The book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
When Heather's mom commits suicide she discovers her mom has been writing to a serial killer. Now there is a new set of murders and they are eerily similar. DI Parker sets Heather up to meet the killer to find out his relationship with her mother and if he knows who the new killer is. This book is told from today's perspective but also tells the "Before" which is the background story. For me, this book was OK. I don't like to be negative, this just wasn't my type of story. There was a commune where Heather's mom stayed as a teenager, the history of Fiddler's Mill and the forest surrounding it. It seemed a lot of the people from the commune were a little crazy if not evil. Thank you NetGalley.

My endless thanks go out to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for sending me a copy of A Dark and Secret Place to read early. This book will be published June 8!

WOW. This is going to be a huge success. Congratulations, Jen Williams, this is a hit! I had a hard time living life between reading sessions with this book not only because it creeped me out, but mostly because I only wanted to be reading it. There was a moment where I was sitting on my deck and Larry, my pup, did a little bark right as I was reading a particularly scary moment and as he barked I also let out a little yelp.

This story follows Heather who has just lost her mom, who she didn’t have the best relationship with, and is trying to learn more about her as she begins to pack up her house and arrange her funeral. She finds out that her mom was writing letters to an inmate in prison and as she digs deeper into that relationship it unravels SO MUCH MORE. That’s all I’m going to say because I don’t want to spoil anything and mostly because I want you to read this book! It’s absolutely incredible and I highly recommend it.

This one is good for those who enjoy gritty true crime--gruesome serial killer type--and pokey British settings. It gave me European folksy detective horror vibes at points. I could easily see this adapted for TV. But it doesn't skim the grittier elements and so this won't be for everyone. Be warned going in there are POV chapters from a serial killer, on page animal death (birds) and allusion to other animal death (but not described on page), as well as POV chapters of women who are abducted and later are brutally murdered. I'm not mad about it, per se, but there was one POV abduction chapter I really didn't need given how many biographical details I share w/ the single woman who is then horrifically murdered yay.

Our main character is Heather, though mild note that this is told in third person. Her estranged mother has just committed suicide and she's tasked with cleaning up the house, planning the funeral etc. and then she finds a whole cache of letters her mother wrote to a notorious serial killer and gets pulled into a fresh investigation of a possible copycat (or the real?) killer. Right off the bat I actually had to stop reading the book and took an almost 3 month break from it: do not read this if you have lost someone, especially a parent, recently and are dealing with grief/anxiety related to that. The beginning was SO VIVID it fed into an anxiety spiral I was having. That is to the book's credit; the pathos of grief, to the horror is well done. Once I was in a better head space (this week) and dove back in, it was a brisk and engaging read.

There were some twists and budding romance that made for a good read, but mostly it's a slow, creeping suspense read that will appeal to those who like long-buried secrets, family drama, and serial killer lore. That said, this should also have content warnings for depictions of/references to child abuse as well as CSA.

If you are an author or publisher seeking a review/blurb from me, please note I only provide those on the books I thoroughly enjoy and read cover-to-cover. If I don't give you one (as is the case here), it doesn't mean there was a problem with the book, it simply means the book wasn't for me or it may not resonate with my fan-base. I will, however, give you five-stars because I know EXACTLY how much work went into getting this particular title here and I'm not about to drag down your overall score just because it didn't hit for me. I wish you nothing but the best.
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I’m always on the lookout for a good serial killer book and I thought A Dark and Secret Place looked pretty intriguing. Unfortunately, I ultimately found it disappointing.

I thought the “Before” chapters about Michael’s early life were well done and compelling. I found Michael a sympathetic, if unsettling, character. Once Michael started to grow up, though, I didn’t find the Before chapters as well done. I wanted a lot more background information about the mysterious man that takes him in and the commune he starts. There is very little said about it’s purpose and motivations and it left me with a lot of questions.

I struggled a lot with Heather’s character. She was so unlikable and barely anything she did made sense to me. I really felt like I had to suffer through the chapters from her point of view to get to the Before parts I enjoyed more. I also thought that as she investigated, everything fell into place just a little too easily for her.

Overall, I found A Dark and Secret Place pretty disappointing. I really wanted to like it and was intrigued in the beginning, but the over the top turns the story took, how unlikable the main character was, and the unsatisfactory explanations in the end really let me down.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 2 Stars

Some weird pacing, especially at the end, but overall a really fun, interesting read about serial killers, family secrets, and solving the mystery of who you are and where you come from.

3.5 stars!!

I was here for the gore and the culty vibes and I will definitely not say that I didn't get any!

