This book wasn’t at all what I was expecting it to be - as much as I adore crime thriller books they’re usually more difficult reads that you have to heavily concentrate on! Not this one, it was super easy to read and still interesting and had you gripped trying to guess what was going to happen next! I really enjoyed it

There was just too much going on and none of it was written to be particularly thrilling. The idea behind the novel is great. A serial killer who is so good at framing someone else for their crimes they've been getting away with it for year. But then you throw in a journalist (probably the least fleshed out story line) who is investigating the cases of missing girls. Then there's the Urban Dark Reporter, which just seems to be haphazardly thrown in. A legacy of passing down the skills to literally get away with murder, which is the most interesting part of the story but is just very lacking. Throw in jumping between characters so much it was hard to care about any one in particular.

I do really like the idea behind the story, and there were some good nuggets mixed in, but honestly I was underwhelmed by what could have been a very interesting story.

Some crime novels strive for gritty realism whilst some just want you to have a good time. Rosie Walker’s ‘Secrets of a Serial Killer’ falls firmly in the second camp, but if you can suspend your disbelief you’ll have fun with it. It particularly harks back to the wave of such books that came out in the 1990s in the wake of ‘Silence of the Lambs’, so if you’re a fan of those this will be right up your street.
The book is set in Lancaster in the north of England and focuses on a series of disappearances of teenage girls. Contributors to an online true crime forum are linking these back to two historic serial killers, whilst the police seem to be doing little to investigate. Against that backdrop, the scope of the book is incredibly tight. It narrows in on two families who live next door to each other. Helen, an architect working on the development of an abandoned local asylum, and her teenage daughter Zoe live in one house. Next door to them we have a journalist and her son Thomas and visiting niece. The three characters I’ve named, along with the initially anonymous killer, are the central characters of the story, with the book told in alternating chapters from their perspectives.
I ended up liking this more than I expected to. That limited scope felt too small at first, but it results in a very focused and taut book. The killer is somewhat cliched, but their back story is intriguingly grotesque. The other characters are far more believable and easy to relate to. I ended up really caring about them and rooting for them in their fight to survive.
This is a book that might stretch credibility at times, but overcomes that by being extremely readable and very, very exciting. The use of locations is excellent, and really adds to the atmosphere, with parts of the story being genuinely creepy. For much of the story, Rosie Walker relies on the threat of violence, rather than actual brutality, to build suspense. This works well and means that when blood is spilled, it has added impact.
‘Secrets of a Serial Killer’ isn’t without its flaws, but it succeeds despite them as a result of good writing and relatable characters. I was quickly swept up by it and couldn’t stop turning the pages.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

I really enjoyed this book. Its not your traditional serial killer thriller. Which I normally enjoy. This book still kept twisting and turning. I loved the idea of throwing articles in from an unknown dark web source. I enjoyed the chase as it were to find who had taken her. It did focus on the victims pov which is actually a different style for me to read.

I think it was done very well. Open for another book and I'm sure it will be just as great.

Not your normal serial killer thriller but great none the less.

Okay, this book started really well and I was so excited to read it, but then somewhere, somehow, something fell apart.

The main plot was interesting. A serial killer, who died many years ago in an old asylum and shared all his secrets how to be a great killer without getting caughed, to someone else so they could continue his legasy. Then a 17 yo girl gone missing and her parents try to find her before is too late.
And then there were so many other plots that for me were difficult to follow.

The book is told from 4 different point of views and this sometimes can be confusing for the readers. You try to connect with each one of them and that can be very hard as it did for me. I couldn't connect quite well with them.

The beginning was very good and I thought "Oh this will be interesting" but then slowed down. The pace was a bit slow for me. Didn't kept me on the age of my seat at all. I had to put it down so many times because it didn't excite me as much as I was hoping it will. I neede more.

The ending was a bit rushed, at least that how I felt it. And it leaves you with lots of unanswered questions. So I think this story might need a second book, and probably it will have one. It will be interesting to see what will happen next.

