A Dark and Secret Place is a dark and suspenseful thriller from @sennydreadful19. It start out with Heather returning to her mother’s home after many years away. Heather’s mother has recently killed herself and Heather is back for the funeral and arrangements. While cleaning her mother’s house, she finds packs of letters her mom wrote… to a convicted serial killer for years and years!

This makes no sense to Heather why her mom would be corresponding with notorious serial killer Michael Reave. He is famous for killing many young women, taking their hearts out, and filling their mouths with flowers. He also goes by the Red Wolf nickname. Heather is determined to figure out what happened and she begins to think that her mom had a good reason for doing what she did. Heather is the only person who knew that Michael and her mom were corresponding so the police ask Heather to help get information from Michael who is in jail.

This psychological suspense novel is not for the faint of heart! It has a lot of gruesome scenes and a lot of talk/ action of anima cruelty. Michael is obviously sick and this goes to show how he grew up and what he was taught. His parents died early and he was raised by a man who taught him to hate women and that men and women would never be equals. The book as flashbacks to Michael’s childhood where we get to know him better.

I love me some family secrets. I like them juicy, gritty, and shocking AF. A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams takes family secrets to a whole new level. Oh boy. I’d be running for the hills if I unburied similar information about my own family! Ha! I went back and forth between the audiobook and physical book, but definitely favored listening over reading this one. The narrator’s voice was super calm and soothing. The story moved at a relaxed pace, but was still quite intense, disturbing, and heavy. Fans of The Whisper Man or Jar of Hearts would enjoy this book. It has the same dark, creepy, and chilling vibes. I’d say that it leaned more towards horror rather than thriller, in my opinion. A few scenes made me queasy, and didn’t sit quite right with me. I’m quickly learning that I don’t have the stomach for the horror genre. Yikes! Check this one out if you like:
* Slow-burning mysteries
* Digging up family secrets
* Chasing down serial killers
* Folklore, urban legends, and cults
This story didn’t quite grab me, and made me a little uncomfortable at times, to be perfectly honest. However, I did enjoy the author’s atmospheric writing style, so I’d definitely try another one of her books out in the future.

Really isn't my favorite type of a psychological thriller.

But I definitely think, as a bookseller, it has its place for those that are more into this type of thriller than the more fast paced twisty thrillers.

Books with graphic violence against animals and children should really come with some kind of warning so readers know what they are getting into before picking something up that might trigger them. The synopsis of this book really drew me in and I assumed I would absolutely love it, but I ended up abandoning it a little less than half way. There were some interesting parts, but lots of changes in POV made it hard to follow. If you're into the Brothers Grimm or traditional fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, you might appreciate what the author was going for here, but this one wasn't for me.

This book was extremely creepy. I had high hopes for it after reading the synopsis, but in the end it fell flat for me. It got confusing in parts which made it not only hard to follow, but also unbelievable. There were also some disturbing things for me with the animal violence that I had to skip over. I wish there were trigger warnings in the synopsis of books

A Dark and Secret Place
Jen Williams
Heather Evans left home shortly after her father’s death; she was only 16 years old. She and her mother had a dreadful relationship. After her mother’s suicide Heather returned to her family home. As she began going through her mother’s possessions she found letters from serial killer Michael Reave, the Red Fox. Reave has been in prison for over twenty years for the horrific and ritualistic murders of several women across the country. A young woman is found brutally murdered, mutilated, and placed inside a tree with flowers, the same MO as the Red Wolf. It quickly becomes obvious that Heather’s mother and Michael Reave were close.
The house is large and creepy. Someone seems to be watching Heather but seems able to fade away into the shadows. Heather is frightened. She contacts DI Ben Parker, seeking to visit Michael Reave; she hopes to gain information about her mother. The police go along with the visits in hopes of getting information leading to the copycat killer. Reaves talks in fairy tales.
I consider this book to fall in the categories of psychological thriller and serial killer thriller. There are several strange threads in this book including fairy tales, a commune, the woman in a red coat, strange neighbors, and the mysterious watcher. As I read this tale, I could sense danger lurking just out of sight. This is an intense tale. The fairy tales told by Michael Reave were frightening. I was reminded of Little Red Riding Hood throughout this tale: wolves, red coats and the sense of danger waiting. This book starts out slowly but about three quarters through the pace became almost frantic. The main character, Heather was precarious. I suspected she had something to do with the murders. The ending took me a bit by surprise. I enjoyed the references to Grimm’s fairy tales. Be prepared to feel a bit of unease as you read A Dark and Secret Place.

"A Dark and Secret Place" hits the sweet spot between mystery, thriller, and true crime. The twists and turns aren't too hard to guess on their face but the layers of the story add extra levels of intrigue that will keep you turning the pages until the very end.

