In 2004, Ashley Whitelam was selected to visit the lavish Red Rigg house for an adventure at the home of the wealthy Lyndon-Smith family. Every year they sponsor a program for the disadvantaged youth in the London area. From the start, the place is creepy, but Ashley becomes friends with the daughter of their host. She brushes aside her fear until the Heedful Ones (as she calls them) give her a vision of a fire. She called her parents to beg them to come and get her. Her mother accused Ashley of being ungrateful and refused to take her home early. No one would listen to Ashley's warnings and assume it was a little craziness because she is homesick. In the end, Ashley is the only survivor of the house fire. The other children were all killed.

This childhood trauma sets up Ashley's future. She is the primary breadwinner for her family by scamming people desperate to talk to their dead loved ones. Her father controls her venues, and her brother helps her pull off the deception. However, even though we know Ashley's game, she is a likable character with a psychic gift that she doesn't use.

I never know what to expect when I find a new author. I'm thrilled that I tried this book by Jen Williams. I liked the story, for the most part. I found the narrative engaging, with a fair number of good guys and bad guys. The dual timelines, 2004 and present day, are well done.

When Ashley volunteers to help the police find The Gingerbread murderer, her past is revisited, and the police are suspicious of her knowledge. She decides to work with Freddie, a true crimes podcaster, to find more clues.

I suspected the murderer early in the story, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of following Ashley's growth and development. I was disappointed that we didn't see Ashley's reconciliation with Freddie.
Although I liked the epilogue and seeing Ashley after the case was solved,

The Hungry Dark is filled with suspense, and the setting is eerie and well done, making Green Beck another scary character in the story.

Emmy Fenney does an excellent job as the narrator. She sets the stage and the darkness surrounding the story. Her portrayal of the characters is fantastic, and how she lets the fear creep into her voice adds another dimension to the performance. She also highlights the story's atmospheric weird and creepy elements. Well Done!

If you like ghost stories with a bit of drama, murder, and a slow-burn love story, The Hungry Dark is a book for you.
3.5 Stars

The end of this book is what somewhat redeemed it for me. I was very, very close to DNF but I stuck it out, and I’m glad I did.

This book had such a promising premise. I was so excited about it. For me, this book was so very, very slow. I was so bored for 90% of it.

There was so much going on in this book that I really struggled to get into it, and I struggled to follow it. The interludes of local lore were so boring for me and felt so irrelevant I just turned up the speed and plowed through it. This book could have done without half of the characters and half of the subplots.

The end was actually really good and I didn’t see it coming. It tied everything up nicely and everything FINALLY made sense.

The narration of this book was good, in my opinion. I thought Emma Fenney did good voices and her American accent was good.

This isn’t an objectively “bad” book, and I think it would be enjoyed by other readers, but it was just not for me.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to this advance copy!

The Hungry Dark was exactly the book I needed right now. It was incredible! I was sucked in from the beginning. Ghosts? A thriller? A psychic? A serial killer? It has all of the elements I love reading about. That sounds a little morbid, but I digress. I inhaled this book in two sittings and felt a little lost after it was finished. The writing is incredible, and the narrator was entertaining. I really loved this book, and I think you will, too.

Ashley Whitelam has always been able to see things that others can't. As an adult, she's taken that into her career as a psychic - a psychic that uses psychology and social stalking to give her people answers. When a string of child murders occur, Ashley lends a hand to the police in exchange for free publicity full well knowing that she has no idea where these bodies are. However, she follows one of her childhood 'ghosts' and it leads her right to one of the bodies. The press fly into a frenzy and the police grow suspicious: either Ashley’s psychic abilities are real, or she is guilty of murder. Hounded by interviews and interrogations, Ashley teams up with Freddie Miller, a podcaster covering the crimes. As they investigate, Ashley realises that there’s no way to distance herself from these murders: whoever or whatever it is that’s haunting the Lakes is haunting her, too.

If you love hauntings, myth and old crimes, The Hungry Dark is for you. Our FMC is the family golden goose, fairly naive and mostly likeable. I also very much liked the addition of Freddie and loved how much we saw him without a completely romantic sense. Quite a lot of the characters are mostly used as a plot driver, so don't worry too much if you can't tell the who is who right away. The story itself is a giant puzzle, slowly unravelling in more and more ways, throwing you herring after herring so you can't guess which way it is going.

