After her mother's passing Heather finds a letter written by an inmate. What's the connection, what secret did her mother hide?
The story unfolds at a slow pace from light to darkness and back into the light. Eerie scenes and lush landscapes compete for the reader's attention. Friends come and go. The investigation turns private. So much is hidden, waiting to be revealed.
Finally a well crafted twist! Unfortunately, after that the end is near and what was a captive story just sizzles out.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC.

Once again, I was swayed by a comparison to authors I admire - Jane Harper and Rachel Caine. But the book didn’t live up to the hype. The premise here is that a daughter returns home after her mother’s suicide and discovers her mother had carried on a secret correspondence for years with a serial killer. New copycat murders are taking place and the police ask her to meet with the serial killer to see if anything can be learned.
The book has got a nice dark, creepy factor to it - think Grimm fairy tales, ominous notes, weird neighbors, wild creatures where they shouldn’t be. It’s told in a nonlinear fashion - the serial killer’s early life mixed in with Heather’s present day. The book gets off to a slow start and I felt like it was sort of all over the place. And I never felt like I really got a feel for Heather. She just never seemed real to me. The ending was decent. I had put together some, but not all of it.
My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this book.

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

When Heather Evans returns home after the shocking suicide of her mother (Colleen), all the uncomfortable feelings of their shared past, of the distance between them, comes to the surface. Remembering the simmering anger she felt as a child, the house a too quiet, cold place with memories better left forgotten, her nerves are on edge thinking of her mother’s disturbing end. The eerie mention of monsters in the wood in Colleen’s suicide note could be chalked up to derangement if she didn’t know her sensible mother better. When she stumbles upon quiet, respectable Colleen’s secret stash of letters, she is sick in her gut to discover a secret her mother kept tightly sealed. She had been corresponding with the “Red Wolf”, infamous serial killer Michael Reave, whose decades of imprisonment for brutal, ritualistic murders of women is nothing short of gruesome, terrifying. When a young woman is found dismembered, her body arranged just like the “Red Wolf” disposed of a victim decades past, his outcries of his innocence begs to be heard.

How could her ‘well-to-do’ mother have been keeping such a secret, even while married to Heather’s father? The letters dating back twenty five years reveal more than any stories her mother ever shared, as she was never one for reminiscing. Why does the fact that in all the years Colleen wrote to the monster she never even mentioned Heather feel like a personal jab? There are strange things her mother wrote in her final farewell and Michael’s letters are like a bloody trail of crumbs leading Heather on a dangerous path to her mother’s poisonous past. The only way to attempt to understand this mystery is to confront the “Red Wolf”, despite the horror she feels knowing that her mother could have been one of those ridiculous serial killer groupies. With the help of the police, DI Ben Parker in particular, she comes to learn Colleen was Michael Reave’s only friend and that suddenly the police are open to her meeting with him. The “Red Wolf” will only talk to her, and maybe the police can find some information through Heather about these the grisly, copycat murders. In meeting Reaves, Heather will discover a tale of a family “everyone whispers about”.

What, if anything, did Michael have to do with her mother’s suicide? What does he know about Colleen’s past on the ‘hippy’ commune? Who or what are the monsters in the wood, and are they watching Heather now too? Why does she suddenly have a creeping feeling of impending doom? Is her own life now in danger? Straight away he tells her “Everyone has secrets, Lass”, but she is buried in the weight of the life her mother had before she was born. Colleen made choices, choices that were both her ruin and salvation. Michael Reave’s memories are like riddles or dark fairy tales, can Heather untangle the past through him or will he muddy the facts more? It all goes back to 1977 and a place called Fiddler’s Mill.

Violence is waiting, pulsing in the dark, Parker tells her their priority is her safety but how can you keep a woman safe from the monsters of truth? The knowledge her mother kept bundled up, that appears to have driven her to the desperate act of suicide, may well strip Heather of her very identity. Heather must enter the dark and secret place where the horror was born.

The novel is a slow read at times, although there is a lot happening. My one wish was for more time spent on Colleen in the past as well as raising Heather in the aftermath, what went through her mind, her inner turmoil. It would have been a lot more engaging with more connections to the characters emotionally but it’s still a decent storyline. I could see this turned into a movie.

Publication Date: June 8, 2021

Crooked Lane Books

Twisty, twisty. Remember that version of Red Riding Hood where the wolf tricks her into eating her own grandmother? Yeah, this story isn't that at all, but you are heading in the right direction...

The plucky-journalist heroine, Heather, really kind of loses it when she can't figure out why her mom killed herself. The whole book is a crawl through her mother's past to get to the truth, but it's like a dark and shocking fairy tale.

There is something new to be discovered everywhere. There were two times I stopped and thought ah--saw that one coming! There were some reveals that made my jaw drop, though. If you're into thrillers about serial killers and you're missing Mindhunters right now, this one's for you.

This book started out really slow. I really enjoyed the premise of this story, but it turned out to be pretty predictable. There were some parts that felt unnecessarily dragged out, but I liked the multiple POVs in the story.

