A Dark and Secret Place is an engaging thriller from start to finish. The story follows Heather who returns home when she receives word her mother commits suicide. What she finds is baffling - stacks of letters from notorious serial killer, Red Wolf, in prison for the ritualistic murders of women across the country. When a new woman is found in the same way Red Wolf used to leave his victims, it draws Heather in. Who could be killing women with Red Wolf safely behind bars? Jen Williams writes an addictive, compelling thriller involving serial killers and a dash of family drama. Highly recommended!

For me this was intense, but it was also a slow burn. I struggled trying to get through this one. The idea of the book was great, but it just was poorly executed in my opinion

#adarkandsecretplace #jenwilliams this is an interesting book. I really liked the premise of it. Heathers mom has just #triggerwarning⚠️ unalived herself. While going through her moms items she sees letters. From a serial killer. This will check all the boxes for you if you like to read thrillers. Many thanks to #netgalley for an advanced copy. #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #thrillerbooks #booksbooksbooks

A DARK AND SECRET PLACE

This book is interesting. I like the premise a lot. Our main character is Heather. Heathers mother has just committed suicide and she has to go through her things. While looking over her mothers belongings she finds a huge stack of letters from a notorious serial killer.

Heather decides she wants to meet with this serial killer and the criminal justice system feels she would be the perfect person to get him to talk not only about his prior convictions but also about a string of murders currently happening.

Now if it stopped there it might have been a successful book for me. But around the middle of the book a second storyline is made the focus and things start to go sideways.

It was a bit of a book of two parts. The first half was enjoyable and the second was not. I gave this one ⭐️⭐️. I do not recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this advanced copy!

A Dark and Secret Place is a truly engaging story. It has mystery, horror, serial killers, and so many twists and turns in the story that keeps you reading page after page till you reach the end. The story has a great plot, it's well written, and has an unsuspecting ending!
I downloaded a free copy of this book through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

I love a good book that draws you in from the very first page you read, A dark and Secret Place, did just that. Once I started reading I honestly could not put this book down. It all starts when Heather'rethrns to what was her childhood home, after her mum allegedly commits suicide, Heather soon realises she doesn't even really know her mum. This story is very gruesome and does have animals killed. However this book was a good read. I was expecting more twists and turns.

If you are looking for a twisty psychological thriller including family drama and some disturbing scenes...look no further. Although this book was a slower burn for me, it keep me up until all hours of the night finishing it.

This book was a bit gruesome but I enjoyed the book from the thriller aspect. Would recommend if you have a strong stomach and enjoy thrillers.

An intense and creepy psychological thriller. A dark and eerie story that has some intense scenes written. Not everyone could get through this story. If you are into dark and creepy stories during Halloween this might work for you.

I love books that draw you in from the first page, and A Dark and Secret Place did exactly that. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. The mystery starts off when Heather returns to her childhood home after her mother allegedly commits suicide. Heather is left with so many questions and soon realizes that she never really knew her mom. I highly recommend this book for people who enjoy a good thriller.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I stopped about 30-35% into the story. There was a gruesome scene where animals were killed and I didn't enjoy that. I don't feel like we need so many details and animal cruelty to get the point across.

This was a decent book. Would still recommend as it is a thriller and I do like thrillers. I believe that I expected far more from this book based on the synopsis.

This one just didn't really work for me, but it had soooooo much promise with its setup!

After Heather's mother dies, she returns home to care for her affairs and finds something truly disturbing -- her mom had a lengthy correspondence with a notorious serial killer (The Red Wolf) who has been in prison for a long, long time and now he wants to talk to her. When more killings mirroring the very specific, ritualistic murders The Red Wolf committed start happening, Heather takes it upon herself to try to piece together what may be going on, leading her to discover a whole different side of her mother she had never known before.

I will say that the book did a great job of creating a creepy killer -- the killer dismembered his victims and arranged them in an artful way with flowers and nature woven in. It truly had ritualistic, witch-y undertones that I thought had a lot of interesting possibilities that could be played with. Also, the parts that discussed the killer's childhood were really visceral and disturbed me in a way few books can (TW: there is an upsetting scene involving animals).

I was excited to learn the mythos around the killer and the truth of what could be happening now that the killer was supposedly in jail. Well, this book is not much of a mystery. It reveals waaaaaaaaaay too much too soon, which basically removed all of the intrigue from the plot. And when the details surrounding the current killings finally come to light, everything is just kind of explained in an exposition dump right at the end, rather than the plot revealing little tidbits along the way. And the explanation for the killings made noooo sense at all to me. I could not understand why any of the killings (past or present) happened in the first place. Which, fine, I get that some sadistic psychos just want to kill people! But in books like these, there always has to be some sort of greater purpose for things (especially where communes and cults are involved) and the reasons given here just didn't make any sense whatsoever (to me, at least -- I could just be misunderstanding!).

I also feel like there were a lot of elements added in for the sake of red herring that did little to develop the characters or advance the plot from mysterious figures in red cloaks, to an obsession with fairy tales, to the continual repetition of wolf-related words and imagery. A lot of it just didn't work for me.

To end on a positive note, it is written well and I had absolutely no issues with the writing at all. The plot and the characters just didn't work that well for me!

However, if you're a die hard thriller fan who enjoys reading about the macabre, then this might be a great option to add to your TBR!

Heather Evan returns to her family home after finding out her mother committed suicide. As she’s sorting through her belongings, she discovers hundreds of letters from Michael Reave, the “Red Wolf” serial killer. He’s been in prison for over twenty years, serving a life sentence for the murders he committed although, he maintains his innocence. When the body of a young woman is located, set up just as his victims were, the investigators begin the search, DI Ben Parker and Heather team up which results in Heather speaking with Michael, face to face. How far is she willing to go to find out what her mother knew?



I loved A Dark and Secret Place, it checked all the thriller boxes for me; cults, serial killers, and twisted family secrets, it was one wild ride! The creep factor was at an all time high, it was so dark! The multiple POV between present and Michael’s upbringing was intriguing and haunting. I enjoyed the author's writing style and found it was paced so well. I’m still conflicted on whether or not I liked Heather… My only regret is that I didn’t read it sooner!



Huge thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. I'll hopefully try again in the future. Didn't capture my attention and engagement. I'll hopefully try again in the future.

Twisty, turnt, and serial killers. A good combo! Not a favorite by any means, but still a good read!

DNF at 25%
I tried to read it so much but it ended up not catching my interest. The premise was a little spooky but then the writing flow didn't just connect well with me.
I didn't want to make myself read it with force so finally deciding to give up on this book.

It took me a long time to write a review because I can’t decide how I feel about this book. I love the idea of this story but I’m not 100% sure if I liked the execution. The story was captivating and I read it very quickly. I needed to know how it ended but the ending felt rushed. The story itself was decently passed but the ending seemed so rushed that the information and “twists” seemed to get jumbled. I feel like all of the “what no way!” moments came so quickly one after another, right at the end, while the protagonist is fighting for her life, that the reader doesn’t get enough time to absorbe them. The twist were good....really good, but because they are so rushed and close together they don’t land the gut punch that they could have if they had been discovered throughout the story.

The idea was great but the flow of the story was off. It’s been months since I read this book and I still think about it. The story itself was really good and I still recommend it to others.

I did my very best to like this book, truly I did. It was just so blasted boring. Very dry to read, almost like watching paint dry

Unfortunately this book was not for me. Other readers may enjoy it more, but I could not get into it and ultimately did not finish it.