The Secret Series is an adventure series written by Pseudonymous Bosch

Pseudonymous Bosch

Pseudonymous Bosch is the pen name of Raphael Simon, author of the Secret Series children's books. The name plays off that of the artist Hieronymus Bosch, with the first name a combination of the words pseudonym and anonymous. The Secret Series is a pentalogy of novels based on the five senses:...

. His writing style is similar to that of Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...

's, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of children's novels by Lemony Snicket which follows the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents' death in an arsonous house fire...

. The first book in the series, The Name of This Book is Secret

The Name of this Book is Secret

The Name of this Book is Secret is a 2007 fantasy novel for young readers by Pseudonymous Bosch. It chronicles the adventures of two children, Cass and Max-Ernest, as they investigate the mysterious death of local Pietro Bergamo. As you find out later in the book, he is not really dead...

, was released in late 2007. The second, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late

If you're reading this, it's too late

If You're Reading This, It's Too Late is the sequel to The Name of this Book is Secret in the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch. It was released in October 2008 and features the same characters as the first book...

, was released in late 2008. The third book in the series, This Book Is Not Good for You

This Book Is Not Good for You

This Book is Not Good for You is a book by anonymous author Pseudonymous Bosch. It is part of the "Secret Series, a pentalogy of books written by Bosch, and is the sequel to The Name of This Book is Secret and If You're Reading This, It's Too Late...

 was released in September 2009,the fourth book, This Isn't What it Looks Like

This Isn't What It Looks Like

This Isn't What It Looks Like is a book by anonymous author Pseudonymous Bosch. It is the fourth book in the pentalogy "The Secret Series", and is the sequel to This Book is Not Good for You, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, and The Name of this Book is Secret...

 was released a year later in September 2010, and the fifth book, You Have To Stop This

You Have To Stop This

You Have To Stop This is a book by the author Pseudonymous Bosch. It is the fifth book in The Secret Series, and it is a sequel to This Isn't What It Looks Like, This Book is Not Good for You, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, and The Name of this Book is Secret...

 came out in 28 September 2011. The series is about two middle school

Middle school

Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 children, Cass and Max-Ernest, their friend Yo-Yoji, and their adventures as members of the Terces Society, a group that keeps a mysterious Secret from being found out or stolen by the Midnight Sun society. One of the subplots of the series is the alchemists of the Midnight Sun searching for the secret to immortality

Immortality

Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...

, and the Terces Society's plans to stop them.

As many fans have noticed, each book is centered around the five senses: The first book concerns scent, the second is about sound

Sound

Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...

, the, third centers around taste

Taste

Taste is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food, certain minerals, and poisons, etc....

, the fourth centers around sight

Visual perception

Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...

, and the fifth is about touch.

Books

The Name of This Book is Secret

The Name of this Book is Secret

The Name of this Book is Secret is a 2007 fantasy novel for young readers by Pseudonymous Bosch. It chronicles the adventures of two children, Cass and Max-Ernest, as they investigate the mysterious death of local Pietro Bergamo. As you find out later in the book, he is not really dead...

 (Smell)

If You're Reading This, It's Too Late

If you're reading this, it's too late

If You're Reading This, It's Too Late is the sequel to The Name of this Book is Secret in the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch. It was released in October 2008 and features the same characters as the first book...

  (Sound)

This Book Is Not Good for You

This Book Is Not Good for You

This Book is Not Good for You is a book by anonymous author Pseudonymous Bosch. It is part of the "Secret Series, a pentalogy of books written by Bosch, and is the sequel to The Name of This Book is Secret and If You're Reading This, It's Too Late...

  (Taste)

This Isn't What it Looks Like

This Isn't What It Looks Like

This Isn't What It Looks Like is a book by anonymous author Pseudonymous Bosch. It is the fourth book in the pentalogy "The Secret Series", and is the sequel to This Book is Not Good for You, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, and The Name of this Book is Secret...