I was lucky enough to listen to this one via audio and found it to be very enjoyable and clear. The narrator was excellent!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Jen Williams for an advanced copy for review. The Hungry Dark is available April 9th.

I feel like it’s difficult for thrillers to feel unique in plot after you’ve read several, but I found The Hungry Dark to be engaging with unexpected characteristics, such as the psychic helping police component. I appreciated that our main character acknowledges profiting from grief both as a lowly profession but also the means by which her family survives, numb to it all. There’s much to be implied about how she values herself and how those in her life “value” her. The writing was also very good. Enjoyable overall!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. This is narrated by Emma Fenney who does a solid job!

Ashley supports her family as a psychic doing carnival style readings and acting as a medium. In trying to broaden her name, her family, who pimp her out, sign up Ashley to help the police with the current string of child murders, the Gingerbread Murders.

The interesting part to the story is that Ashley, as a child, saw shadows she called the "heedful ones" but now as an adult in her 30's, she knows better than to let her family know she is seeing them again. Ashley decides to take some control back from her abusive father by meeting with a podcaster on the Gingerbread Murders.

There are a lot of things going on in this story, and IMO some work well and some don't. I felt the story really picked up and took off when the podcaster came into the picture. There are definitely slow spots and lags, especially when the story is focused on the children's camp that Ashley attended. But overall, if you like mysteries with a touch of horror, this is worth a read.

3.5 rounded up.

<b>Dark, immersive, and suspenseful.</b>

The concept for this novel is an intriguing one - Ashley is a fake psychic, her brother feeds her information in an earpiece when she performs in her public shows. But she isn't actually a fake. Like her grandmother before her, she sees what she calls <i>The Heedful Ones</i>, dark shadowy figures that appear during dangerous or dark times. She just doesn't know what they mean or how to let them help her. And are they helpful or evil?

At its core, this is a mystery with some horror elements. I found it to be much more suspenseful than scary. And that worked for me - I definitely prefer suspense to horror. Williams grabbed me from the beginning, and I was spellbound through to the climactic ending.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

I liked the creepy vibes of this book, it felt like a true horror. We are following Ashley Whitelam who is a psychic who can also see these figures called Heedful Ones. They are pretty spooky and haunt her daily life. Ashley has a dark background that is connected to a house, we revisit the house in the story and it definitely gives you the “stay away vibes.”

I thought the pacing of the book was good and it kept me engaged. The end had me on my toes and the narrator of the audiobook did an excellent job keeping me engaged. If you like eerie creepy books this is for you!

Thank you Dreamscape Media for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

DNF but it’s because I couldn’t focus.. I got through most and I know the just of the story. Not a big fan of the narrator and the beginning was a slow start. Ashley is a psychic and she has these visions as an adult and there are child murders that she helps the police with the murders. They are called gingerbread murders which was interesting, there’s paranormal aspects of this story and murder mystery, drama and suspense but the mystery is a slow burn with our troubled fmc who is our “psychic” and she has had a dark past. This book is all over the place but it’s an interesting read/listen and there’s a lot happening.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for the advanced audiobook copy. I was pleasantly surprised I really liked this book. The audio was great.

This book was creepy! The Heedful Ones really add that chill factor. Multiple timelines make for a suspenseful story and add suspense leading up to the reveal. For fans of Where He Can’t Find You by Darcy Coates. Scam artist and podcast so if either of those are your thing then this books is for you!

This is a perfect read for those who love dark, spooky, and suspenseful.. I loved the somewhat morally gray main character and the twist at the end.

I HAD to get my hand of this one for the cover alone! I was immediately hooked from the very first sentence! Ashley definitely takes you for a ride with her as she journeys through her visions that she’s not even sure of! Her family trying to make every last dollar they can off of her along the way….shed just leave if it wasn’t for her Mothers health. She really had NO-ONE to trust!!! It was fast paced and one that you won’t want to put down!!!

This book was definitely a slower read for me. The premise behind the book is good. Poor English girl goes off to a house for a few days in 2004. Bad things happen which leaves her with some serious PTSD. The book goes between 2004 and the current time where Ashley has become a sham of a psychic. Now thanks to her brother, she gets caught up with the police finding a murdered child.
I felt that what made this story feel slow was all the family issues that kept the drama from moving forward. And in this book, think that the before and now chapters did make it a bit more difficult to keep up.
All in all a solid read (or listen.)

I received a ARC audiobook of this book, all opinions are my own.