There were times that I wanted to take a break while reading this one because it was packed with gore and tons of women were murdered. But at the same time, I could not put this book down. My need to know what happened next was really strong. What I really liked about it was the way the author had incorporated folklore and fairy tales into the narrative. The story flows nicely and the characters are well fleshed out. I would have liked to know a bit more about the creepy activities in the woods.

I enjoyed reading about Heather, our main character. She was at times stupid in making her decisions but otherwise, I liked her.

Content warnings: suicide, animal violence.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Heather Evans was never particularly close to her mother, they rarely spoke after she left home. Still, her mother’s suicide is a devastating blow, a sudden and unexpected end. When Heather returns to lay her mother to rest and clean out her house, she makes a shocking discovery: her mother was corresponding for decades with the convicted serial killer Michael Reave, known as the “Red Wolf”.

Things spiral when a young woman is found murdered in a way so similar to the Red Wolf’s M.O. that police take notice. When Heather steps forward with the letters her mother received from Reave, she gets a surprising invitation to meet with the killer. Reave is genuinely curious about Heather — he was unaware she existed — and police hope that she’ll be able to get him to talk after all these years about the murders so they can catch the copycat …or could it be that Reave’s claims of innocence have been true the entire time?

This is a chilling and atmospheric read! I finished this in under 24 hours as I got lost in all the secrets that Heather’s trying to uncover. The deeper we get into the story, the more convoluted it becomes. I saw one of the twists coming but a few more were added at the end that felt like they were done simply for shock factor and those always diminish a story for me personally.
That aside, it’s still a solid compulsively readable thriller that I recommend to readers who enjoy dark and atmospheric tales!

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. A Dark and Secret Place is scheduled for release on June 8, 2021.

Sinister. Menacing. Secrets. If you’re into dark stories with overtones of grisliness, you will need to read A Dark and Secret Place. Heather investigates why her mother was writing letters to a serial killer. As she searches for answers, after meeting with the killer several times, odd things happen. She goes to a place where the story all began, this book is creepy and the backstory is full of unpalatable factors that makes the story even more horrific as Heather confronts vile truths. It is a decent read for mystery and suspense genres.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams is the story of a girl names Heather who returns home, trying to understand why her mother committed suicide. As she begins to sort through things she discovers letters between her mother and a notorious serial killer, now behind bars. This killer, called, Red Wolf, has claimed to be innocent. There's never been any reason to believe this, except now, as a new body is discovered, as well as information Heather continues discover amongst her mother's things, may suggest otherwise. This is a wonderful debut novel and I do recommend it. This story was well written and it captured and held my attention from the very beginning.

A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams was so good! I've never read this author but I really enjoyed this twisted thriller.

How well do we know our parents and the lives they led before we came into the world? That's a question Heather finds herself asking after finding a box of letters from the notorious serial killer Michael Reave, the Red Wolf, in her mother's possessions. At the age of 16, Heather ran away from home and has a very distant relationship with her mother, Colleen. It's only when her mother commits suicide years later, an act that Heather cannot imagine her doing, that Heather comes back home. Incidentally during this same time, the Red Wolf killings start up again, but Reave is in prison -- could he have an accomplice? What's Colleen's role in the murders -- does she have one; how and why was her mother writing to Reave? What does her suicide note mean? These are the questions Heather sets out to answer in A Dark and Secret Place.

Overall, I thought the book was a great, twisty dark thriller. Some of the plot twists I saw coming while others were so surprising! I liked the Grimm-esque fairy tales that Reave told Heather along with the flashbacks to Colleen's life before Heather; I wondered about certain characters' motivation for why they act they way they do, but as with all human behavior, I don't think we'll every know. As an American, some of the slang words and phrases were a bit wonky to me, so I had to look them up. This was a great read that kept me guessing until the end! Highly recommend for lovers of A.J. Finn and Gillian Flynn!

Was interested in reading this story but unfortunately it wasnt my type of story and i couldnt relate to the main character.

Thank you though for allowing me to read this story

“I would like to tell you a story”.

What a story. A mix of Grimm fairytale and mystery. We follow our main character Heather trying to figure out who her mother really is, speaking to a murder, and figure out who is causing more murders now.

This was a need to know, keep you guessing, and questioning all the characters type of book.

A unique mystery with more plot then most. I loved the two stories being told, and how it all ended. A really good read. A 4.5 read for me. 🐺🐺🐺🐺.5

This was an engaging, fast-paced, crazy ride of a book.

