Special thank you to #NetGalley and Titan Books for this eARC.

Absolutely incredible story I had no idea what to expect, SECRET LIVES OF THE DEAD is one helluva ride. There is action, horror, mystery… the novel plays out like a quality cinematic experience, with the benefit of a narrative so we’re understanding everything. And that narration is quality writing. Tim Lebbon has written a masterclass in quality storytelling, not only in writing a plot and having full awareness of setting but the emotional depth and weight that each character harbours as well. That trick of acknowledging humans and the way they feel, they emote and they respond in their bonds is the gravitas that sets SECRET LIVES apart and makes certain scenes harder on impact. It’s incredible the weight that is felt, and it needs to, because the real scene stealer is the monster antagonist himself, Lem.

Three friends decide to explore an abandoned manor in search of treasure. We find out that one of them is actually pulling the strings to get the ‘treasure’ before someone else does, and he soon arrives. That someone is a formidable monster by the name of Lem.

Essentially Max Cady of Cape Fear with folk horror, Lem is a monster of epic proportions. No spoilers here, but his backstory, his methods, the ‘unstoppable’ antagonist trope, just works admirably under Lebbon’s hand. And that is not to discount the protagonists and the burden and weight under which they are moving. There is brevity in not only the horrors, but the action as well. One of the best action climaxes I have ever read happens in SECRET LIVES. The novel is altogether reminiscent of late 80s/early 90s action/horror. You would be remiss to deny yourself this joy in reading.

This book took me a little to get into but once I did, holy cow! Jodi, the FMC is rather complex...more then meets the eye. It's a story about Jodi, BB and Matt as they break into this seemingly abandoned home and end up on the wrong side of a horrific time. Lem and his family believe they have a curse placed upon them and he wants to break it as his father had shared with him. The twists this book took, kept me constantly on my toes!

Was a good story with revenge and gore! But I couldn't connect to any of rhe characters except the villain Lem. Wish it had more spooky stuff.

Three people agree to burgle an old manor. Interestingly enough, another party also arrives to burgle it.

I was really intrigued by the premise of the story, but it fell short for me. The book kind of gave off YA vibes

Initially I enjoyed this but was a dnf for me, I feel more YA territory. Creepy but fun, teenagers and curses, house looting and memories.

Jodi, her partner BB, and his best friend Matt decide to break into an abandoned country home as an adventure and to maybe find some valuables. However, it quickly becomes clear that Jodi has a reason for being there that the others don't know about—when a figure from her past arrives at the house at the same time, they all become embroiled in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to leave all of their lives irrevocably shattered.

Equal parts thriller and supernatural folk horror, Secret Lives Of The Dead is a fast-paced read that gripped me from the start. The bulk of the story takes place in a condensed time, over a single day from the early morning break-in to the brutal final confrontation, but flashbacks to different points of multiple characters's pasts add context and interesting backstory. Chapters are written from individual perspectives and allow mysteries to unravel at just the right place.

When it comes to the characters, I thought the three friends were generally fine. I can't say I loved any of them, but I was perfectly happy spending time with them. As the de facto protagonist of the story, I thought Jodi was well-written, but the real star of the story is our villain, Lem. Not only does he have fleshed-out, interesting motivations for his actions, but also his story is where the vast majority of the supernatural, at times occult, horror comes into the tale. As a straightforward revenge thriller, I could see this feeling a little generic; however, with Lem, it feels like Lebbon found a character that stands out, and while I wouldn't say I was rooting for him at any point, I did find myself empathising more than I expected.

The premise is great, and I really liked the chase aspect, but it doesn't quite live up to the premise. If you're looking for a splash of horror in a fun, frantic thriller with its fair share of blood spilt, this is an easy recommendation and likely a book for you; if you're looking for a more explicitly horror story, though, I'd look elsewhere.

This was a fun read. It was not as intense or creepy overall as I would have liked, or as the synopsis makes it seem, but I still enjoyed it. Really our three main character friends were not the best, but I didn't really care as I was enjoying the story. They were not the smartest and Jodi especially kept making decisions that made no sense to me (plus there is no way she was as old as she was supposed to be. I kept thinking she was early 20's not mid 30's!). The other two weren't really fleshed out that well and Matt especially was kind of just there.

Now Lem was great. I loved his chapters. That is where the fun creepy stuff came in. I wish we would have had more of him and the curse and the witch stuff. I would have read a whole book just about that.

This book takes places over the span of one day, with some flashbacks to flesh out the story. I did really enjoy reading and it was a fun, quick read.

Possibly I went into this book with the wrong expectations of what it would be. I thought I would be reading a folk horror, but really the folk element was minor and this felt closer to a thriller. Though I would say any suspense or tension was lost on me, I didn’t feel the thrill of the chase.

