Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Hard to believe that this is a debut. A fab book well-written, great plot, good characters. This book kept me guessing all the way through. Riveting.

This book was the absolute definition of "unputdownable." A serial killer has been terrorizing Lancaster for decades, and the police are baffled. Every local mother's worst nightmare has become Helen Summerton's reality -- the killer has taken her daughter Zoe. Can Helen figure out where Zoe is before it's too late?

WOW. Secrets of a Serial Killer was a complete rollercoaster from start to finish. A MUST READ!

This was a good thriller with lots of twists and turns. Very compelling characterisations but rather too many hints which made the conclusion rather rushed. Certainly a book you can't put down.

Creepy and compelling. A definite twist on the usual serial killer story. I spent the whole day devouring this. Snowed outside and I didn’t even notice! I like the choice of characters and deciding who it could be! 100% recommended.

What a creepy and twisting thrill of a story. This book had everything I want in a thriller. The multiple POVs sometimes led to things being less developed than I would have liked, but the story was interesting enough to keep me hooked.

Netgalley review copy

Secrets of a serial killer by Rosie walker
3/5

A serial killer has been terrorising Lancaster for decades, longer than should ever have been possible. The police are baffled, eluded at every turn by the killer whose victims span generations. Speculation is rife among the true crime forums; is someone passing on their gruesome trade?

Every local mother's worst nightmare has become Helen Summerton's reality; he’s taken her daughter, Zoe. As the clock runs down so do her chances of survival. Can Helen unearth the secrets of the killer before it’s too late?

Serial Killer, Creepy old lunatic asylum, Missing teenager, Two kids egging each other on to explore
All the ingredients for a great creepy thriller. And it was, in parts. The beginning. And the end. The serial killer who adopts other people's identities is an interesting premise. But we only got a small glance at this.

Secrets of a Serial Killer is a debut novel, a good one, but not a great one. I can see the potential but it could be greatly improved.

This book is both awesome and disturbing at the same time. The killer is diabolical and very clever. The world building is dark and eerie. On the other hand, this story is so fast paced and suspenceful. It had me tense through the whole book. I loved it.

What do you get when you have sketchy neighbors, teen rebels, incredibly brave young explorers, a frantic mother, a psychopathic killer, and an abandoned asylum? You get a scream fest that is best read in the daylight hours…around people you trust…in a locked home.

Helen is an architect and a single mom to an angsty teenager with an older questionable boyfriend. Helen’s daughter, Zoe, disappears without a trace. With no time to waste and possible evidence of their own, Helen and her ex-husband, Tony, a retired police officer, are determined to find their daughter before it’s too late.

Thomas and Maggie are young cousins who are full of curiosity and recklessness which puts them in extreme danger. It’s a night they will not forget.

This terrifying story is told from four points of view including the killer. The slow-building thriller is eerie and bone-chilling in its engrossing details of how the killer came to be and how the victims fall into the killer’s hands.

I recommend this heart-stopping suspense thriller to those who are fascinated by serial killers and who love shocking endings.

Thank you to Ms. Walker and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

This was a great read - so suspenseful! I like that there are multiple point of views to telling the story, makes it so interesting. Definitely a few unexpected twists, which is always great in a thriller novel!

Secrets of a Serial Killer is a creepy thriller about a killer who has evaded police for decades. With the stakes high, the mother of a girl he kidnapped takes the search into her own hands- but will she get answers in time?
This book was intense and very fast paced. I look forward to reading more from the author.
Many thanks to One More Chapter and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This book started out strong with a serial killer who goes undetected in society for a long time but a recent missing girl’s case has brought the spotlight on crimes that has gone unsolved for a long long time. The beginning was creepy and spine chilling but somewhere along the way the multiple povs unravel and leaves us wanting more.

From the start, this novel was tense. I only knew tension when reading this I mean this in the best way possible, I was constantly guessing at the revelation and nothing could have prepared me! With most thrillers, there is an air of ~stupidity~ with some characters, like with horror movies where you want to scream at them for going the wrong way, doing the wrong thing, or getting too close to suspicious characters but Walker creates a beautiful balance of curiosity and common-sense. Most notably, Helen, Zoe's mother. Zoe was the girl to unfortunately be kidnapped (spoiler... not really) and Helen goes into full detective mode and does everything right in the search for her daughter. It was refreshing to read a character in a thriller who didn't make stupid mistakes for the sake of plot extending.

I really do not want to give the game away with this one, I definitely think it is worth your time picking it up yourself. It was a quick read and had enjoyably short chapters with exciting cliffhangers that left you wanting more. I absolutely loved Walker's writing style, it was compelling and drew you into the narrative before you'd realised it. I will mention that something felt missing, I couldn't put my finger on it whilst reading but looking back I think the multiple storylines became a little confusing.

