking after her ailing father suffering from Alzheimer's.

She is hired by the wealthy parents of a drug addicted son who has a long rap sheet and a thing for beating on his girlfriend. This kid – Jay – has come up missing after reportedly stealing thousands of dollars' worth of drugs from his dealer. Dellaney fully expects this to be a cake walk - the kid either took off, did the drugs and has now wound-up dead or took the drugs got jacked by a rival gang and is now dead - either way not really a good outcome for the kid.

The only person who seems to have any idea of what truly happened and where Jay might be is his girlfriend, Anika. But she isn't talking and there are definitely some dark secrets she is struggling to keep hidden – and the addiction to the pills isn’t one of them.

But the more Delaney delves into Anika and what she is hiding – the more Delaney’s past and memories that have been hidden from her struggle to come to the surface. That’s when Delaney realises their fates are more intwined than she had imagined.



“The Secret Within” was a very interesting read and didn’t end at all how I expected it too. It honestly started out as a thriller story but towards the very end of the book all these supernatural elements started springing up out of nowhere. Nevertheless, it was a good read that had a really engaging storyline while the ending confused me for a little bit there it was still a pleasant read. The only thing that could have improved it was if the authors included more of those from the start the ending would have been a bit more cohesive.

The Secret Within is an urban fantasy, but it feels a little more like a supernatural horror/thriller to me. Delaney is a psychic detective hired to find Anika. We go between their POVs throughout the story, both with dark pasts. This was a fast and fun read for me! The end had me hooked with its fast-paced twists. The beginning felt a little slow and difficult to understand the world-building, and it felt like a lot was going on.

The Secret Within tells a story of good and evil from two points of view and what do you know? There is a little good in the evil and a little evil in the good.
This story goes back and forth leaving you guessing while feeding you tidbits along the way. This reads like a psychological thriller.

An entertaining supernatural page-turner. There is mystery, suspense, unexpected twists and turns and even a bit of horror. Highly recommend!

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Secret Within is a sci fi fantasy and it really look some strange turns. The main character is interesting and has come quirks due to her abilities and I thought that was the way this story was going but nope. About three quarters of the way in it totally changes and threw me for a loop that I'm not sure I liked. As a private investigator she uses her gift to try and help people the best way she knows but she pushes anyone away that tries to get close to her, for their safety as she says. While I enjoyed most of the book there were some parts that really confused me and left me asking more questions and not in a good way.


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Secret Within by Sean Platt and David Wright is an urban fantasy novel about a psychic detective, Delaney West. Delaney has been hired to find a missing person, and his girlfriend, Anika, might be the only one with answers.

This novel started well and was exciting and engaging. I was into the mystery, and I liked the premise of the psychic detective. However, I feel like it failed to develop Delaney's character's supernatural aspects to sufficient depth early in the novel.

Also, it takes a wildly unexpected twist at the end, which felt very Deus Ex Machina / WTF. It reminded me of how I felt watching the end of Annihilation. Angry, disappointed, and overall unsatisfied.

Unfortunately, it went off the rails for me, and I would not recommend this book.

★★

Thanks to NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.

I'm sitting here after finishing this book and just keep sitting here thinking did I miss chapters? Where did all of this come from? Should I have known it was going to take this kind of a twist?

I was invested in this story until about the 75% mark and then it just started getting strange... Strange in ways I didn't see coming which was a positive but ways that just really didn't make sense to me.

The story had so much promise and I think if they had just left it with a psycic woman that had gone through unthinkable things as a young woman it would have had a much better flow, as it was that the last 25% was hard to get through.

There were a lot of moments that just felt rushed, and while that can easily be forgiven the direction the book took at the end was.

I will say that the scenes with Delaney's father were well done, my grandma spent the last few years of her life in a nursing home with dementia and these interactions were very believable and pulled at my heartstrings.

All of that being said I would give this a 3.5 if I could, there were some things I really liked and some things that just had me shaking my head.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for providing an advance copy, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story is mainly about a private investigator, set in the modern world, and out to find a missing person. The characters are edgy and flawed. There’s mental trauma, substance abuse, and self harm. Not the style of book for me. Instead of escaping to an adventure or solving a mystery this story kept me grounded and is a sad reminder of real world pains.

The writing style was alright, but has room for improvement. It has long bouts of explanation in a story and I like things to unfold and show what is going on and less dialogue.