Online true crime forums are full of speculation about a serial killer in Lancaster. Leonard McVitie was one such serial killer who died in Lancaster asylum but one forum is full of speculation that he passed all his secrets onto someone before he died so they could carry on killing.
Young women are going missing and the Police don’t appear too concerned that they could be anything more than runaways.
When 17 year old Zoe goes missing her mum knows she hasn’t just run away but no one seems to be taking her seriously.
Has the serial killer struck again and just what secrets is the derelict Lancaster asylum still keeping?
Told from the perspective of 4 main characters this was tense, compelling and left me feeling very unsettled.

2 STARS

The title and description grabbed my attention, but from
The moment I started reading, I knew I wasn’t going to be invested in how this story unfolds.

There were too many points of view that it became confusing. Around 50%, everything just got worse and the twists just jumbled together and ruined the read for me. If the author would have developed the characters further, it probably would have made for future novels in a series, or something?! This story has potential, but unfortunately, Secrets of a Serial Killer wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! This book comes on August 7, 2020.

Thanking NetGalley for the eARC for my honest review. A fast paced horror mystery. Following decades of similar crimes, possibly linked? We follow a group of people trying to find the answers. A teen Dark Web blogger, a National Health Property developer, a retired police detective, a reporter, as well as victims. Ultimately leaving us at a cliff hanger.

For some reason lately, I have been in love with books about serial killers, and this one did not disappoint. Plus, it took place in an abandoned insane asylum, where interesting stuff always goes down. It was thrilling and suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved that it was told in multiple POVs, including the serial killer himself, Zoe (his victim), Zoe’s mom, and Thomas, Zoe’s younger neighbor. What’s interesting is that the person assumed to be the serial killer, isn’t actually the killer at all. The whole premise behind the “copycat” killer who came about because she was the chosen prodigy of the original serial killer created an unexpected and thrilling twist in the plot. I also liked the unlikely hero of this story. Overall, this isn’t my favorite thriller of the year, but I was gripped from the beginning and highly recommend it to anyone who loves books about serial killers or insane asylums.

“I know that fear has always been your favorite, especially when you are the cause.”

Chilling, right? Secrets of a Serial Killer by Rosie Walker IS quite chilling. It starts with a creepy letter from a known serial killer, on his deathbed, passing the torch to his unknown protégé’. There are a lot of great things about this book, primarily the main setting of the Lune Mental Hospital in Lancaster, it is closed and dilapidated but a team of developers are looking to utilize the building. This brings us to Helen Summerton, divorced with a teen daughter, Zoe. When Zoe goes missing, Helen does everything in her power to find her. Is she a victim of Mr. X, the serial killer that’s been stalking young women in the Lancaster area? I felt the heart pounding terror & frustration for Helen as she tries to convince everyone that Zoe isn’t a teen to just take off.

The story is told from multiple POV and this was a bit of a distraction for me in the beginning. What I found extremely interesting were the dark web articles/blog posts that were geared towards the serial killer type. Giving instructions on how to be your most effective killer and get away with it is insane but having an audience that is actually interested in the content …. Yikes! The serial killer, Mr. X is also spine-tinglingly scary! I confess, I’m a bit fascinated with the psychology of sociopathic personalities and their view on the world.

“Don’t forget, in the words of the Zodiac Killer: ‘Man is the most dangerous animal of all.”

The atmosphere of the book is dark and eerie, the description of the Lune is incredibly creepy and vivid, making it easy to imagine the horrors that went on there. The plot moves quickly and although there’s quite a cast of characters and narrators, it pulls together quite nicely until the end! Talk about cliff-hanger! I don’t do well with this type of ending! My mind is hugely overactive and goes all over the place, so, needless to say, I’m still thinking about what could be today!

My thanks to One More Chapter, Rosie Walker, and NetGalley for providing me a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a riveting read, with a multi-narrative style, similar to Into the Water by Paula Hawkins. This style can be tricky to navigate, as often in having a variety of perspectives, there's some compromising on how deep of a sense you can get for any one character in the story. This centered primarily around Helen, an architect working on a redevelopment of an abandoned, derelict psychiatric asylum in Lancaster. Her teenage daughter Zoe goes missing, and there's a race against the clock to save her before it's too late.

