The novel is often chilling, a dark story that is incredibly atmospheric and eerie. There is an overwhelming sense of danger throughout
The sense that Heather is being watched is both sinister and anxiety hits you with every turn of the page. And there are so many questions that keep the pages turning. Who is watching Heather? What do they want with her? Why is this happening? The first half is a slow burn as the story unfolds. And the second half is full of twists and turns as the story deepens before finally concluding in unexpected ways.

This book kept me guessing right up to the last page. I wish it had been a bit faster-paced, but I enjoyed the ending a lot.

For whatever reason, this novel did not grab my attention. I have found that reading during the pandemic has been hit or miss, with focus a continual challenge, so that fault my lie with that and not the novel itself. I may try to re-read this at a later time to see if it was simply my mood at the time.

A Dark and Secret Place is the story of... love.

It is the story of young love, naive and cruel, that blossomed in the wrong place at the wrong type between two lost souls only to shutter them even more. It is the story of mother's love for her offspring, about the best of it and the worst of it. It is the story of children's love for their parents and parent figures in their life. It is the story of 'time of love' and its horrors...

Heather Evans returns home after her mother's suicide and is trying to make sense of it, of her mother and of what she is to do with the rest of her life. Heather is not your usual 'good girl gone bad'. She is complicated. Her story is complicated. The story of her mother's even more so... especially when it revolves around serial killer. And now this serial killer wants to talk to Heather... and she agrees.

What Heather uncovers is so horrible and twisted, so out of this world even for the investigative journalist like her, even for the 'bad girl' impulsive and temperamental...

Don't expect clean cut lines between good and evil. Don't expect to love one character and hate another. Do not expect anything. You'd do better to expect unexpected. A Dark and Secret Place is not really about a place but about one's soul, mind and memory. It is all in your head, as they say. Is it? Is it really.

Read on if you dare...

Jen Williams' A Dark and Secret Place hits all the right notes for a thriller, a twisted tale and even more twisted characters. It will leave you gasping, and grasping, wondering and shocked as... A very worthy read.

A Dark and Secret Place starts with Heather returning to her mother’s home after her mother’s funeral. As she is cleaning the house, she finds letters between her mother and a notorious serial killer who is now in prison. Murders like his have started happening again and the police want her to try and talk with him to figure out who is committing them.

CW: Graphic animal abuse. Skip Chapter 13. Please check all the content warnings before reading this.

Three words to describe this book: Forest. Dark. Moody.

Cover: I do think the cover conveys one important aspect of this book – the forest. Overall, it fits the book, but I do not find it memorable.

Character Development: There is a little bit of the Heather character but not enough for my tastes. We do not really find out what makes Heather tick. There is a bit of information about her previous job and some about her childhood and her relationship with her parents, but it was not well-developed.

World-Building: This was a definite highlight of the book. This book feels like you are in a dark forest in the UK after it has lightly rained. This world ups the creep factor.

Plot & Pacing: This is my major critique of this novel. The plot goes all over the place. It starts with a possible serial killer type of story/clues sprinkled into fairy tales then switches to a cult investigation and sprinkles some supernatural vibes in there. Even with all the different plot directions, I felt like the book plodded a lot. There is also a plotline about Heather evaluating and understanding her relationship with her mother – so has family drama mixed in too. This book could have been fantastic if it had stuck to one plotline. Additionally, there is also some graphic animal abuse that is described in detail and not necessary. That ruined my experience reading. I’ve read a lot of serial killer-type books and I know hurting animals is a key characteristic of serial killers. So is murdering people. Why isn’t that enough?

Verdict: Personally, I would pass on this thriller especially due to the unnecessary animal abuse descriptions and unwieldy plot. I love dark and messed up books and this was not an ‘enjoyable’ read even for that type of book.

ARC was provided to me by Crooked Lane Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a book! This is a story about a former reporter estranged from her mother returns to her childhood home to piece together why her mother committed suicide. While going through her mother’s things, she finds an old biscuit tin with letters to her mother from an infamous serial killer. As she investigates her mother’s suicide, she uncovers long lost secrets of a place called Fiddlers Mill Woods. Meanwhile, a copycat serial killer is killing girls again. This was such a spooky, chilling tale that had me jumping out of my seat at every small sound. I enjoyed this as much as an intense suspenseful movie. Kudos to the author for creating that creepy atmosphere. There were a few hiccups here and there but overall a good book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Chilling, fun, and exciting. Pretty dark at times but in a good way! Interesting concept and intriguing characters

This book has an intriguing plot and is very frightening.. It is about a daughter who discovers and then investigate her mother's decades-long correspondence with a serial killer after the mother commits suicide The atmosphere of the book is creepy with several gruesome scenes and graphic animal abuse. A terrifying book for those that can stand the details.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book for my unbiased review.

