# This Little Dark Place # Netgalley
Wow what a excellent book, it takes you on a journey you definitely will not be expecting. Why did Danial start writing to the prisoners pen pal site in the first place. Why did he start to write to Ruby, of all people he could have chosen from. However you never really know who you are writing too really in that situation. I actually asked myself. Surely if a pen pal site is what you want to do, but why write to a female when your in a relationship trying for a baby. Why not a male, if your motives are harmless. Ok a nice thing to do. I hear people probably saying. However why are you revealing your inner most secrets. It’s full of twists turns, also danger. What a rollercoaster of a ride you will have with this book

What a good read. I read this in one sitting and couldn't put it down. It is written in a very cool format, the main characters whole life is written in a letter. I very much enjoyed this book. I did figure it out quite early, but of course I only knew part of the story and had to keep reading to find out the why.

Great book, would definitely read another book by the author.
I was given this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

Probably more 2.5 for depressing the hell out of me

This book is a very slow burn and the formatting of it is a bit confusing. It doesn’t really differentiate between the alternating of timelines though it became easier to differentiate that as time went on.

The writing is fine, good even, and the characters are interesting (though not highly likable and sometimes frustrating). Prepare yourself for no real action until the end of this story, though there are some twists and surprises along the way.

It is unclear who Lucy is (and no clarity comes until the bitter end) but I wasn’t as excited by this reveal as some reviewers were. By then I was just ready for this to be over. Would I try another book by this author? Maybe, depending on the topic.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Serpent’s Tail / Profile Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

Title: This Little Dark Place

Author: A.S.Hatch

Pages:288

Genre:thriller

Oct.10,2019

An emotionally raw and compulsively readable psychological thriller. A powerful tale of obsessive love and stealthy betrayal, full of twists that jolt you right up to the end.' - Alice Blanchard, award-winning author of The Breathtaker

'Carries the reader along with a sense of foreboding, with a shocking twist at the end.' - L.F. Robertson, author of Two Lost Boys

'A breathless page-turner with gathering tension throughout.' - Rebecca Alexander, author of A Baby's Bones

How well do you know your girlfriend?

How well do you know your lover?

How well do you know yourself?

Daniel and Victoria are together. They're trying for a baby. Ruby is in prison, convicted of assault on an abusive partner. But when Daniel joins a pen pal program for prisoners, he and Ruby make contact. At first the messages are polite, neutral - but soon they find themselves revealing more and more about themselves. Their deepest fears, their darkest desires. And then, one day, Ruby comes to find Daniel. And now he must decide who to choose - and who to trust.


My thoughts

Rating: 5

Every now and then a book comes along that holds you captive from the very first page when that happens there is not letting go , this story is told in a unequal way that it makes it feel a bit dark and twisted and your seen it though one of the main character's eyes. There's no way I can explain why I liked it as much as I did but there's something about this story that just grabs you and won't let go , and that's the type of story I love to read ,the ones that gives you goosebumps and make you stay up late at night reading , as for the characters there the type of characters that make you rethink everything you think you know about them as well as the story. Its has the right type of mystery, suspense , and the question of who should you truest when you write letters to people . Plus it also makes you ask do you really know yourself as well as you think you do . With that said I want to say thank you to Netgalley for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion .

This book was very well written. Nice and easy to read and flowed well. Had me on the edge of my seat. Wondering which way it was going to go. Great mystery can’t beat it.

This Little Dark Place by A.S. Hatch is a unique addition to the psychological thriller genre. An intriguing premise, an atypical format, and told in a compelling voice, this is one that will pull you in from the start.

Daniel and Victoria are a couple who are trying to conceive a child. When things become stressed in the relationship, Daniel finds solace in Ruby, a prison inmate who is serving time for domestic assault. The two gradually reveal more and more of themselves to each other, until the day that Ruby is released and comes looking for Daniel.

There is a wonderful sense of unease and foreboding as the novel progresses, and I particularly enjoyed reading the letters that are exchanged between Ruby and Daniel. If I had one criticism, I would say that I tend to be partial to novels that are written in short, concise chapters rather than the long and unbroken segments presented here as, for me, they are more coherent and accessible.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Serpent's Tail/Profile Books for this ARC.

This thriller was outstanding. I could not put it down. I read it in two days and if I had no children to distract me I’d have read it in a day. It kept me hooked from start to finish and kept me guessing in each and every chapter. Daniel and Victoria are a couple trying to start a family. Daniel however starts writing to Ruby as part of a prisoner pen pal programme. She assaulted her partner and is serving time in prison. Their correspondence begins innocently, as friends, but develops quite quickly and they begin to tell each other their deepest secrets. When Ruby is released from prison she comes looking for Daniela d then things get interesting.
This novel is unforgettable. A must read for all thriller fans!!!

I must confess that half way through this book I was struggling. Who is Ruby -is she telling the truth ? Who is Lucy ? Who is Gordon ? What is Robbie up to ? Are any of them real anyway ? Did I actually care enough to carry on ? Well I did persist and I am glad I did. Yes the book takes a bit of getting into Dan tells the story -both past and present -of his life with partner Victoria and their unsuccessful quest to start a family .As they grow more distant from each other -Dan begins an online friendship with a prison inmate-Ruby-telling each other their innermost secrets.
The second half of the book had me gripped and -no I didn't see that end coming .Recommended -stick with it !