The atmosphere with the asylum is eerie, but could have been fleshed out further to great effect. There are simultaneous stories here: one is about a historical serial killer who imitates someone to pin their killings on that person, another is about the dark history of a serial killer who lived in the asylum after its closure, yet another is about the dark web and urban explorers investigating local murders. There are even a couple more stories: one is a journalist who is trying to uncover what happened with a string of teenage girls who disappeared, and another is the experience of a young boy whose father has disappeared from his life, and his family is keeping the truth from him about why.

It would have been great to see one or two of these plot lines fleshed out thoroughly rather than so many of them very lightly done. The book was still engrossing, but would have benefited from narrowing down its scope.

I was so looking forward to this. A dead serial killer, a mysterious asylum. Right up my street.
It started quite well but I struggled with too many points of view, it felt like too many voices were trying to tell the story and my mind started to wander.
From about half way through I just struggled if I'm honest. I found the police to be unrealistic and a bit thick which didn't help as I'm a big fan of police procedurals.
A great idea that didn't really knit together for me.

Um...it started so well. A long dead serial killer who passed on his ‘legacy’, a creepy old derelict insane asylum where much of the action occurs and a missing 17 year old girl. It had all the elements. But then just after the halfway point a plot twist left me discombobulated, it kind of ruined the story for me.

Oh sure it was dark and creepy, and it was creepy, but the story devolved into a kind of gothic horror/slasher movie vibe which felt too contrived to be completely enjoyable. My favourite characters were the two children, who did go into the basement (haven’t you ever yelled at the screen - don’t go into the basement). They were adorable. My least favourite character was Bertha who felt too cliched to to be real. Overall - a story with potential that could have delivered more.

I had really high hopes for this one. I mean the title has the word secret and serial killer in it, so how could I be disappointed????? Well, here we are. The beginning of this was so boring, I swear nothing happened and now that I've finished it I could not tell you one solid thing that happened before the halfway point of this. Ultimately this was about a legacy of serial killers-which sounds way more exciting that it actually was-and about a girl who gets kidnapped by the most recent "protege." This reminded me of an episode of Criminal Minds but the off brand version. (I love CM, so I'm not bashing the show at all, it just felt like an episode I've seen before). This had way too many cheesy villain tropes for me. I know Criminal Minds is a tv show but at least it's realistic (to a point)...I hated when the parents went out on their own to the Asylum without calling the police first. How ridiculous?? Also the fact that police were 100% USELESS was so infuriating. And Tony being an ex-cop did nothing to help anyone.
Alsooooo did the police not question the two kids AT ALL. They were LITERALLY in the room with Zoe, the real life 'mr. x', and Alexander and they didn't think it would be necessary to get the FULL story??? The ONLY 'twist'(it wasn't even a twist, just a last minute shocker) in this whole book was at the very end when Thomas overheard the nurses talking about the woman they found unconscious in the asylum and how she shared an adjoining room with Zoes and that whole situation could've been entirely avoided with talking to the kids. They heard EVERYTHING. Zoe was there...she knows what really happened. I'll admit that the end shook me a bit, but then once I thought about it I saw that it could have been so easily resolved.
And the fact that they kept getting pointed to Paul what's his face because Alexander planted evidence against him and all they had to do was TALK TO THE KIDS. THEY WERE THERE WHEN ZOE STABBED HIM IN THE EYE. They didn't believe that Zoe really stabbed him because Paul wasn't stabbed, but Thomas and Maggie WERE THERE. They saw the whole thing. They were the best witnesses in this whole case and were they just written off because they were kids?? That whole situation is so annoying.
What happened to the other woman in the caravan? After Zoe is kidnapped and taken to the Caravan she realizes there is another girl in there with her. What happened to her? Were we supposed to figure that out on our own? Was is his mother? That makes no sense...what would be the point to that. He also explained that she lived in the asylum, so why would she be in the caravan?
What did they do with the bodies after she killed them? She evaded the authorities for so long and they never found any bodies, but we never get to find out where she was hiding them.
The little blogs did absolutely nothing for this story. Everything in the articles was told to us again either by Bertha or by Alexander so what was the point?
There were no plot twists which was really disappointing. No mystery to be solved, we were given so much information. The first half of the book goes so far as to label certain sections as 'Him'...so I assumed that it was someone we already knew and that would be the twist, but then later his mother called him Alexander and then all of a sudden the sections were just labeled 'Alexander.' So I don't see what the point was in that.

