Heather and her mother had a strained relationship, so when Heather receives notice of her mother's suicide, it comes as quite a shock to her. Something seems off, but Heather can't quite put her finger on it. When she begins to go through her mother's belongings, she is surprised to find a few things out of place, which is uncharacteristic of her mother. Most disturbing of all, Heather finds several letters addressed to her mother from a convicted serial killer, dating back to years before his arrest. Why was her mother exchanging letters with a convicted murderer? And what really happened to her mother?
When I read the description for this novel, and even the first few chapters, I was very intrigued and interested in the storyline. Unfortunately I found myself unable to finish the book, as I found the narrative jumped around so much that the book was hard to follow. I quickly became confused and had to make the difficult decision to stop reading. I did enjoy the author's creative writing and would be interested to check out future novels by her.

I seldom am as unnerved by a book as I was by this one.

It was a slow starter and hard to keep reading. It seemed to stop and start in jerks. I did not empathize with the main character - she was to self serving and plain full of hate. She only became a real person towards the end of the book.

Good story - just not crafted as well as it could have been.

Honestly, I couldn't wait to dive into this book. The premise sounded amazing and it's the type of story I have been in to lately. It started out with a bang- a daughter cleaning out her mother's house after passing away and discovering stacks of letters to The Red Wolf, a now imprisoned serial killer, dating back decades. Did Heather really know her mother at all? What secrets were her mother hiding and why?

Then, the body of a young woman turns up and the ritualistic killing similarities between this current day body and The Red Wolf's victims are too much to ignore. Heather reports her letter finding to a local detective and he decides that Heather should visit the prison to talk to The Red Wolf. It could help them solve the current murder if Heather can get him to talk. Perhaps he was not alone in the murders and had an accomplice...

We get an alternating perspective from Heather's present day storyline to a past story line involving an abused boy. How does this past story melt into the present day scenario? How does the boy, Michael, fit into Heather's life? I think the author did a wonderful job in the writing and the character development was terrific. I really got excited to read on with each turn of the page.

Towards the last 1/3 of the story it really seemed to slow down. Just when things got interesting, it quickly became suddenly drawn out and I found it hard to stay interested. Heather, as a character whole, seemed to really start getting on my nerves for some reason. She went from a character I liked and sympathized with to a character is despised and who frustrated me with her way of thinking and actions she took.

The plot starts to swirl like a tornado at the end. It felt rushed and confusing and before I knew it, it was over. We meet so many new characters it was hard to keep track of them all and remember how they fit into this story. Serial killer, family secrets, cults- its all in the ending. The reveal is what I wanted to know more about. A second book written about those characters would be amazing!

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me an advanced e-copy to read and give my honest review. It was a 3 1/2 star read for me!

"A Dark and Secret Place" is set to be release here in the U.S. on June 8, 2021sp preorder now to add to your summer reading list!

Happy Reading!

"A heart for a heart."

A book that involves a serial killer? I'm automatically DRAWN IN!!

First of all let me say that I'm a Heather...I'd be RIGHT there, visiting a serial killer in prison to find out WHY he was writing letters to my mom (and she was writing back - ummm, hello??)

This one had me on high alert as the armchair detective that I am, trying to figure out who the copy cat killer was. There were twists and turns. And folklore.

There was a lot going on towards the end; maybe a little too much. All in all, this book had huge potential but left me with a messy ending.

Feed your obsession with True Crime Documentaries and serial killers by burying yourself in A Dark and Secret Place! A dark, creepy thriller with a horrifying, twisty reveal!

How would you react if you found out your mother was a notorious serial killer’s pen pal? For years?

Heather returns to her family home after her mother’s, Colleen’s, suicide. Going through Colleen’s things, Heather finds a large stack of letters – written by the notorious Red Wolf, Michael Reave, a serial killer who decorated his victim’s bodies with flowers and removed their hearts.

As disturbing as this finding might be, it wouldn’t be so significant if it wasn’t for the fact that a Red Wolf copy-cat killer has recently emerged and already has a few victims under his belt.

Heather really wants to know why her mother was exchanging letters with a serial killer, like old friends. Also, although Heather isn’t working for a newspaper anymore, her journalist instinct tells her there could be a story there. So, working with the police, Heather goes in to talk to Michael Reave, hoping he can tell them about this new serial killer on the loose, and how he knew her mother.