Convicted serial killer Michael Reave, better known as Red Wolf, has been in jail for years. So when another woman's body turns up murdered in the same gruesome manner that was Reave's trademark, it raises the question of who the killer is this time around. Coincidence or copycat? It's a question that dogs journalist Heather Evans when she learns that her mother, who just committed suicide, had been exchanging letters with Reave throughout his two decades in prison. It's got the police stumped as well, so when Heather shows the letters her mother got from Reave and kept hidden away, Detective Inspector Ben Parker arranges for her to visit Reave in hopes he will not only explain his connection to Heather's mother but say more about the women he's insisted he didn't kill.

Reave, however, isn't forthcoming; instead, he tells a story about a young boy who drank water that turned him into a wolf. But he admits to knowing Heather's mother, Colleen, who he claims loved stories like this. Meanwhile, yet another woman's life is snuffed out. At this point, there's no doubt someone is imitating Reave, but who, and why? Heather discovers a communal place where her mother and Reave may have met not far from London; today, it's a spa popular with rich folks. Still, she's certain the site holds keys to the past that somehow have been unlocked in her world today.

As the investigation continues, it becomes clear that Heather, too, may be at risk; as she stays in her old home - where her mother lived until she died - strange and creepy sounds and objects appear to make her doubt what's real and what's not. Meantime, interspersed chapters revert to "Before," slowly revealing clues as to what really happened all those years ago at the commune and how what happened there relates to Heather, her mother and Red Wolf.

Needless to say, there are more than a few fairytale-like twists in the story, with one of the biggest evident to me very early on. And I do have a few issues with Heather's behavior - one a professional screw-up that no journalist I know would ever make. The other came near the end, when the formerly strong-willed but for the most part sensible Heather veered off down the B-movie path toward the dark alley instead of the well-lit street to the police station. At that point, I have to admit I pretty much stopped caring what happened to her.

As a whole, though, it's an engrossing and entertaining story with a very dark side that certainly held my attention throughout - and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy. Last but definitely not least, I'm happy to say I learned a couple of new words ("skewhiff," for instance) - always a treat because I love sharing these finds with our wonderful English daughter-in-law.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this arc. I loved the premise of this book and thought the story was great! If you like a slow build up and lots of description, this book is for you. I had a feeling about one twist' but whoa, a couple of others were doozies!

Heather returns home after her mother’s suicide and discovers her mother had been corresponding with a jailed serial killer, when a series of murders occurs mimicking the MO of the jailed killer. That sets the scene for A Dark and Secret Place. Told in alternating time periods, this is a twisty thriller, but it’s a bit predictable with one too many cliched characters. However there’s enough suspense to hold your interest, but it felt like a rushed ending. 3.5 stars. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately won’t be able to get to this book before it is archived. Although the plot/summary intruiged me- I just couldn’t get into the first few pages. After reading a few reviews that had similar feelings, I decided it was not worth continuing to read at this time. I’d be willing to try again and look to read this novel when it is released during the summer.

This book started of really strong and I was instantly hooked. I felt as the book went on I became less engaged because the pacing was a bit off. I didn't get enough information to stay invested in the story. And by the end, that problem was magnified because I was still unclear on most aspects of the plot including: who the man (Bert) was, why he took Michael in, why Michael was killing, why the man cult started, why/how exactly the Bickerstaff sisters were involved, and why they trained Michael's son to kill. I also thought the details surrounding Heather's family were confusing. I assume her dad got very upset when he saw the dead bird because he assumed she had killed it and knew her father was a serial killer? I didn't think that was clear from the book.

There were also some issues with the writing, including a characters described as "tall and stocky", if I remember correctly. Stocky typically means short and compact from my understanding.

If you like your thrillers infused with some twisted fairy tales, this is the book for you! Heather is grieving her mother's suicide when she discovers a box full of letters from The Red Wolf, serial killer Michael Reaves who is behind bars. As she attempts to discover the history between her mom and him, she's drawn into a web of deceit; she even visits him in prison hoping to get some answers. But when a "new" serial killer emerges with the same MO, things become even more complicated. It's creepy, dark, and everything you could hope for in a thriller!

It's been a while since I've read a good psychological thriller novel, and A Dark and Secret Place really didn't disappoint. There was a lot of tension and a creepy vibe going on in the story. I like the shifts between the past and the present to give the whole overall feel of the story

What I like from the start is the atmosphere surrounding the entire story was filled with so much mystery, and I'm always on edge with Heather as she slowly unravels parts of her mother's past.

There was a ton of twists and turns through the book, though if there was one thing that made me a bit put off, was how the pacing kinda slowed down around the latter half of the book.

I honestly felt like the story went a bit sluggish through the parts when I got to Colleen's teenage chapters with Micheal, and that some chapters felt more like a filler to me than a concrete essential to the plot.

Then there's Heather herself, and her relationship with Ben. In the first part of the book, I found the whole romance really awkward, and their development, also awkward and forced in a way. There's a ton of elements that went on in this book, that it was really hard to really love Heather, especially with how she handles certain situations.