Thankyou NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy. All I can say is OH MY GOODNESS! This is a definite THRILLER. This book keeps you hooked. Full of suspense and action. A.S. Hatch keep them coming!

Daniel and Victoria are in a relationship, living together and are trying for a baby. However, Dan starts to feel lonely when things don’t go to plan and he joins a pen pal program for prisoners. He and Ruby soon make contact, to begin with the messages are polite, but they soon start to reveal more about themselves. And then one day Ruby comes to find Daniel, and he must decide who to choose - and who to trust.
This was a fast read, building up the suspense all the way through. It is narrated by Daniel in the form of a letter to Lucy. I did feel that some parts of the story jumped about a bit which made me confused slightly. However, I enjoyed the story.
Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this advanced copy.
I've never read anything by this author before and am so pleased I did.
Every so often you try a new authority and they grab you from the first place.
I don't want to give anything away about the story but it was captivating from the start and I had real problems putting the book down.
This was a great read and full of tension with an unexpected twist you don't see coming.
I would highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of This Little Dark Place.

This story started off slow for me. After I got going this started to flow, but I still found myself skipping over some of the sentences in parts of the book. Some of this may have been due to the formatting of the digital version. I enjoyed the twist and turns at the end of the book, it made it worth reading.

That was actually a very good thriller. I enjoyed the suspense, the mystery, the action. Very well-written, composed of a series of questions that one should ask themselves more in life (if paranoid, of course!)

A proper ‘page turner’ as you are keen to find out what happens next in the story related by the main character Dan in a series of letters to Lucy. I like the author’s style of flitting between past and present, as well as creating a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere in the cottage where much of the novel is based.

The ending I must admit did not come as a total surprise, but then this is not a crime novel where you are kept guessing until the end. It is more a psychological thriller that does involve everyday characters.

AS Hatch is a name to watch out for and ‘This Little Dark Place’ should be added to your reading pile forthwith.

This story hooked me from the beginning and was one I didn’t want to put down! The premise is unique - a man in a relationship that’s falling apart begins writing to a woman in prison. The story alternates from past to present effortlessly piecing the entire story together in letter form. Greatly entertaining!

This Little Dark Place

I love, love, LOVED this book. It’s everything I want from a psychological thriller: taut, tightly written, well paced, and all-consuming. I couldn’t put it down.

“This Little Dark Place” is an epistolary novel ‘narrated’ by Daniel, who we know is currently in prison. Daniel tells the person he is writing to how he and his girlfriend Victoria were trying for a baby, even as they were becoming increasingly distant from each other. Feeling lonely, wanting to reach out, Daniel joined a pen pal programme where people are matched with prison inmates, and he found himself writing to the charismatic Ruby, who tells him all about herself, her former life as an art psychotherapist, and her solid relationship with her twin sister, Jade. As Daniel’s relationship with Victoria dissolved, his connection with Ruby only grew stronger. But then Ruby was released from prison and turned up on Daniel’s doorstep. And now it seems like maybe Ruby wasn’t telling the truth after all, and Daniel must decide not only who he loves, but who he can trust...

I loved how this was written from Daniel’s perspective from some point in the future, and that he was basically explaining how he had ended up in prison, so that for the reader, the plot - and Daniel’s crime - was a gradual unravelling. I had several guesses to the nature of the crime, and also as to who was lying about what, and I won’t give anything away, but I will say that I was wrong about almost everything. This is a book of deft twists and turns, and is beautifully written. I was hanging on every word, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

I’ll be recommending this to anyone who will listen, and I can’t wait to see what this author is going to do next!

NOTE: I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How well do you know yourself ? Or how well do you speculate things around you?Reading this thriller , I was confidently speculating things with the protoganist when at the end I sucked big time.The last few pages changed my whole view.

A gripping thriller , well narrated in form of letters, kept the suspense intact till the end. Though at times the back and forth letter writing got little confused. The story is more deep than whats in the blurb.

Thank You #Netgalley for the ARC #thislittledarkplace

Every now and then a book comes along that holds you captive from the very first page. You can't really explain why you found the story so captivating,you just know that you couldn't put the book down whilst at the same time you didn't want the story to end. Well,for me This Little Dark Place was one of those books,it's a mesmerising,enthralling read. The tension builds throughout culminating in a totally unexpected twist conclusion.

I really enjoyed this debut from A Hatch. I was engrossed in the story and where it was going to lead. Would recommend and probably gift it to friends.

The book started off with a promise of intrigue and buildup but somewhere along the way, I lost a little interest. I was waiting for more to happen with/to the characters. The characters behaved and acted in a way which just did not resonate with me. They fell flat as I was not invested in them at all.
By the end of it the story did pick up but for me, the plot twist was not a surprise at all since that seemed a natural conclusion. Having said that I think I had higher expectations as I started reading it. I'm sure it will work better for others.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.