As I was reading A Dark and Secret Place, let’s just say I was always looking forward to Heather’s chats with the Red Wolf. As a true crime junkie, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has wished she could be a fly on the wall in an interrogation room with any notorious serial criminal, just to try and understand how they can be what they are.

I also enjoyed the chapters that were narrated by a young Michael Reave. His backstory was dark and twisted, just as I’d imagine a lot of serial killer’s would be, but he was still hard to sympathize with. In a way, the ending of the novel for the Red Wolf felt satisfying to me (I won’t spoil it).

As for twists and shocks, A Dark and Secret Place has quite a few! Many of which I saw coming, though the biggest ones I hadn’t even anticipated.

All in all, A Dark and Secret Place was just dark and creepy, as I like them. It reads well and keeps the reader intrigued through it all. I give A Dark and Secret Place four stars!

This book sadly was a "did not finish". I have a hard time with supernatural but the reviews were good so I decided to try, just not for me. I hope the novel does well and I wish her well. Just not my cup of tea but thank you NetGalley for the chance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read A Dark and Secret Place early in exchange for an honest review!

Heather's life is thrown into upheaval when her mother commits suicide and, in the process of going through her mother's things, she discovers that her mother has been in communication with a convicted serial killer for decades. To make matters worse, new murders matching the old ones MO start to turn up and weird things start happening around Heather. Is she next on the killer's list?

I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I read it in one day - it was held my attention and provided enough mystery to keep me wanting to find out what was going on. Williams did a good job of weaving the past and present into the narrative and tying the two timelines together. As much as Heather seemed to be a bit of a mess (she makes a lot of questionable decisions that might make sense for someone dealing with guilt and grief but also seem just stupid), I wanted her to figure out what was going on and come out on top. However, there were some loose ends that never got resolved that really irritated me - questions about what happened to some of the peripheral characters, what was going on with the DI and Heather after the final climactic scene, how she got out of there, etc. - that I would have liked closure on. The lack of resolution with some of those issues made the ending feel rushed and a bit too "neat". Yet even with those issues it was overall interesting and engaging, but I hope that if Williams continues writing thrillers that some of those narrative issues get tweaked.

There was a lot to unpack here! I can say without a doubt I was kept on the edge of my seat with the page turner. I can't say that I guessed the ending and I was turning the pages as fast as I could. Heather was going through a lot of tough times and she didn't always make the best choices but as far as the writing I think Williams did an excellent job. This will be a hit for sure on the thriller scene this summer!

Although the premise was intriguing, I found this book slow and predictable. It seemed the author was more focused on creating an atmosphere of creepiness than in building a suspenseful, well paced plot. Sorry, I can't recommend this one.

This was so good at the beginning, but then I simply got bored. The premise is great: feisty woman's mother commits suicide, woman finds out mother has been corresponding with a serial killer for decades, woman attempts to interview serial killer to find out clues to help stop a serial killer copycat on the loose.

The narrative alternates between past and present. There are talks of communes/ cults, dysfunctional families, weird neighbors, awkward romances, and fairy tale elements. Sadly the execution fell flat, and the main character's too strong and almost problematic personality just failed to make me care about her. The end was too rushed, the motivation for the murders not explained enough or at least not believable enough for me.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC.

What a great read! Don't read it alone at night- every sound will make you jump!! Williams did a good job of keeping me guessing in this psychological thriller. The more she learned about her Mom's past left me with several guesses but the I never imagined the ending. Couldn't put it down.

3.5 stars rounded down.

Heather returns home, to her mother’s house to put put things in order after her mother’s shock suicide. She left home at 16 and hasn’t been back since. Her mother’s suicide note was cryptic and disturbing and Heather wonders what was going through her mind. She doesn’t like staying in this house and it gives her the creeps. While searching for clues about her mother she stumbles across a tin of letters in the attic. Her mother had been corresponding with Michael Reave (known as the Red Wolf), a serial killer serving a life sentence, for over 20 years. Stunned, she sets about learning what links this man and her mother’s early life. He has always maintained his innocence.