"Today's the day. It's his turn now. He'll slice the girl open. He needs to see the life drain from her open eyes."

For a debut novel, I have to give Rosie props--this book definitely stands out in an overly-saturated thriller genre. I truly haven't quite decided if it's for the right reasons or not, though.

You have the main plot of the serial killer, but multiple other small, but heavy plots married into this one book that it's almost too...big. The numerous point of views doesn't bother me as I like hearing other character's voices, but the various plot lines are a lot to follow. It's not very cohesive.

All that being said, at it's heart, Secrets of a Serial Killer is an enjoyable mystery that will keep you at the edge of your seat. Getting directly into the mind of a killer is something I've always wanted to experience and here, you can do just that.

I definitely recommend grabbing a copy when you're home alone at night and wanting to dip your toes into a thriller.

Fantastic thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Zoe is a teenager and main part of the story along with cute kids Thomas and Maggie. The story is creepy and scary and if you are fascinated (repulsed nonetheless) by serial killers this book will be a very good choice for you to pick up. Some lose ends that I felt should have been tied up but I think this leaves the book open for a sequel or even a series of followup books.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

A serial killer has been stalking young women for decades in the city of Lancaster. The mysterious Mr X is never caught, possibly schooled for murder by serial killer Leonard McVitie who framed others for his crimes. McVitie died in 1985 in Lancaster Lune Mental Hospital which has since closed and is in some disrepair. Helen Summerton is an architect tasked with converting the old hospital into luxury flats. Helen’s life is turned completely upside down when her seventeen year old daughter Zoe goes missing and it becomes a race against time to find her alive. The story is told from several perspectives and interspersed with anonymous online news articles known as ‘Urban Dark Reporter’.

The book starts well with the McVitie angle and there are good descriptions of the old hospital building which gets your interest straight away and provides a good atmosphere to the unfolding story. There are some promising aspects to the novel and the premise is good. I really like the news articles which connects the present day to past cases of missing teens and the urban legend of Mr X. There’s one character who is very creepy and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and there are some tense and scary moments in the first half of the book. There are some cat and mouse moments with the killer and the victim which provides menace and some tense scenes in the hospital basement which are good.

However, from about half way my attention starts to wander. There are too many character points of view and the switching from one perspective to another causes loss of pace, momentum is lost and this unevenness becomes the pattern of the book from now on. There is some character underdevelopment too which is probably caused by the over abundance of perspectives which detracts from any menace you should feel. Some dialogue especially that of the killer, feels stilted and strikes a false note and you begin to feel like you’ve stepped into an old Hollywood horror movie from the 1930’s. The killers character feels stereotypical with the proverbial crazed laughter.

Overall, this could have been really good. It does have some good sections but the character switching, uneven pacing, too long to make connections and an unfinished conclusion means it’s an ok three star read in my opinion, although it’s only fair to note that other readers enjoyed this much more than me.

With thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for the ARC.

This one has it all ~ a serial killer who frames other people ahead of time, a lunatic asylum, a reporter who is doing a series on how to get away with murder, a beautiful young girl, and two precocious kids! It was a fast read, and while a bit over the top, what did I expect from a lunatic asylum?? Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a creepy and gruesome read but very entertaining! Seventeen-year-old Zoe goes missing after a night out with friends when she meets a mysterious man. Mother Helen is terrified something horrifying has happened as Zoe has never stayed out all night but there are no clues and Zoe's friends have no knowledge of what happened. Added to that is Helen's job as an architect as she is working to restore an old--seemingly haunted--asylum that reveals documents that a serial killer left his "protege." Add to that ten-year-old Thomas and his cousin who are up for some adventure and stumble on trouble they didn't ask for. It's dark and gritty with some great twists but it's pretty graphic so read with the lights on!