  (Sight)

You Have To Stop This

You Have To Stop This

You Have To Stop This is a book by the author Pseudonymous Bosch. It is the fifth book in The Secret Series, and it is a sequel to This Isn't What It Looks Like, This Book is Not Good for You, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, and The Name of this Book is Secret...

(Touch)

Characters

Note: None of the characters are called by their real names, due to the reader's possibly being of the Midnight Sun and finding out too much information.

• Cass- The survivalist and main character, Cass is ready for any situation. She also has big ears that turn red often, especially when she's embarrassed or mad. She is the descendant of the Jester who let Mr. Cabbage Face out from the pig pen over 500 years ago. In the second book, she is offered to join the Terces Society that the Jester started and she accepts. She is really adopted but doesn't find out until the end of the second book. Near the end of the third book, Cass discovered she had been chosen to be the next Secret Keeper. She falls into a slumber (because she ate Hugo's chocolate) and is outside the Jester's tent. The third book ends here and the fourth installment delves more deeply into this. There is some suspicion that a woman Cass meets when she goes back in time, is really Cassandra Trelawney. Trelawney was a seer in ancient greek mythology. No one ever believed her predictions. Cass is very similar to this, but we do not know the connection between the two. Another suspicion is that the seer who asks to be called by Clara as well, is Mrs. Johnson's ancestor, possibly linking the tuning fork in the third book to the lodestone necklace in the fourth, since Mrs. Johnson claims that the tuning fork and the necklace once belonged to her ancestor Clara, a witch who came on the Mayflower, although chronologically speaking, it may seem impossible.

• Max-Ernest - Cass' best friend and partner, Max-Ernest knows lots of useless facts and is allergic to almost everything (this isn't really true, because near the end of the third book, it is discovered that back when he was a baby, his allergy tests were done wrong). His parents divorced because they couldn't decide what his name should be (his mom wanted Max to be his name, while his dad wanted Ernest so they decided to combine it). They decided to live together anyway, so Max-Ernest could have both parents with him. In the second book, the parents cut the house in half and the dad moves across the street. So then Max-Ernest has to spend the equal amount of time with each parent. But strangely enough, the parents get back together in book three, renewing their vows, and renovating the now back together house. In the fourth book, his mother becomes pregnant with Max-Ernest's little brother. The argument happens again, as they have been stalling to name the baby because of the first divorce, and they cannot decide whether to name him Paul or Clay.

• Melanie - Cass' foster mother. In the second book, Cass discovers papers in the files of Mr. Cabbage Face that reveal Melanie as not Cass's biological mother. In the third book, she is kidnapped by Senor Hugo, an ally of the Midnight Sun, and Cass is forced to eat time-traveling chocolate so the Midnight Sun can learn The Secret. She fails to learn The Secret, but the Terces society saves Cass and Melanie.

• Grandpa Larry and Grandpa Wayne - Cass' adopted grandfathers who collect junk and have a store in an old firehouse but never part with their pack rat items. They have an old dog named Sebastian who is blind.

• Ms. Mauvais - The current leader of the evil Midnight Sun, whose quest is for eternal life. She is over 200 years old. She kidnaps Benjamin Blake in book one. She looked to Itmar for guidance until he died, as shown in book three.

• Dr. L (Luciano Bergamo) - Pietro's twin brother who joined the Midnight Sun some years ago. Dies in book 5. He is synesthetic, as proven in book one.

• Pietro Bergamo - The current leader of the Terces Society. In book one, Cass and Max-Ernest thought him to be deceased. He is synesthetic, as proven in book one.

• Benjamin Blake - Benjamin is a boy that goes to Cass and Max-Ernest's school. He won a prize for a big art show. He has synesthesia. Halfway through the book, he was kidnapped by Dr. L. and Ms. Mauvais. He was saved by Cass and Max-Ernest. In book two, he was moved to a private school. In book four he comes back, and they find out he went to a school run by Dr.L. But he's evil then Cass hits him over the head with Yo-Yojis guitar and he turns back to normal.