Things I liked:
* The initial setup was good: Heather is cleaning up her estranged dead mother's house and she finds a pile of letters - spanning decades - from the imprisoned serial killer Michael Reave/The Red Wolf and understandably freaks out. At the same time, police begin investigating a series of murders where victims are staged identically to the Red Wolf's -- Is there a copycat? Or was the wrong person arrested?
* Dual timeline interspersed with the present day storyline, describing Michael's horrific childhood (including some gruesome animal content that I really could have done without) and some parts of his young-adulthood.
* Heather's snark factor.
* Creepy fairy tales.
* The secrets that were revealed were upsetting in the best way.

The things I didn't like:
* Heather made A LOT of irrational choices. She seemed smart sometimes and SO very stupid at others.
* The ending felt rushed and like too many things were revealed in just a few pages, and it felt a bit like a spinning wheel of serial killer thriller tropes was used to wrap things up.

Final thoughts:
Going into a serial killer thriller, I know there is going to be some level of nonsense employed to move the plot along and sometimes it goes over the top too fast and gets dumb -- however! this book had a reasonable amount of nonsense and the fun/scary parts outweighed the "seriously?? (eye-roll)" moments, so overall this was a very enjoyable read. A perfect pool/beach/vacation book!

<b>Monsters in the wood</b>

<b><i>”The barghest. Black Shuck. The hound that haunts the lonely places.”</i></b>

<b>Take a jaunt through enchanting forests with a serial killer, while he tells you the most twisted and grisly fairytales you’ve ever heard! What more can you ask for? You really have to enjoy dark and gruesome if you read this one. I wanted it from the moment I read the synopsis, but it wasn’t what I expected. I felt like this a mix of horror, fantasy and supernatural thriller. But I don’t read fantasy, so I could be wrong about that!</b>

Beware...there is some animal abuse. And just to confuse us, the title in the UK is “Dog Rose Dirt”. Why??

Heather heads back to her childhood home after her mother’s death. They didn’t have a close relationship and Heather finds herself tormented by Colleen’s suicide. When she reads the cryptic note that was left, she has even more concerns about her mother’s out-of-character behavior. But most shocking of all, is when Heather finds out that Colleen has been corresponding with a famous serial killer for decades.

Heather becomes obsessed with this hidden side of Colleen, and requests to meet with Michael Reave in prison. Reave, known as the “Red Wolf”, has always claimed to be innocent. And now the horrific and ritualistic murders have started again. Could he be telling the truth?

<b><i>”This man, currently serving life for chopping women up into bits, apparently knows a whole different side to my mum I’ve never seen.”</i></b>

You think you know your parents. But do we ever know who they truly are? I'm sure all parents have their secrets, but Colleen’s is a whopper!

It’s a little concerning that I found this extremely horrendous story so entertaining!

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Jen Williams for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion!

<b>My Rating: </b> 4 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> June 8th 2021 by Crooked Lane Books
<b>Pages:</b> 304
<b>Recommend:</b> Yes...but only if you like gruesome and gory serial killers.

@sennydreadful @NetGalley #Crooked Lane Books
@crookedlanebks #NetGalley #ADarkAndSecretPlace #Horror #Fantasy #Thriller #InExchangeForReview #NoRulesJustThrills #FairyTales

Oh no, this is not the kind of book I thought it would be at all. Not for me. It is frightening. I don't think I will read this author again.

After her mother dies, Heather find out that she had been secretly corresponding with a serial killer and she becomes determined to find out why. Readable enough but the story didn't really work for me.

1000% creepy and f***ed up, this was so good!!! I never saw the ending coming, and I couldn’t put it down!!!

Overview: Heather’s mother has committed suicide. More baffling are the letters Heather has discovered upon her return home; letters of continued contact between her mother and the serial killer called the Red Wolf. And although he is imprisoned, similar murders are happening again - women are being displayed in the woods with flowers planted inside their gutted bodies. Who is responsible? And what role did Heather’s mother play in these horrors?

The Good: The atmosphere is rich with gritty drama and unnerving darkness. I especially enjoyed the chapters that take us back in time; I found those sequences acted as interesting puzzle pieces. They frequently left me on the hook.

The Bad: The finale wasn’t necessarily satisfying. Parts of it liked, parts of it I didn’t. I also had some questions left unanswered or poorly explained.

The Takeaway: A Dark and Secret Place shows us a fantasy writer embracing their dark and twisted side, while also taking influence from their love of true crime. The story is wonderfully dark and unnerving, made complete by a mystery that spans decades.