Sekret by Lindsay Smith [Review]

3.5 out of 5 Robots!

  

Sekret by Lindsay Smith
Series: Sekret #1
Genre: YA Historical Fiction/Paranormal
Release: April 1, 2014
Hardcover: 337 Pages
Publisher: MacMillan's Childrens
My Copy: Purchased
Reviewer: Shannon
Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Summary:
An empty mind is a safe mind.

Yulia's father always taught her to hide her thoughts and control her emotions to survive the harsh realities of Soviet Russia. But when she's captured by the KGB and forced to work as a psychic spy with a mission to undermine the U.S. space program, she's thrust into a world of suspicion, deceit, and horrifying power. Yulia quickly realizes she can trust no one--not her KGB superiors or the other operatives vying for her attention--and must rely on her own wits and skills to survive in this world where no SEKRET can stay hidden for long

(Courtesy of the Publisher)

Shannon's Thoughts:

This was one of my more anticipated books for 2014.  I haven't read many Russian inspired stories and I was intrigued by idea of Communist Russia and the KGB and the use of psychics for espionage.  Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for me.  Sekret starts out well.  Yulia and her family are in hiding from the KGB after her parents refused to continue the experiments they were conducting.  Yulia can feel memories when she touches someone and this ability brings the KGB's attention back to her.  She is taken by a secret KGB unit that uses psychics for espionage and pressed into service.

The only problem is...it was kind of boring.  Once Yulia is taken by the KGB, I started to lose interest.  Part of it was I was much less invested in the paranormal aspect of the story than the other parts and the paranormal aspects a lot of precedence over other things.   I also found some of these paranormal aspects hard to follow. Some of it was not clearly written.  I also was not that interested in the characters.  They were all ciphers to me.  Lastly, I wish there was more of a sense of "place".  Yes, this takes place in 1963 Russia...but I didn't have a great sense of what it was actually like to live in Communist Russia. 

Overall, I wasn't in love with this book and I don't think I will continue the series.  I was just left feeling a bit...meh.