Although I enjoyed this one and read rather quickly, my thoughts are conflicted...

Excellent concept and creepy storyline, conversations with killer were well written, very Silence of the lambs vibes during those moments! Fairytale and lore references added an eerie edge!!

I did feel that there was a lot going on making it somewhat difficult to keep track of everything. Pace towards the end seemed rushed and jam packed with twists ending in « wait what ? » moments that I wish had had more depth to them.

Overall an enjoyable fast paced thriller!

An excellent addition to the crowded thriller genre. A recommended purchase for collections where similar titles are popular.

Creepy vibes? ✓
Mysterious? ✓
Haunting? ✓
Suspenseful? ✓
Page-turning? ✓

I'm always leery when I pick up thrillers or horror books from new authors or new-to-me authors. Sometimes they turn out to be gems. Sometimes they turn out to be duds. This one is definitely a gem I was glad I took a chance on.

This book is equally parts creepy, suspenseful, dark, haunting, and mysterious. I had no clue what was coming next. I was turning pages with trepidation on what would come next.

I was left feeling a sense of dread and unease in many parts of this book. If you know me, that's not easy for a book to do. I will admit, there were some scenes that were a little off. I felt like the author was trying to force certain things with the main character. However, these instances were so little, they didn't totally distract from the rest of the book.

Overall, this book was a winner for me. I can see where some might not like it. It's different from the "norm" and sometimes people just aren't into change or different. And that's okay. If you're looking for a book with a haunting vibe to read in the fall, this is going to be one to add to your list.

🌿BOOK REVIEW🌿

A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams

🌼🌼🌼/5

TW// death, suicide, animal death, stalking

Heather Evan’s is heartbroken and confused about her mother’s sudden suicide. When she returns to her childhood hone she finds a stack of letters from the serial killer Michael Reave hidden away. Reave has been in prison for 20 years after being convicted of gruesome, ritualistic murders of several women. He has always maintained that he was innocent and has always been ignored, until a copy cat murderer is on the loose.

Heather works with the police to try and find out what Reave knows about her mother’s past and also his connection to these new murders. Through this journey Heather uncovers horrifying truths all connecting back to one historical commune.

I was so hooked and there were some very creepy bits created by talented writing! Throughout the book the atmosphere is palpable and it was difficult to put down. What I did struggle with was how much was being covered all in one go and it did feel it was a lot to follow. I feel this was especially apparent with the ending as it was very confusing and unfortunately I had my suspicions about what the ending would be. I feel as soon as you guess the ending to a thriller it looses its edge but that’s just me!

All in all I did enjoy this book (for me a 3 star is still a book I would recommend!).

I was kindly provided with an eARC from Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly was not expecting to like this book. It started off a little slowly and it took some time to realize exactly what was going on. Heather is trying to sort out the details of her late mother's life and her tragic suicide when she discovers that her mom had a relationship with a notorious serial killer.

As an accomplished journalist, eventually, Heather puts the pieces together and discovers that her mother was hiding secrets that she never could've guessed. It ends with a twist I wasn't expecting and overall it's a pretty good book!

As a lover of thrillers and true crime, A Dark and Secret Place was a perfect read for me. While this not true crime, Jen Williams does such a successful job of building a new reality that it felt like it.

I read it in just a few days which is unusual for me as it's an easy read with a quick pace, it draws the reader in with so many unanswered questions and a building tension as our protagonist attempts to unravel the mystery of her mother's past.

It contains some very unique twists that I haven't encountered in others in the genre, which has many a good trope, but I really enjoyed this unusual story.

This book really spoke to me, as a fan of true crime and true-crime podcasts. Heather Evans hasn’t been home in a long time. She finally returns after her mother takes her own life and Heather has to pick up the pieces and figure out what happened. Here’s where the true-crime red meat comes in—Heather discovers a trove of carefully preserved letters from infamous serial killer Michael “The Red Wolf” Reave. I was sucked in at this point—it’s every true-crime fan’s dream, to uncover new evidence in crime, especially hidden letters!

Even though the Red Wolf has been in maximum-security prison for more than twenty years, convicted of a series of brutal and ritualistic murders of women, he has always said that he was innocent. And it seems that her mother had some insight into the mind of the Red Wolf and into these murders. Heather has to find out what her mother knew, and what the Red Wolf knew, as another young woman is found murdered, in the same way that the Red Wolf killed.

This was dark, twisted and ultimately compelling take on a tried-and-true narrative—the prodigal child returning to uncover long-buried secrets, the help and insight of a possibly innocent incarcerated killer into a new crime, a romantic interest. I enjoyed this and it reminded me of books by Tana French and Kathleen Barber, even Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs. Very dark, and TW for graphic descriptions of mutilated bodies.