Whilst the story itself became a collection of smaller storylines and as a whole was a great read, the individual stories didn't marry up until nearer the end and at times it felt like reading three books at once. Walker did a wonderful job with each storyline but I would have loved to have seen more of each in their own publications.

Overall, I really enjoyed it! The issue of smaller narratives being a little confusing was only a small niggle compared to the rest of the story and I would still love to have this on more people's shelves!

“Secrets of a Serial Killer” is a debut thriller from Rosie Walker. A serial killer has been terrorizing a small city for decades, but never gets caught. After many years have passed, missing girls cases have been reported, this also becomes a parents fear for their teenagers especially a teenage girl, could be the next missing girls and a victim of a longlife serial killer. This book clearly has good premises in it, especially for the suspense factor. Personally reading this book is like watching a movie, it starts with a slight slow build, multiple POVs, family drama, and suddenly it moves to the “time is running out” phase for every character that is involved in this book.

What I missed from this book is the author didn't bring enough story about the serial killer itself, only some introduction about the person, but then it gets interrupted by other characters which leads to another questions like “why he decide to do it” or “where and how the person learned to become a serial killer”. Seems like the author just wants the readers to focus only with the gripping and suspense elements, and a lunatic character itself.

Overall, this book is good, and has good premises on it, not really bad for a debut.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, I received the ARC of this book in exchange with my honest review

3.75 stars

This was an excellent, fast-paced, psychological thriller. I devoured the book in two days. I enjoyed all the characters, especially, the 10-year-old cousins. I wouldn’t be surprised if this book was made into a Netflix movie.

The only thing I didn’t like was the very ending. The ending was good until the last few pages there was a cliff hanger. The readers are left to their own assumptions on what might happen and I doubt there will be a second book to answer those questions.

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

This story was fast paced at the beginning, slowed down a bit in the middle, then jumped back up into high gear for the end! I enjoyed the dark atmosphere that had me on the edge of my seat through most of the story. The author did a great job of bringing that goose-bump feeling. I think that there may have been a bit too much going on, and some of it could have been edited out. Overall though, it was a solid story!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

I don't know what it says about me but as soon as I saw the title of this book, I had to read it. I love books about serial killers...there's something so addicting and thrilling about them, however dark and disturbing they tend to be. And when you add in a mental hospital, it just amps up the tension and suspense.

Overall, I liked this book. I will say, it did get a little hard to follow at times with so many different threads, but it all came together at the end. It's definitely dark and creepy, and completely atmospheric, which I totally loved. At times, I did feel that the pacing did drag a bit, but with the multiple points of view telling the story, I think that might have contributed to that. But, I really wanted to find out what happened next, so I kept reading, which is always a good sign!

This is Rosie Walker's debut novel and I enjoyed her writing. I will for sure be eager to see what she writes next.

As a thriller lover i was so looking foreword to this book because that description it really draws attention.
It starts off really good, with a serial killer on a hunt over decades and his inheritance passed over, with dark places where i personally would be scared to cross on my way, with a mental health institute where we all know that everything is not at all what it looks like and with a terrified mother when her daughter is abducted and her chances of survival are getting to a minimal with each hour.
I must admit that i hat to put a stop a few times and maybe even reread parts of the story because it's told in multiple pov and i just got lost along the way , especially after the first half. Personally i found it pretty predictable after i got a hold of who is who and what everyone is doing, but i was also disappointed in other aspects of the story and hence the lower star rating. In my opinion it could've been done better , it felt too rush at times or just underdeveloped.


NetGalley arc, my opinions are my own

I love mysteries, and the more dark and disturbing they are the better I like them.

I was interested in the plot from the beginning. I liked the multiple POVs, including the killer as one. I also liked the history/story behind the serial killings. I liked that it was multigenerational.
I also liked that the author picked the mental asylum as one of the main locations. I think it gave the book more of an eerie feel because it brings in all the horrific practices that used to actually happen in mental hospitals.

I loved the ending. I do not like things wrapped up in a bow. I also find cliff hangers in mystery books thrilling.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book is the lack of connection I felt with the main characters investigating. One of the POVs wasn’t a detective. Normally all the mysteries I read have a detective as the main character and my enjoyment of the book depends on how much I like that detective. I didn’t have that in this book. I am a fan of the dark or troubled detective when done right.

I also think the book could have been darker.

I did thoroughly enjoy it and finished it in one day, there was just something missing for me to give it 5 stars.

I've tried to read this book 3 times now and I just can't seem to make myself care about it. I found all of the characters pretty undeveloped and 2-dimensional. I usually really enjoy serial killer books of all kinds but this one just didn't hit it for me unfortunately. There definitely needed more space for each character to be fleshed out. There needed to be something more to make me care about them.

This book really owns the term “page turner” I couldn’t look away from the book even when things got crazy. I was pulled in by the first page and I think I finished it in record time.

I love the idea of a female serial killer mastermind and I love how it played out almost like a Psycho plot.

One of the best reads I have gotten from NetGalley in awhile