This read was just ok for me. I felt like the pace of the book was a bit off. As an audiobook I felt that I caught myself drifting off at the beginning of the book. Then once I got to the middle/ end, when I was really into putting every piece together, I found myself longing for a bit more & feeling a bit rushed. I didn’t love Heather as a character and would contribute some of my feelings towards that. I did however love the weaving of dark fairytales into the book. The overall puzzle keep me intrigued enough to keep on, but I cannot say it was my favorite read. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jen Williams for this Audio-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

Heather sadly losses her mother in a horrible way. Her mother has committed suicide and now it's Heather's responsibility to deal with the details. Heather finds letters from a serial killer and her mother. They date back years. Why has her mother been corresponding with a killer? Now there is a copycat killer on the loose since the real one is behind bars.

It was hard for me to get into this book right away. I have to admit I did force myself to keep coming back to it. I would start it and realize I wasn't in the place to hear such a dark, creepy, twisted story. The narrator was incredible at making her voice creepy during Michael's stories. I'm very glad I stuck with it because the book itself was good. The author's writing was very detailed and made me picture everything as if I was there. The twist I unfortunately saw coming and the ending just did not do it for me. It seemed too fast and wrapped up too conventionally.

This book immediately grabs your attention. Descriptively graphic in the details, a thrilling page-turner. #Adarkandsecretplace #netgalley

Thank you for the opportunity to read this audiobook.
I found the story interesting and I liked the concept in the synopsis. I found this was a slow-burn thriller and really did not capture my attention enough to binge read. The initial first few chapters was super captivating and I felt it was really going to pick up - but ultimately felt otherwise.
I feel like I would have to go back and re-listen as there was a lot going on and sometimes could get a bit confusing. A big part of it might have been that Heather's POV was not gripping/likeable to me. I quite enjoy thrillers and would still recommend this book for friends and family - just not a top read for me.

Once again thank you for the chance to listen to this book!

Insta: @sarahsbookcase

2.5 stars!
Heather is returning to her hometown after her mother has recently committed suicide. She is preparing for the funeral and getting her mother’s affairs in order so she is staying in her house. While she is sorting through her mother’s things, she discovers some handwritten letters. She realizes her mother has been corresponding with Michael Reave, an infamous imprisoned serial killer known as the Red Wolf, for many years. What else can Heather uncover about her mother’s past that she didn’t know?

This novel started off really promising for me. I liked the setup at the start as it hooked you to find out right away what the deal was with Heather’s mom and Michael. It had lots of subject matter that typically piques my interest: serial killers, cults or communes and dysfunctional families. That being said, there was just too much going on here. The story flipped back and forth between multiple points of view and timelines and none of them seemed to weave together very cohesively. It gave the novel a very scattered fluidity that I found hard to keep track of because there were so many little bits floating around. It got pretty slow in the middle and then the ending was jam packed with so many resolutions that it was overwhelming. I wished Heather had some more character development as I just couldn’t connect with her and her poor decisions. It did have some creepy scenes when describing Michael and his victims that made me shiver. Thanks to @crookedlanebooks and @netgalley for my ARC.

So i tried to listen to this but i couldn’t. First i found it to be rather repetitive and just plain boring. The narrator was not good. I will try this story some other time maybe.

Heather returns to her family home after her mother's baffling suicide. As she goes through her mother's home, she finds a stack of letters from a notorious serial killer, The Red Wolf. The Red Wolf is in prison, but the murders have started once again. Is this a fan copying the Red Wolf, or is there more to the story? And how does it involve Heather's mother? ♥️🌲🐺
This book was a wild ride. It is incredibly hard to put down because I NEEDED answers. Overall, I am very impressed and definitely recommend this one to any thriller lover! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Written by Jen Williams
Jen is a British fantasy novelist and short story writer living in London. This is her first psychological thriller. The story has British verbiage and profanity. This is my first audiobook written by Jen Williams I’m not sure it’s an advantage or disadvantage having not read her previous work which was primarily fantasy.

Narrated by Lorna Bennett. She’s a professional voice actor. Lorna Bennett is a British Film, TV, Stage and Voice Over Actor based in New York. This was recorded by Dreamscape Media. I requested the audiobook via Netgalley and used the app to listen. This is the third time using the Netgalley app for listening to audiobooks and like the other 2 before I hear a garbled sound each time I start listening. This was an English audiobook read by a British performer. This unabridged audiobook is 11 hours and 20 minutes long. There are 47 chapters to this book. This story was written in third person point of view with Lorna telling Heather’s story.
I say this everytime I listen to a solo performance where both male and female characters are included, one performer doesn’t do the male voice justice when it’s performed by a female narrator. When Lorna is performing Heather’s voice the audiobook experience is wonderful. I’m not fond of the performance of Michael Reeves character. I would prefer a male to voice his scenes.

There were several moving parts to this story making it a bit difficult to follow for audiobook purposes. This is one of those stories where listening and following along with the ebook is recommended. This was not an easy listen. I needed the ebook to keep me focused especially on those fantasy scenes.

The premise sounded very promising. The idea of reading letters from a serial killer sounded exciting, but the execution of this story was confusing. Her writing style didn’t propel the story in a direction that was entertaining. I was hoping for a page-turning thriller. I had preconceived ideas of where this story was headed, sadly it fell flat for me.