In overall, I gave this book 4 stars, primarily because there were still redeeming parts with the mood of the story. I do think, there's a ton to improve with character portrayal and development. Still, thank you, NetGalley, and Crooked Lane Books for giving me a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Really liked this book! Such a dark thriller. Loved the premise of a daughter finding out that her deceased mother was in touch with an alleged serial killer. Heather didn’t have a great relationship with her mother and is appalled to find out stacks of correspondence between her mother and the notorious The Red Wolf, a brutal serial killer.
Now there are more killings happening which seem to mimic the red wolf’s modus operandus and heather gets embroiled in it all!!
Thanks for the arc :)

This was my first read from Jen Williams and I would definitely read some of her other work. I am a sucker for a good psychological thriller and this definitely delivered. However, I am not normally one for creepy, horror based thrillers and this definitely had a bit of that vibe but nothing too intense so it kept it interesting for me. This book is very atmospheric and gives off a lot of creepy, mysterious vibes in the Folly scenes. The ending of the book was extremely intense and made me feel like I was there watching it play out. Overall, I was shocked by the big reveals at the end. This had me guessing the entire time what it could be and I couldn't figure it out so I was genuinely surprised and delighted (in a weird way) at the turn of events. This was really well written. 8/10

I'm so sorry, this was a 'Did Not Finish' for me.

I wanted to know what was happening, I really did, but some scenes left me feeling a little disturbed and uncomfortable to get through. It just wasn't the book for me unfortunately.

Heather Evans is a brave girl. She goes from a devastating loss of her father, then her mother to exploring her mothers death and letters from the attic. When she comes in contact with a killer going after her, will she find out more secrets or die with the secrets? Super entertaining and nail biting. I recommend checking this book out.

Dark and gritty, and a little twisted, this book will grip you from page one. There are parts where the pacing is a little slow but it's worth staying with it. The characters are complex. The twists shocking. I never would have imagined the ending!

When Heather's mother suddenly and mysteriously commits suicide, leaving a cryptic suicide note, Heather isn't sure how to handle the situation. After all, she and her mother weren't terribly close, with Heather leaving home as a teenager and not really looking back. As Heather returns to her mother's home and begins trying to put the puzzle pieces together to understand her mother's suicide, she comes across a tin filled with letters...from a convicted serial killer. Heather's mother has been writing letters to him for years. But why? Does this have anything to do with her death?

I thought this book had an awesome premise and I was fascinated to figure out why Heather's mother committed suicide - and what her connection to a convicted serial killer was. I had a hard time liking/identifying with Heather because she did some really dumb things - like, REALLY dumb. The big reveal was also a little outlandish. I will say that reading this in bed at night in the dark gave me a serious case of the creepy crawlies. If you enjoy a creepy thriller and aren't concerned if the ending is a little wild, give this one a read!

While I’m always down for a creepy read following the likes of a serial killer, this one had a very slow start for me. I had a hard time connecting with the MC and couldn’t get into the book. I found myself skimming at about 30% in and eventually DNF’d around 40% though.

Thank you to @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the eARC copy of A Dark And Secret Place.

Thank you to Jen Williams, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

Heather must return to her childhood home after her mother's untimely death- a place she hasn't called home since she left it (and her mother) behind at the age of sixteen. As she starts to organize her mother's affairs, she starts to realize that she didn't know her mother as well as she believed. Meanwhile, the bodies of women in the community are being found outside, staged in elaborate nature tableaus. The crimes mimic those of the serial killer, Michael Reave, also known as the Red Wolf. But how could it be him, when Reave is currently imprisoned? And how is Reave connected to Heather's mother?

Things that I liked: I really enjoyed Williams' writing. I was definitely drawn in from the start by this interesting premise and wanted to dive into this creepy, dark, and atmospheric story. I feel that the beginning of the book teased just enough information to get the reader interested without giving too much away from the jump, and the alternating timelines kept things moving at a great pace. I was definitely creeped out while reading this at several points (all the birds...!), and I love any book that can elicit a visceral reaction from me. I enjoyed the fairy tale tie-in, as I'm a huge Brothers Grimm fan!

Things I didn't like: Heather was ANNOYING. Her dialogue is painful to read at times (I know she's an investigative journalist, but she reads as so abrasive). I could not get behind her at all. I'm also very tired of the whole 'main character creates problems for him/herself by concealing evidence' thing. Half of Heather's issues would have been solved if she'd kept the police in the loop about the eerie messages she received and the obvious break-ins at her mom's house.

I also felt like there was too much going on in this one- there's family drama (in multiple families), a cult/commune, fairy tales, a serial killer (and his potential copycat). There's just a lot to digest here. Any one or two of those things would have been interested in isolation, but altogether, they're quite overwhelming. I especially felt like the conclusion was busy and confusing because so many things were happening at once. I felt like too many storylines were tied up at once, and I didn't find out enough about the things I was really curious about. It's kind of like by trying to be everything, it ended up being nothing.

All-in-all, this one wasn't for me, though I must emphasize that I really enjoyed Williams' writing style. I think that fans of thrillers and mystery/suspense novels who like multiple interwoven storylines will really like this one.