This Little Dark Place by A.S. Hatch is a unique addition to the psychological thriller genre. An intriguing premise, an atypical format, and told in a compelling voice, this is one that will pull you in from the start.

Daniel and Victoria are a couple who are trying to conceive a child. When things become stressed in the relationship, Daniel finds solace in Ruby, a prison inmate who is serving time for domestic assault. The two gradually reveal more and more of themselves to each other, until the day that Ruby is released and comes looking for Daniel.

There is a wonderful sense of unease and foreboding as the novel progresses, and I particularly enjoyed reading the letters that are exchanged between Ruby and Daniel. If I had one criticism, I would say that I tend to be partial to novels that are written in short, concise chapters rather than the long and unbroken segments presented here as, for me, they are more coherent and accessible.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Serpent's Tail/Profile Books for this ARC.

This thriller was outstanding. I could not put it down. I read it in two days and if I had no children to distract me I’d have read it in a day. It kept me hooked from start to finish and kept me guessing in each and every chapter. Daniel and Victoria are a couple trying to start a family. Daniel however starts writing to Ruby as part of a prisoner pen pal programme. She assaulted her partner and is serving time in prison. Their correspondence begins innocently, as friends, but develops quite quickly and they begin to tell each other their deepest secrets. When Ruby is released from prison she comes looking for Daniela d then things get interesting.
This novel is unforgettable. A must read for all thriller fans!!!

I must confess that half way through this book I was struggling. Who is Ruby -is she telling the truth ? Who is Lucy ? Who is Gordon ? What is Robbie up to ? Are any of them real anyway ? Did I actually care enough to carry on ? Well I did persist and I am glad I did. Yes the book takes a bit of getting into Dan tells the story -both past and present -of his life with partner Victoria and their unsuccessful quest to start a family .As they grow more distant from each other -Dan begins an online friendship with a prison inmate-Ruby-telling each other their innermost secrets.
The second half of the book had me gripped and -no I didn't see that end coming .Recommended -stick with it !

Thankyou NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy. All I can say is OH MY GOODNESS! This is a definite THRILLER. This book keeps you hooked. Full of suspense and action. A.S. Hatch keep them coming!

Daniel and Victoria are in a relationship, living together and are trying for a baby. However, Dan starts to feel lonely when things don’t go to plan and he joins a pen pal program for prisoners. He and Ruby soon make contact, to begin with the messages are polite, but they soon start to reveal more about themselves. And then one day Ruby comes to find Daniel, and he must decide who to choose - and who to trust.
This was a fast read, building up the suspense all the way through. It is narrated by Daniel in the form of a letter to Lucy. I did feel that some parts of the story jumped about a bit which made me confused slightly. However, I enjoyed the story.
Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this advanced copy.
I've never read anything by this author before and am so pleased I did.
Every so often you try a new authority and they grab you from the first place.
I don't want to give anything away about the story but it was captivating from the start and I had real problems putting the book down.
This was a great read and full of tension with an unexpected twist you don't see coming.
I would highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of This Little Dark Place.

This story started off slow for me. After I got going this started to flow, but I still found myself skipping over some of the sentences in parts of the book. Some of this may have been due to the formatting of the digital version. I enjoyed the twist and turns at the end of the book, it made it worth reading.

That was actually a very good thriller. I enjoyed the suspense, the mystery, the action. Very well-written, composed of a series of questions that one should ask themselves more in life (if paranoid, of course!)

A proper ‘page turner’ as you are keen to find out what happens next in the story related by the main character Dan in a series of letters to Lucy. I like the author’s style of flitting between past and present, as well as creating a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere in the cottage where much of the novel is based.

The ending I must admit did not come as a total surprise, but then this is not a crime novel where you are kept guessing until the end. It is more a psychological thriller that does involve everyday characters.

AS Hatch is a name to watch out for and ‘This Little Dark Place’ should be added to your reading pile forthwith.

This story hooked me from the beginning and was one I didn’t want to put down! The premise is unique - a man in a relationship that’s falling apart begins writing to a woman in prison. The story alternates from past to present effortlessly piecing the entire story together in letter form. Greatly entertaining!

This Little Dark Place

I love, love, LOVED this book. It’s everything I want from a psychological thriller: taut, tightly written, well paced, and all-consuming. I couldn’t put it down.

“This Little Dark Place” is an epistolary novel ‘narrated’ by Daniel, who we know is currently in prison. Daniel tells the person he is writing to how he and his girlfriend Victoria were trying for a baby, even as they were becoming increasingly distant from each other. Feeling lonely, wanting to reach out, Daniel joined a pen pal programme where people are matched with prison inmates, and he found himself writing to the charismatic Ruby, who tells him all about herself, her former life as an art psychotherapist, and her solid relationship with her twin sister, Jade. As Daniel’s relationship with Victoria dissolved, his connection with Ruby only grew stronger. But then Ruby was released from prison and turned up on Daniel’s doorstep. And now it seems like maybe Ruby wasn’t telling the truth after all, and Daniel must decide not only who he loves, but who he can trust...

I loved how this was written from Daniel’s perspective from some point in the future, and that he was basically explaining how he had ended up in prison, so that for the reader, the plot - and Daniel’s crime - was a gradual unravelling. I had several guesses to the nature of the crime, and also as to who was lying about what, and I won’t give anything away, but I will say that I was wrong about almost everything. This is a book of deft twists and turns, and is beautifully written. I was hanging on every word, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

I’ll be recommending this to anyone who will listen, and I can’t wait to see what this author is going to do next!