She starts a series of prison visits to Reave, with the aid of DI Ben Parker. The police are supportive of these visits as another killing spree has kicked off, eerily echoing the earlier Red Wolf killings, and they are wondering if Reave knows anything about them. Is there a copycat? Or is Reave actually innocent? While the police have their agenda, Heather just wants to know what he can tell her about her mother. Apparently they knew each other in a hippy commune in the 80s near Fiddler’s Woods. Either way, neither of them learn very much, Reave is cryptic in the extreme. The only thing Heather really learns for sure is that she didn’t really know her mother at all.

Back at the house there are signs Heather is being watched and....is someone getting into the house and leaving creepy messages? Or what? Finally she realises she needs to return to where it all started - Fiddler’s Woods. What she finds there will challenge everything she thought was true.

I liked the story, I didn’t find it creepy (I rarely do) but it had a certain dark, brooding, menacing atmosphere that worked well. Heather was a strange character, she was bit volatile. The other characters were less well fleshed out. The pace was a bit patchy and the story lagged at times. But overall I did enjoy this book. It was certainly better done than many others I have read in this genre. I think what mainly spoiled it for me was the Red Wolf himself and the whole ‘mythology’ if you like surrounding him. The concept, which I can’t tell you about, didn’t make any sense to me. But Heather said as much towards the end. This should appeal to fans of dark fairy tales and dark psychological thrillers. I received an advance review copy for from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

3.5 stars

A Dark and Secret Place is Jen Williams's first foray into the suspense/thriller genre. This dark novel is an original and unique story about a mother's secret ties to a serial killer and a set of copycat murders. It made me reflect on how much we don't know about our parents pre-children and what secrets they may hide.

I think this A Dark and Secret Place benefited from Williams's background in writing fantasy. I enjoyed that this story was not all heart-stopping action and murder. Instead, Williams crafts a story with nuisanced characters and layers. For me, it made it a richer narrative and one that I was invested in beyond whodunnit.

While I would not call this a fast-paced novel, the storyline is intense. atmospheric, and creepy. There are definitely a few twists, at least one I saw coming. However, what I would call "the big twist" I definitely did not guess. I originally went into the book completely blind. However, the beginning of the book has multiple narrators, and it was not immediately apparent how they connected. So I read the synopsis, because I am an impatient person and do not like being in the unknown. Yet, the synopsis did not really ruin any of the plot points and did bring clarity to my confusion.

I will say that there was quite a bit going on in the story, some of which could have been cut out. There is one part of the story that I felt like was just dropped, and I was looking forward to understanding the puzzle. I also found that the pace of A Dark and Secret Place was uneven. The middle sagged a bit while the ending felt rushed and did not provide me with enough time to fully grasp all that happened. That being said, I did finish this book in one evening and stayed up late to finish it.

Overall, I enjoyed A Dark and Secret Place, but I did not love it. However, do not let that discourage you as I still recommend the book. If you are sensitive to any gore, you may want to skip this one. But if you don't mind a little bit of blood, guts, and horror, this is a twisty, layered story worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Amazingly vividly horrific descriptive book! Grabs you on the first page and you can't put it down!!! A must-read for fans of mystery and horror.

This is the first book I read from this author and in my opinion it was very well wrItten. Although it took me sometime engage and want to keep turning the pages. As the book unfolds, it gets darker and darker, with surprising revelations. I would recommend this book.

This is Jen Williams’ first foray into thriller writing and I definitely think she earned her internet detective badge. This is a dark thriller (yes the title is very literal) so if you aren’t into a bit of gore you should avoid this book. BUT if you like a twisty, layered killer backstory then this book should be added to your murder board.

The first chapter takes place sometime in the 50s in the UK and it will have your skin crawling 😱 It feels like the Dexter origin story and we all know how that turned out! We then cut to present day where we meet Heather who has just found out her mum has committed suicide. They haven’t been close since she left home at sixteen so she is stunned to learn of her tragic passing. She returns to her childhood home to handle her affairs and she discovers a box full of letters between her mom and the infamous 1970s Red Wolf serial killer. Heather, quite understandably is like WTF mum? While Heather tries to unpack and then repack up her mum’s double life, a new serial killer is on the loose and is murdering women in the same gruesome tableau style as the Red Wolf. Heather speaks with hottie DI Parker and shares her discovery. Is there a link? Was her mum involved in the Red Wolf murders? Why did she kill herself?