So I have read a lot of thrillers and ‘A dark and secret place’ or newly named ‘Dog rose dirt’ is up there for so many reasons. It has the gory, creepy elements of a great horror and it has the ebb and flow of a heart-stopping thriller.
It all begins when Heather returns to her family home following the suicide of her mother; the two of them always had a difficult relationship but as Heather begins to sort through the possessions left behind she realises that her mother kept a lot hidden away about her past. Whilst looking through her correspondents she finds that her mother had a prison pen-pal, a convicted serial killer called Michael Reave aka. ‘The red wolf’. Then things get even more complicated when a copycat killer hits the headlines taking Heather down a treacherous path to the truth about her mother’s death.
This book really reminded me of ‘Sharp objects’ because the subject matter is so dark and twisted and every character has their own secretive past so nothing is revealed too soon and the plot doesn’t falter. Personally I loved the Brothers Grimm inspirations behind the murders because I’m a fan of Angela Carter and the creepier side of fairytales. The only downside to this novel was that I felt the ending was a little bit rushed but I understand that it echoes that feeling of a dramatic end sequence that all great horror movies have where the plotlines are all tied up.
Ultimately an amazing debut and I personally loved every page of it.

I love to guess the twist at the end of a thriller and I’m always disappointed when I get it right. There was no chance in getting this one though and I LOVED that! Kept you guessing until the very end and I loved that the end was at the end and didn’t leave half the book for wrapping it up.

This book was so dark and twisted it left me unable to put it down!

The dangerous nature of the writing left me feeling on edge the entire time. I had no idea what was to come and I loved it. I loved how the author wrote of the feeling of being watched it gave me all the creepy chilled out vibes you want.

The main character is Heather Evans. Her mother has died (committed suicide) and Heather has returned home to clean out the house.

She finds a stash of letters that her mother has been writing to a convicted serial killer, Michael Reave. As if this stunning find wasn’t enough, killings have started happening that are copy cats of the Michael Reave murders.

Heather befriends and helps a detective working on the case by going to talk to Michael Reave. She slowly starts to learn things about her mother, who turned out to be so different than the mother she thought she knew.

Plenty of twists and turns, it kept me guessing. I did figure out a few things and some of Heather’s behavior bordered a bit on the unbelievable side, but still a good solid psychological thriller.

I tried really hard to enjoy this book, but the writing style and the characters were not a match for me. It was too slow moving and quiet for me. But I am clearly in the minority here as there are many others who loved it, so I think this is one of those “it’s not you, book, it’s me” situations. Anyway, not terrible, but didn’t hook me and took me forever to finish, but try it for yourself because I’m clearly an outlier!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced readers copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
This was a definitely a book that kept me guessing what would happen. The mother's back story was entertaining, and present day had a lot of twists and turns. I recommend this title to mystery readers.

Heather returns home when her mother passes away. She finds out that her mother had a past that she had no knowledge of. Heather finds out her mother has been friends for years with a serial killer
This book is a psychological thriller that keeps you wanting to find out fast what happens. I loved it!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, you can get your copy, here:

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Secret-Place-Novel-ebook/dp/B088F1CQHD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

If you are looking for a light and fluffy book, turn back now. Buckle up, you are going to need that extra protection. This is a heavy and scary book.
We begin this book with a boy cuffed at the throat in a room, cuffed by none other than his mother. Despite being restrained, he manages to overpower his mother and well....there is an altercation where someone ends up unconscious. An unsuspected neighbor with a dog that was very intimidating helps out. Everything is great, well until Heather comes back and begins to investigate her mother’s “suicide”. Oh the plot thickens when Heather finds letters. These aren’t just any letters, these are letters that her mother had been writing to a man in prison for the last twenty-five years, throughout the marriage to Heather’s father, even. Oh, it gets even better when Heather finds out who this pen pal really is- a serial killer from the UK. He murdered five women in Lancashire and Manchester with another possible ten victims. He would plant flowers in his victim’s wounds. Sounds like a great guy to be a correspondent with! This book then takes us on quite the adventure. I was literally FREAKING out the ENTIRE TIME!

A dark and secrect place is a great mistery to read, I really think it has some great factors and some otherws that didn't worked out, but I stilled liked it, it got me very entertained

A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams

9781643855745

295 Pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Release Date: June 8, 2021

Fiction (Adult), Mystery, Thriller, Serial Killer, Grim Fairy Tales

When Heather Evans it told her mother has committed suicide, she returned home after years of being estranged. Going through her mother’s belonging, she comes across hidden documents and photos. As Heather investigates, she finds her mother wrote to a serial killer in prison for years. She is both surprised and horrified by this, and as a journalist she has to investigate the reasons behind it.

The story is well paced, and the characters are developed. It is written in third person point of view. The author has brought the Grim Fairy Tales to a serial killer in the way he commits his murders. If you enjoy murder mysteries with a twist, you will like this book.

This would be a great story to read during the month of October. The serial killer angle of this story gave it a creepy vibe that kept me turning the pages of this dark novel.

I have to say that I am pretty disappointed with all the low reviews I have seen for A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams. I didn't let that deter me and I'm glad I didn't because I LOVED this book! Cultish books are so hit or miss for me, and they have to be done just the right way or I really don't like them. This was the perfect dose of it for me and added just enough to the story that it intrigued me more instead of turning me off. The descriptions of the bodies were completely disturbing, and I wouldn't say this is a book for the squeamish reader. I loved the parts where our creepy serial killer Michael is telling dark and creepy fairy tales, and there is a great paranormal aspect that really kept me guessing. I had no idea if there was actually something supernatural going on, or if it was all made up, and that was just another part I really enjoyed. I liked Heather's present viewpoint as she digs to find out what her mom knew, but also that we end up with a couple of other viewpoints as well. Not really sure if it's a spoiler so I won't say who, but the combination kept me glued to the pages and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.