NOTE: I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How well do you know yourself ? Or how well do you speculate things around you?Reading this thriller , I was confidently speculating things with the protoganist when at the end I sucked big time.The last few pages changed my whole view.

A gripping thriller , well narrated in form of letters, kept the suspense intact till the end. Though at times the back and forth letter writing got little confused. The story is more deep than whats in the blurb.

Thank You #Netgalley for the ARC #thislittledarkplace

Every now and then a book comes along that holds you captive from the very first page. You can't really explain why you found the story so captivating,you just know that you couldn't put the book down whilst at the same time you didn't want the story to end. Well,for me This Little Dark Place was one of those books,it's a mesmerising,enthralling read. The tension builds throughout culminating in a totally unexpected twist conclusion.

I really enjoyed this debut from A Hatch. I was engrossed in the story and where it was going to lead. Would recommend and probably gift it to friends.

The book started off with a promise of intrigue and buildup but somewhere along the way, I lost a little interest. I was waiting for more to happen with/to the characters. The characters behaved and acted in a way which just did not resonate with me. They fell flat as I was not invested in them at all.
By the end of it the story did pick up but for me, the plot twist was not a surprise at all since that seemed a natural conclusion. Having said that I think I had higher expectations as I started reading it. I'm sure it will work better for others.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5⭐

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy of This Little Dark Place, out the 10th of October!

I found this book pretty unusual in lots of aspects.

To start with, there were just 3 chapters on it. I thought about them as 3 parts, really. Each part was quite long and with a lot of information and it made it a bit hard to get through.

The first chapter/part was narrated by Dan. It reminded me a bit to "The Notebook" as it's a kind of letter that it's been read by the writer to Lucy.

Now, who is Lucy? She is not an active character in the book. She actually doesn't appear once. She is just talked about and I liked the mystery involving her.

The narrated story takes place in 2015 but the current year It's actually 2033. When I saw the date, I thought the book would be very modern and with advanced technology, and blah blah blah. To my surprise, if I hadn't seen the year, I would have though that the story took place in the 80's or the 90's because of the way it was written.

Although I liked some bits and pieces about the book, I found it too slow. I wouldn't say it was boring but there weren't many things happening.

Once we got to the second part I lost the interest in the plot, the characters and whatever was happening to them. I thought the book was describing in details things not important at all like the food he bought or how he slept or what he had for breakfast.

I didn't dislike the writing style but I think i would have liked it more if there had been some more chapters. They felt too long and there were not many breaks in between.

Character-wise, I couldn't stop feeling a kind of tenderness for Dan, the narrator of the story and the letters. He seems such a nice guy and goes through a few difficult situations never giving up.

Victoria, his girlfriend, however... Well, she also struggles with those situations. They are very delicate and I guess that every person face them differently but I disagreed in a few things she did.

I liked Ruby, the main character of part two. She reminded me to any mum, so caring, so sweet and nice. However, I don't really get why Dan questioned everything she did. I found that a bit odd, to be honest.

Overall, I think the plot had a great potential as once I got to the end, I understood better the way the book was written and why, but, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it very much

Compulsive reading, this is an addictive suspenseful psychological thriller like no other.

The plot is unpredictable with lots of twists and turns along with solid engaging characters.
There is also a sense of dread as the story deals with the deep and dark corners of the human psych.

I very much enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone!

If i'd had a spare few hours this would definitely have been consumed in one sitting. I'm glad life got in the way however and prolonged it for me. I completely loved this book.
The language was truly beautiful and often poetic. It was a such a pleasure to read and thoroughly captivating despite the dark, and often uncomfortable, subject matter and flawed characters.
So raw and real and full of suspense, it truly is difficult to decide when to stop if you don't have the time to read in one sitting. I am almost certain there isn't a person out there that could predict this novel's twist.
It is astonishing that this is a debut novel - I can't wait to see how this author's career progresses.

First off BRAVO A.S.Hatch for creating this captivating page turning debut novel. This book, literally, had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out just who is Lucy, and why is Daniel writing to her.
**
This Little Dark Place starts with the main character Daniel, writing a letter to Lucy in the year 2033. In this letter, he is writing to Lucy about his past with Ruby. Ruby was a pen pal inmate Dan first contacted one New Years Eve after his mother's funeral. He was distraught over his mother's death, and problems arising with his long-time girlfriend Victoria. You see Victoria and Daniel were trying to have a baby; and things kept going from bad to worse. The writing was clearly on the walls that Vic was leaving, but Daniel didn't see it. Even Ruby, in prison mind you, knew what was happening in his relationship.
After Daniel's mother passed, he was left a cabin on Lane's End.
Lane's End is both the beginning and end for Daniel.
**
Such an amazing read, and was glad this one ending I was not able to figure out on my own. Can't wait to see what other tricks A.S. Hatch has up his sleeve.

Firstly Thank You to netgalley and Serpents Tail for the ARC.

I must be honest and say a quarter of the way through I was ready to just put it down and give up BUT I carried on (after reading the many reviews) and I am SO glad I did!

I must admit in places I found the jumping around of characters and stories confusing, trying to figure out who was actually narrating and having to back track a few times but WOW once you get your head around it, its unputdownable.

A totally thrilling, suspense packed book with twists and turns a plenty.
Unique to anything I have read before and I cannot wait for what A.S Hatch delivers next!

4.5 stars from me.