Overall I found the premise of this book to be really intriguing, but something about the execution did not draw me in. it took me a while to even get invested in the main character and by then, it started to switch viewpoints. I think this would have done better if it had focused on one POV with interjections of another POV, but it felt overly distracting. However, I like the gory scenes with the Michael - he is atavistically animal and I like that juxtaposition with him being a naive and lost child. Overall, perhaps I would recommend to friends who love thrillers and would like a fresh premise.

DNF, y'all, so let's not count this one as my official first book of the year! The setup is interesting, but the story plods along (especially in the middle) and then the ending is just like HEREYOUGOALLATONCEOKAYSORTITOUTYOURSELF!!! I don't know - I just didn't love it, but I wanted to, because I love a good dark premise.

Perfect title for this book. This is a dark read for those that like intense and terrifying. This is a psychological suspense that takes you on a ride of unforgettable thrills, into the past of a deceased mother, her daughter Heather, makes discoveries that sends her into dangers she is not ready to face. Great read!

Wow! What a riveting read! A Dark and Secret Place grabbed me by the throat and held onto me until the very end. I did not see that ending coming - what a complete shock! Skilled writing and character building made this an A+ novel.

Following her estranged mother's suicide, Heather Evans return to her childhood home to prepare for the funeral and see to her mother's affairs. Hidden away in the attic, she finds letters written to her mother from an imprisoned serial killer, Michael Reave, but the letters predate his incarceration, indicating that Heather's mother knew Michael long before he went to jail; before Heather was born in fact. Heather sets out on a quest to learn more about her mother and understand if this connection to Reave has anything to do with her suicide or the fact that a copycat killer is on the loose. The premise is promising, and while I did like the book, I found several plot elements to be unrealistic and I did not particularly like Heather or understand her actions, which are the main reasons for my middling rating. There are several plot twists; some were easy to predict but one big one definitely took me by surprise.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review. I chose this as my final book for 2020. I wanted some dark and mysterious that I could get through fairly quickly. This book did not disappoint. It kept my attention and I could barely put it down. Plenty of twists and turns along the way too.

It’s been a long time since I devoured a book so quickly! I couldn’t put this down! I won’t recap the story since it’s been done to death by now.

This author knows how to tell a story and create a set of characters. I was always on the edge of my seat reading this. It was creepy. The use of nature as elements of evil really worked for me.

There were several twists and most of them I did not see coming (which is always fun). This went off the rails at the end but I dug every second of it!! I will definitely check out the next by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Crooked Lane Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

This book was very slow moving and then wrapped up so quickly at the end I had to reread parts to understand what was really happening.
I’ll admit- I was quite disturbed by this one. The whole cult/commune aspect niggled at me the entire time. I usually barrel through a good thriller and I couldn’t read more than 30 min at a time.
Characters were very well thought out, plot drawn out well and setting was very explicit- especially Fiddlers area. Wow.

A creepy, dark suspense novel that has bits of folklore and fairy tales, as well as serious true crime vibes. Beautiful writing and great pacing.

I really appreciate a thriller that doesn't play on any kind of full mental illness trope, and in fact, pushes that it's not always that at hand. I appreciated that we got snippets of the past throughout the book, as it made you relate to and connect with Michael Reave- something you don't often get in thriller novels. I didn't love the pacing of this book. Some refer to this as a slow burn thriller, but for me, it was a lot of information delivered to us in not the greatest of formats. I found Heather extremely unlikable, to the point where if she got herself killed I didn't really…feel sad about the idea of that happening. I didn't care for the way it all wrapped up, and the ending felt shoved down my throat with all the information I was failed to be given via an extremely slow delivery.

Nonetheless, without further ado let me tell you a few words about ‘’A Dark and Secret Place’’, in the middle of it I wanted to throw away my tablet and forget I even started reading this book. 🥲🥲



Maybe that is a bit of exaggeration, but I just did not get along with this book at all. It has somehow reminded me of ‘’Poison Garden’’ which at first was a good thing because I have truly enjoyed this book. However, when it comes to this position right here… I am just.. well, speechless? Even though I have enjoyed the beginning and it seemed like a book I will like, somewhere in the middle, the main characters were making me frustrated.



However, I will let you decide whether it is a book for you.

Wow! What did I just read? I absolutely loved it!!’ I read this book in one sitting, it was that good. As soon as I started the first chapter I was hooked and just couldn’t stop.
The story revolves around the mysterious suicide on a middle aged woman, unexplainable for her daughter Heather ( the main character). Heather soon discovers that her mother has been corresponding with the famous serial killer, the red wolf, now in prison. But the killings have started again with the same MO of the red wolf. The police are racing against time to stop this copycat.
This book was freakishly creepy and gory. You better leave your lights on while reading it because there were certain moments where I felt my hackles rise and was not comfortable in my dark room. The author cleverly combines pagan cult with the killings of young woman that date back to the 70’s. There is not one boring moment in this book, and I just seemed to fly through the pages without really realizing it. Congratulations to the author on her first thriller!

What a page turner! Haunting and dark, do not read alone at night. Heather is amazing. Heather is badass.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.