While the storyline is intense, it moves at a slow burn pace. I was turning the pages, but at a reasonable, moderate pace. There are a lot of chapters which not much happens and I think these could have been tightened up to make for a more compulsive read.

Williams adds in Grimm fairy tale references that are mixed into the murder lore that really aren’t necessary and IMO cheapen the narrative. The majority of the twists are easy to figure out but the overall plot and backstory of the killer is rich in tragedy and complexity which you just don’t see too often.

I hope Williams continues with this genre because HER dark place is not secret anymore.

The mystery of connections to the commune and the serial killers kept my reading. Foreshadowing, and reliance on some major tropes made the twist easy to see. Keep your eyes on the birds and the neighborhood-- they hold more clues than you might think. I enjoyed this book-- even at some of its most disturbing parts, I was compelled to keep reading.

What a twisted little story this is. 3.5 stars rounded up. I enjoyed the journey to try to understand what was going on. You have a few POV but 2 main ones - Heather, a grieving daughter trying to understand her mother's passing when she hasn't see her lately, and a young boy who is rescued by an older man. These two storylines take a while to connect but you do start to see the significance as the story moves along.

I liked Heather. She was unpredictable and fiery. She definitely didn't do things the way I would have but I liked her way too. I loved the lore and the intermingled fairytales, no matter who was telling them. Interesting story that definitely held my interest. I'm glad I read it.

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

This is one dark and creepy book. A thriller that kept me turning pages. My first book by this author.

Can you turn a child into a future serial killer? Can you groom them and shape them to be evil? Is that even possible? What happened in the commune all those years ago?

This book started out strong and kept me interested all the way. I had to know. I wanted to know. Who was doing these awful killings? It couldn't possibly be a man who was locked away in prison. He could not be instigating these horrific murders could he. Was he groomed from a young age? Did someone train him to be a killer. Or were they born with it?

There are not a lot of likable characters in this story. But I did feel sorry for Michael. I really did. Even though he was behind bars for being a serial killer I felt sorry for the poor man. I think circumstances made him. I think being so abused and hated shaped him into what he became. I don't mean that he should not be in prison because most certainly he should. I just mean he was a child. A very badly abused child. The product of a horrible family who hated him. By a man who took him in. Fed him. Taught him.

This book definitely made me cringe in so many ways. It was not an overly emotional book at all. I didn't cry are get sad. I felt horrible though. I felt bad for the child. I felt bad for Heather who had to face so much too. What kind of secrets did her mother keep? What kind of person was her mother? She could have been a good person but with a lot of terrible secrets. A burden to bear that she just could not face in the end. Maybe not a burden. Maybe a weakness. A sadness that she could not overcome. A guilt. A secret that she could not live with. Or maybe she was murdered...

This book will take you places. It will hold your interest. If you like dark and scary that is. The one thing that I wish it would have added in the end was whether Heather and the DI Parker ended up together. But that didn't happen so I will use my very vivid imagination..

Thank you to #NetGalley, #JenWilliams, #CrookedLaneBooks for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

4/5 stars and I do recommend you read it for yourself. You may like it. You may find it to be too dark and creepy. Too intense. Depends on what you like I suppose.

“𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆.”

A dark, creepy suspense novel that has you wondering if monsters in the woods are real…

Heather Evans returns home to pick up the pieces after her mother’s suicide. When cleaning her house, she discovers a box of letters from notorious serial killer Michael Reave, the “Red Wolf.” What did Heather’s mother have to do with Reave? And with the “Red Wolf” behind bars, what does the new batch of similar killings mean?

I really enjoyed this book. Jen Williams’ writing is evocative; her setting descriptions in particular of the woods really shine. The multiple viewpoints and timelines held my interest. I loved the references to Grimm fairy tales; they added a genuine creepy feel, especially when referring to Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. It is overall atmospheric and there were quite a few moments that were genuinely creepy; I was reminded a lot of The Whisper Man. My only complaint was the last third really seemed to rush, and a lot happened, almost too much to fully understand. Plus I wanted a little more development at the end with DI Parker and Heather.

Overall though, A Dark and Secret Place was a creepy, atmospheric read that had me staying up until 12:30 am to find out what happened, with a few moments of genuine unease! A big thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the ARC!