Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
On an icy Swedish archipelago, a girl is entangled in a dark mystery that only she holds the key to unraveling, in this fantasy thriller from the wondrous minds of Camilla Sten and Viveca Sten. What happened out there in the woods? Twelve-year-old Tuva couldn't imagine living anywhere other than the Stockholm archipelago and her island home of Harö. Even if she mostly keeps to herself at her small school. Even if she sometimes gets kind of lonely. But when a classmate goes missing, Tuva finds herself at the center of the mystery, along with Rasmus, the new boy at school. Neither one of them can understand what they saw that day in the woods near the water: Is something magical at work? Something evil? And it's not just their classmate who has gone missing. Other people around the islands have gone missing this fall, disappearing from their boats on the water, never to be heard from again. Can Tuva and Rasmus discover what secrets are lurking below...before it's too late?
Is The Secrets Below appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
A suspenseful mystery-thriller with supernatural elements where children investigate disappearances on a Swedish island. Contains moderate peril, people going missing (including children), and potentially scary supernatural elements, but appropriate for middle grade readers who enjoy spooky mysteries.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include child harm, kidnapping, and death (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
A creepy mystery where two lonely kids team up to solve the disappearance of their classmate and uncover dark secrets lurking in the waters around their island home.