Heather Evans is a journalist who returns to her mothers home where she finds letters her mother wrote to a notorious serial killer known as “Red Wolf”. Her mother corresponded with him for over ten years. After reading the letters Heather decides to visit Michael in prison. Twenty years Michael Reeves has spent his time living in a maximum security prison in the UK. He was convicted of being a serial murderer.
A few weeks ago bodies started showing up looking just like Michael’s victims did indicating a copy cat killer is on the loose.
Heather seeks answers about her mother’s mysterious death from a convicted serial killer in prison. Instead of getting answers she gets folklore stories about the Brothers Grimm. I dreaded listening to those scenes.
I can appreciate the unconventional original methods used to gain insight about serial killers. Unfortunately, there were too many layers to this story that overcrowded the main concept.

This book has everything I love. Creepy atmosphere? Check. Serial killer? Check. An ending that surprised me? Check. Unfortunately, even though there were so many things I love in books it fell a bit flat for me.

We follow Heather after her mother commits suicide, and she returns home to go though her things. She finds out that her mother has been corresponding with a notorious serial killer who is in prison. There are also murders taking place now that might be from a copycat.

We also get some POV chapters from the serial killer when he was growing up. These were my favorite parts of the book.

Overall, it was an okay thriller that had many things I love but just didn’t quite work for me.

I received a complimentary copy of A DARK AND SECRET PLACE by Jen Williams as part of a scheduled Let’s Talk Books promotional tour! Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and the author! I also received the ALC from Dreamscape Media and Netgalley!

A DARK AND SECRET PLACE follows Heather who has returned to her home town after her mother’s unexpected suicide. She is trying to make sense of things from her mother’s past. Heather always felt a bit distanced from her mother though she never knew why.

In cleaning out her mother’s things, Heather locates correspondance with Michael Reave, a serial killer known as the “Red Wolf” who is serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of multiple women. When a body is found which seems eerily similar to the Red Wolf’s victims, the police are reopening the case, but Michael is only willing to talk to Heather. In the hopes of learning more about her mother’s connection, Heather gets involved.

There were a lot of elements that I really enjoyed about this book. I thought the author did a great job of building up some creepy atmosphere. Heather is staying in her mother’s house, but with so many questions leaving her unsettled she is constantly on edge. When she thinks someone has been snooping around, it builds up that tension even more.

Michael is also sufficiently creepy. We are hearing his story back in time in flashback chapters and we’re also hearing him talk to Heather in the present. Triggers for child abuse, animal abuse and violence against women. He prefers to tell stories over giving straight answers to Heather’s questions. These quite creepy fairy tales were one of the highlights for me!

I thought that the audiobook for this was really well done as well. A DARK AND SECRET PLACE is available now!

After Heather's mom commits suicide, Heather returns to the house she grew up in only to learn her mother had spent her life secretly corresponding with Michael Reave, the convicted Red Wolf serial killer. I had failed to reread the book synopsis before I started this book and was startled to find this out, but startled in a creeped out but I really want to know more kind of way. When Heather contacts the authorities she is allowed to visit Michael in prison and so starts one of several in-person conversations between the two. The man is very creepy and I found myself scared and yet feeling safe all at the same time. Whereas when Heather would return home to find things amiss and birds that had been in the house, I felt scared and completely freaked out. Then we find out another young woman has died and it appears to be the Red Wolf, but how can this be with Michael in sitting in prison? Through Heather's investigations into her mother's past, Jen Williams builds a slow, steady case to discover who is currently killing in Red Wolf copycat fashion, and the answer will leave you stunned. I know I was! I love it when a book keeps me guessing and throws me for a loop, and this book threw me for several!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook version of this book in exchange for my review. I thought Lorna Bennett was the perfect narrator for the audiobook.

This book has an amazing premise! I was so interested in where the story was going. I really like the concept of Heather finding out details about her mother's life and her past through conversations with an imprisoned serial killer. What I didn't care for off the bat, however, was the cryptic nature of those conversations. It seemed to emulate The Silence of the Lambs, but less in a creepy and interesting way and more in a confusing and confounding way. From then on, I was losing interest in where the story was going and by the time I got to the end and all the details unraveled, I found the whole thing uninteresting and unbelievable. I feel the premise could have been executed a bit better and it all would have been a bit more satisfying. If you're able to roll with the confusion and suspend some parts of reality, this could be a great story for you!

I found the book to be fun and crazy. It was just a fun read/listen (I took turns doing both) though I preferred to read it myself because the narration was often hard to follow when characters changed. A daughter returns to her mother's home after her suicide to try to settle her estate and answer her questions about why her mother would kill herself. Her mother's home is surrounded by strange characters, as you would expect. Interspersed with the present are flashbacks to the childhood and early adulthood of Michael, a convicted serial killer. Why was Heather's mother corresponding with Michael? And does it have anything to do with her suicide? That's then basis of the story.