• Owen - A man of many disguises, he was undercover at the Midnight Sun spa as a butler for the Terces society in book one. He helped Cass and Max-Ernest escape the spa. In book two, he was their teacher. In the third book, he was in Africa, looking for the Midnight Sun's chocolate plantation.Then in book four, he was the secretary of Cass and Max-Ernest's school.

• Ms. Johnson - Cass' school's principal (self-nicknamed The Principal with Principles) that enforces rules and recycling and won't tolerate otherwise. Cass, Max-Ernest, and Yo-Yoji went to her house in book three to look for the Tuning Fork (which she got from her ancestor that was thought to be a witch) and discover that she herself has no principles, because she doesn't recycle, smokes, and is enraged at the children for stealing the Tuning Fork. She then angrily goes to Cass' grandfathers and tells them her granddaughter is a criminal and they dismiss her. In the fourth book, she starts wearing a lodestone necklace she claims belonged to the same ancestor and expels Cass, Max-Ernest, and Yo-Yoji (again).

• Amber - The nicest girl in Cass' school, also the third prettiest. She became a Skelton Sister in book two, only to be thrown out of the group.

• Veronica - The second prettiest girl in the school but not even the fifth or sixth nicest.

• Gloria Fortune - A real estate agent for the dead, she brings boxes of Pietro's Things to Larry and Wayne's fire house. Cass claimed to see her at the Midnight Sun, but Gloria says otherwise.

Characters Introduced in Book Two

• Mr. Cabbage Face - The homunculus that the Midnight Sun think might hold the Secret. He was created in a bottle over 500 years ago and tortured by Lord Pharaoh. Then, the king captured him and put him in a royal dog kennels, only to be rescued by the Jester. He protects Lord Pharaoh's grave and was found by Cass, Max-Ernest, and Yo-Yoji on a camping trip. He was smuggled back to the Terces Society. But after a few days of rudeness, he died in his master's grave in the battle with the Midnight Sun at the end of book two but is also in This Isn't What It Looks Like.

• Yo-Yoji - Cass' Japanese classmate who spent one year in Japan. He took the Oath of Terces with Cass and Max-Ernest. He now helps them on their adventures.

• Romi and Montana Skelton - The Skelton Sisters that work for the Midnight Sun. They are pop stars, but they really lip sync. In book three, they pretended to help out on an African chocolate plantation.

• The Jester - Cass' ancestor and previous Secret Keeper. He saved Mr. Cabbage Face from the pigpen.

• Lord Pharaoh - Mr. Cabbage Face's creator and master that tortured him over 500 years ago. Comes back as a ghost in book four. The role model of The Midnight Sun.

• William Wilton Wallace, III - A certified public accountant (Lily's parents and Larry and Wayne's accountant), the Terces Society archivist, also who delivered Cass to the Fire Station as a baby.

• Lily Wei - A Chinese synesthetic violin prodigy. Ms. Mauvais kidnaps her when she was nine. As told in the continued Magician's notebook on thesecretseries.com, she escapes with the help of Master Yang. Member of the Terces Society. She is a Kung-Fu master.

Characters Introduced in Book Three

• Senor Hugo - A member of the Midnight Sun. He pretends to be blind, but is really only blind in one eye. He is a chef and owns a restaurant (El Castillo de la Noche) that gives you the sensation of being blind. He aspires to make the best-tasting chocolate in the world by using the Tuning Fork. He makes chocolate that makes Cass, Yo-Yoji, and Simone fall asleep and their minds go back in time.

• Simone - A kidnapped child from Africa that is used as the taste-tester for Hugo's chocolate. She is a Super Taster and also likes cheese. She kept Melanie company in book three before the Terces Society and Cass came to help.

• Itamar - Chose Ms. Mauvais as the leader of the Midnight Sun. He dies in book three at 489 years old, and also made a brief appearance in book one.

Characters introduced in book four

• PC - Max-Ernest's new baby brother who he watches over and pays his parents to babysit him.

• Clara - Is said to be one of Mrs. Johnson's relatives. She encounters Cass in the past and present. Clara also gives Cass the monocle. Clara is also mentioned in the third book since she had the tuning fork.