Something about this book just didn’t grip me from the off sadly. I think my main problem was just not liking Jodi at all, with her selfish and deceitful behaviour. I just didn’t buy that she was a woman who had spent her life hiding. I also didn’t feel any type of interest in Matt or BB. The only character I liked was Lem who I was cheering on throughout.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Secret Lives of the Dead feels like it wants to be part Blair Witch, part cursed-heist thriller—but somewhere along the way, it forgets to make me care. The setup’s cool: a break-in, a relic, a stormy chase across one bad day. But the characters? Meh. I’ve had gas station snacks with more personality.

It’s fast, it’s bloody, and it’s loud, but not much sticks once the chaos dies down. I didn’t hate it… but I sure didn’t feel haunted by it either. 3/5, and that’s me being polite because it tried really hard.

Some authors are content to spend their entire careers essentially rewriting the same book over and over. Much to his credit, Tim Lebbon is not and of the handful books of his I’ve read each has felt wholly distinct from one another. He’s an author equally at home with media tie-in properties, like his Alien or Firefly novels, as he is with his own original ideas. He’s an assured storyteller unafraid to push himself into new arenas and genres with works spanning the breadth of the speculative fiction domain.

His latest, Secret Lives of the Dead, veers sharply toward the crime thriller end of things, with only a small nod toward his horror roots. In the book’s opening pages we’re introduced to Jodi, BB, and Matt, close-knit friends who have been sold on a minor adventure by Jodi to break into the long-abandoned manor that has become the subject of local gossip and urban legend revolving around a familial curse and a long-dead witch. It’s not just the derelict home that’s keeping secrets, as Jodi has her own reasons for starting their day off with some light B&E. It’s not long before the situation spirals out of control with the introduction of the heavily tattooed and psychopathic killer Lem, who arrives at the estate looking for the very same artifact Jodi is covertly seeking.

One of the hallmark characteristics of the thriller genre is its rapid-fire pacing. Secret Lives of the Dead has this in spades and speeds forward like Usain Bolt. Spread across only a single morning, Lebbon keeps the action tight and frenetic, with the plot unravelling across what is essentially a very long chase scene across the fictional setting of Mariton in the UK. Mariton’s a fitting place for all this, sounding a bit like marathon, and with the author being a triathlete with a love for endurance sports. Secret Lives of the Dead is itself a marathon run, and these characters’ endurance is pushed well beyond any of their limits.

Lebbon slows down sparingly to shade in his character’s motivations, answer reader’s questions about them, and link them together via a series of flashbacks. Even then, he still manages to maintain a sense of violent dread, particularly with Lem, who has no tells or other outward signs to indicate what his reflexively violent reptile brain might do next. Lem’s encounters as he searches the country far and wide for the artifacts to break his family’s curse offer those he comes across one thing, but could quickly derail into something else entirely. A small, insignificant conversation with Lem could lead to a quick, brutal, and unexpected violent clash in a heartbeat. He’s emotionless, remorseless, unflappable, and horrifying in the vein of Cormac McCarthy’s Anton Chigurh. Unlike Chigurh, Lem doesn’t leave the fate of his potential victims up to a coin flip as much as he does his own whimsy, which often leans toward murder because that’s just Lem’s natural instinct. We also understand Lem more than we do Chigurh, even as he repulses us. He has his own motivations for doing what he does, even if he comes across as a more thuggish Terminator.

Jodi, too, has her own motivations and reasons for keeping secrets from her lover, BB, and his best friend, Matt. She’s a survivor of Lem’s traumatic actions and Lebbon fills in the blanks well enough to make us understand her viewpoint even if it is disagreeable and leads to numerous unintended consequences that stack one atop another in an out of control death spiral.

As for the horror elements, well, Secret Lives of the Dead is, first and foremost a kinetic crime thriller. For all its talk about witches and curses, the artifacts driving and pushing Lem and Jodi into conflict are a straight-up MacGuffin. Swap those out with drugs, money, or a briefcase with a glowing gold interior, and you’ve got a straight-up crime story. Make them the bones of a witch, throw in a couple gnarly moments of extraordinary violence, mutilation, and/or dismemberment and, presto-change-o, now it’s a horror thriller. With a few adjustments, Lem and Jodi could have been motivated by literally anything else. Lebbon keeps the line separating bad luck from a curse paper thin, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions on the validity of these characters claims. Wondering how much of the narrative is supernatural versus a series of poor, rash decisions made on the run is like wondering why only Christians get possessed by the devil.

The real horror, though, comes through the characters themselves. Lem is, inarguably, a human monster. Jodi less so, although her propensity for keeping secrets results in monstrous repercussions. Who needs witches when you have characters like this?

Matt, Jodie and BB decide to break into an abandoned house on the outskirts of town on a dare to look for antiques and jewellery. Unbeknownst to the others, Jodie has some ulterior motives to wanting to break into the house. Lem, a violent man who is trying to free himself from a family curse, tracks down the last relic he needs to complete the task. when they all unexpectedly end up at the house on the same day violence ensues.

I thought it was an ok story on revenge more than anything. I expected a lot more folk & supernatural horror but I felt this really barely scratched the surface. I desperately wanted more of the witch/family curse story line. yes, it's mentioned but I went into this expecting it to be more of the main plot. The writing was fine but the pacing was a bit off with it dragging at times towards the end.