This book had amazingly creepy vibes and I was HERE for it! The setting, the atmosphere, the Legends, all of it came together and kept me engrossed. I'm not normally a horror reader but the mix with the murder mystery and a sprinkle of supernatural was kinda awesome! The actual mystery that is going on is quite slow burn despite so many things going on: There's the psychic fmc with a dark past and some crazy family dynamics. There's the gingerbread murders. A romantic side plot with the Podcaster... all these great elements! That being said, sometimes one detracts from the others and it can get a bit disjointed. Overall, still was an enjoyable read! The title is definitely a perfect fit.

I listened to the audiobook of this one and enjoyed the narration!

Rating: 3.75 stars

CW: toxic relationship, child murder, gore.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

The Hungry Dark
Jen Williams
When Ashley Whitelam was a child, she saw figures no one else could see; she named them the Heedful Ones They seemed to be watching her wherever she went. She learned to ignore them and never to speak of them. It is ironic that Ashely is a “psychic”, her father and brother insist she put on shows where she connects grieving people with their loved ones who have passed over. She knows she’s a fake; she hates what she is doing. She wears an earpiece, covered by her long hair. Her brother gathers research on people in the audience; he feeds her the information through the earpiece. Her father collects the money and sets up the gigs.
Ashley’s father offered her services in assisting the Lake District Police Department in solving the horrific murders of several children, for free publicity. The police officers were skeptical. Ashley saw the Heedful Ones and followed them into the woods where she found the mutilated body of one of the missing children. Suspicion fell on Ashley. The press went wild. Freddie Miller a podcaster following the murders approaches Ashley asking her to join him in his investigation. Someone is after Ashley, will she survive?
This is an excellent read! It is spooky, creepy, dark, eerie, gruesome, chilling, and thrilling. The Freddie situation was sort of odd. Ashley’s family was dysfunctional. The Red Rigg Fell back story was well done. The Heedful Ones were very strange and yet fit right in. While the plot seems to have a lot of parts, they all work together. I know Ashely was supposed to be a fake psychic but when she listened to her instincts she had talents. Author Jen Williams presents readers with a plot filled with twists and turns. I will be watching for more books by this author.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy for reviews.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for the book #TheHungryDark by #JenWilliams. This book is about children that have went missing and some found mutilated and a girl with “psychic” abilities who stumbles across one of them. Is Ashley connected to these missing and/or murdered children or is she connected on another way. I totally was sucked into this paranormal thriller.

This was a gripping read and such a great story. It was a great twist on a haunted house/ghost story. It had all the feels and the audiobook really brought the story to life! Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this! Highly recommend!!

I really liked this book. It was a nice change from what I’ve been reading lately. My only issue with it was one character: Ashley’s father. I can’t think of a single time that I’ve hated a character so much that I almost stopped reading. Ashley described her father as thinking she was the family’s golden goose, and she wasn’t wrong. He kind of reminded me of the Macaulay Culkin scandal where the poor kid’s family were just siphoning money off of him. I mean, the man is just the epitome of loser. He has no problem with what she does for a living when Ashley is raking in the dough, but refuses to believe her when things get weird and she really is seeing things? And what man traps his 32 year old daughter by taking her car keys away from her and refuses to let her socialize? It’s weird bordering on creepy. Other than that, the story was great. I figured out what was going on pretty early, but it was entertaining nonetheless!

Huge thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

The Hungry Dark
By Jen Williams

Narrated by: Emma Fenney
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | paranormal
Format: audiobook 🎧
Publication date: 9th April 2024

🌟: 4/5

“Macabre murders plague a rural town as a scam-artist psychic races to find the answers in this haunting thriller from award-winning author Jen Williams”

So I’m not even sure how to describe this one. It starts off very crime thrillerish and takes a dark turn pretty quickly.

It’s well written, the tone and atmosphere are spot on, the location feels visceral and the creeping feeling up the back of your neck is REAL!

The plot grabbed me from the start and while the main Character Ashley is despicable in her actions at times, she’s also quite likeable, which I love. Straight up goody two shoes characters can be boring.

I Love the podcast angle, which I keep seeing in a lot of new books recently. The supernatural element worked I think because it was a slow build up, and the backstory of the area really helped add to this. The narration was good and I felt it really helped bring Ashley to life in the audiobook.

I found it could have been a little shorter but overall, I really enjoyed the story and would recommend it.