Book Review: Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon
Title: Secret Lives of the Dead
Author: Tim Lebbon
Release date: August 26th, 2025
*Huge thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for the digital ARC of this one!*
There’s a brilliance that shines forth when an author includes aspects of something they truly live and breathe and love in their real lives, within their written work. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s overt, but no matter which way the author chooses to implement it within the book, it sparkles, crackles and fills the spaces between words with a palpable energy.
With Tim Lebbon, that aspect is running. If you follow Tim on Facebook or subscribe to his newsletter/blog, you’ll see a majority of his personal updates are about running events he’s taken part in, whether a marathon length or longer. In fact, his love for running is what elevated his 2020 novel ‘Eden,’ to another level. (And if you’ve not read that banger – A- shame on you and B- get on it, it’s glorious!).
In fact, Tim’s latest novel, ‘Secret Lives of the Dead,’ is what happens when you take that novel and mix it with his recent novel, 2024’s ‘Among the Living,’ and shook them up and tossed them on the table. Where ‘Eden’ had the running, survival element, ‘Among the Living,’ has the heavy, lovely folklore elements.
I went into this one rather blind, but confident knowing I was in Tim’s capable and wonderful writing hands, and wow, did this novel deliver a thrill ride I wasn’t expecting.
What I liked: The novel hops between multiple POV’s but our de facto main character is Jodi. A young woman, she’s haunted by events in her past, including her dad’s death in a car accident she witnessed, and ever since that moment, she’s lived a bit of a nomadic existence. Moving from place to place, never feeling settled, but always finding a place to run. Throughout her wandering life, she’s keeping her eyes open for the relics, pieces of something that seem to hold a curse and that were directly related to her dad’s untimely death.
At her current stop, she learns one might be within an old, abandoned mansion. To her surprise, she’s connected with a man, BB, more than she’s ever connected before. Some might even call it love. Joined by his friend, Matt, the trio break in to find whatever treasure might be inside – with Matt and BB unaware that Jodi is searching something more.
It’s here that Lem is introduced. He’s seeking the relics for himself in an attempt to break the curse that’s enveloped his family for many, many decades. He’s been battered and beaten and carries the scars on his skin from his search.
A confrontation occurs, Jodi and crew flee and from there Tim takes us on a day-long thrill ride filled with brutality, loss, heartbreak and gore. It’s a mixture of very high moments and very low moments and Tim has a way of letting the sorrow sit and take hold while also skyrocketing our blood pressure without warning. Throughout, Tim uses the world around our characters as chess pieces to move and use to better and worsen each others situations and the constant tug of war between Jodi and Lem is heightened because of that. Ultimately, those two want each other to die, while each understanding the other is part of the puzzle for the other to use to get to their end goals.
The final quarter is a dizzying sprint. I raced through it, needed to see what would happen and learn the truth of what resides on Crow Island. Tim sets things up really nicely and when the domino’s fall, it was done with such precision that it felt like the air was sucked from the room.
The epilogue was fitting and answered some questions that lingered and I for one was glad to have answered.
What I didn’t like: The whole spoiler thingy kind of prevents me from fully discussing what I didn’t like, but what I can say is that revelation of a specific character potentially still being alive and being part of the curse’s dynamic ultimately felt like it fizzled out when we got to the part of actually seeing this character. It felt glossed over and not as impactful as I was thinking it would be.
Why you should buy this: Lebbon is a world class author who is frankly firing on all cylinders. His last three novels have all been PHENOMENAL – ‘Eden,’ ‘The Last Storm,’ and ‘Among the Living,’ and ‘Secrets of the Dead’ only adds another amazing book to a bibliography that boasts over a dozen top drawer reads. ‘Secrets of the Dead’ is a spot on mix of friendship, frustration and kinetic energy. Throughout, you’ll be on the edge of your seat, always waiting to see what happens next and when it does happen, you’ll keep speeding along, pulled roughly by the scruff of your neck as Tim bludgeons these characters to within an inch of their lives.
Pulse-pounding thriller. What a ride.