Lem brought the action, the blood and the entertainment. He was really the only character that I felt like I could connect with or found interesting. I couldn't stand Jodi & Matt was just like...there.

At little bit of a disappointment as a horror read but this might be for someone looking for a thriller with a bit of action..

This was, unfortunately, a DNF for me. While initially excited about the story, I just could not vibe with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing a copy of this book for my honest review.

I DNFed this book at 54%. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. I didn't feel that the folk horror element was there, it was more of an action thriller with a sprinkling of horror.

I really didn't like Jodi at all. I think we were meant to feel sorry for her but she made me angry, she was selfish and didn't care about Matt or BB at all. Her attitude just made her really unlikeable.

I won't say anything further than this as I didn't finish the book so can't really comment.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC of Tim Lebbon’s new book. The first thing I have to say is that Tim Lebbon has done it again and produced a masterpiece. This dark folk tale of a family curse kept me gripped until the last page. The pace picks up after the three main characters decide to burgle a house as part of a dare amid rumours of a curse hanging over the antique belongs inside. During this time a man turns up looking for the same thing the other three characters are, but he is trying to right the wrongs of a family curse. Their paths cross early on and thus begins a chase across a single day until they reach the ultimate end. This was so good, so fast paced. But so so good.

I love when a book doesn't quite fit into the expected genre. Lebbon's latest novel starts out as a thriller, with Jodi persuading her friends to break into an allegedly abandoned house to retrieve an item that should be worth a great deal of money. But when they get inside, they find that someone else is also seeking this object -- and they're not about to ask nicely for it to be handed over. Jodi, of course, has her own reasons for seeking this object, and she knows all too well who these intruders are. They're linked to her past, her father, and a lot of violence. But just as we think we have a handle on what's happening, Lebbon throws in a family curse, a living tree, and a hunt for something not quite of this world. As the book moves from crime/noir to body horror, Lebbon's skilful characterisation and propulsive prose makes us truly believe in the world he has created, and the left-turn in apparent genre. Of course, you go into a Lebbon book expecting some kind of horror, but here there's a moment where you think he might just have written a straight thriller, but of course he's not about to make things that simple at all.

I had an absolute blast with this novel -- and the last third, as we delve deeper into the curse and the nature of the object that Jodi was seeking -- is a nightmarish trip to hell that will get those palms sweating. Absolutely brilliant.

A gripping tale of revenge and obsession!
Told through multiple POVs we see these events of a single day unfold with flashbacks sprinkled throughout.
I enjoyed the overall premise (witchy, gore, curses and generational horrors) though I found some parts dragging a little? A story like this I think would benefit from some shorter, sharper chapters at times!
But the book was well written and I found myself really feeling for the characters (which, not to mention, all felt well fleshed out!)

Oh! This book held so many components of horror that I absolutely love! Revenge and the occult in the form of a family curse, a relic, and gore! The action was well-paced, and I could not stop turning pages! I loved the morally gray, yet strong main characters and I also appreciated the conflicts and dilemmas. Definitely do not snooze on some of the flashbacks if you feel the book slowing a bit because you may miss an integral piece of information in relation to the plot of the book! An amazing horror book that also read like a thriller!

Secret Lives of the Dead is a grim little tale of revenge, obsession, and the dark things people do in the name of family. It’s violent, bleak, and full of death (which I usually love) But despite a killer concept and a great villain, this one didn’t fully land for me.

The story unfolds mostly over the course of a single day, with time jumps that are well-executed and easy to follow. At the center of it all is Lem, who’s on a brutal quest to lift the curse haunting his family, and he’ll do just about anything to make it happen. His chapters were easily the best part of the book. Twisted, relentless, and genuinely compelling, Lem brought the energy and madness I was craving. Every time the narrative shifted back to him, I perked up. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the rest of the cast. Jody, BB, and Matt, our trio of main characters, never quite clicked for me. Their perspectives felt flat, and I found myself pushing through their chapters just to get back to Lem.

And while the book is filled with brutal moments and dark tension, I wanted even more of the eerie, witchy, supernatural stuff it flirted with.

Lebbon keeps a solid pace through most of the book, but the last third started to drag, especially given how straightforward the story really is. Honestly, it could’ve been shorter and sharper, and I might’ve enjoyed it more.

Still, if you're into gritty, blood-soaked stories with a villain worth following, Secret Lives of the Dead might scratch that itch. Just be prepared to slog a bit for the good parts.

Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#SecretLivesOfTheDead is an effectively creepy folk horror from @timlebbon that centers around a family cursed by a witch and a woman whose life was forever changed as a teenager by the man who has spent his life trying to break that curse. Though a quick, short read, Lebbon creates several well-rounded characters whose fates we care about, a thrilling adventure, and a creepy mythology around the witch and associated relics that the cursed family is attempting to reunite. Thanks to #NetGalley and @TitanBooks for the review copy.