Cover Image: Truly, Darkly, Deeply

Truly, Darkly, Deeply

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Books about serial killers have always been top of my list - not sure what that says about me?! - and this one did not disappoint.
Took me forever to get to it in my NetGalley list and now I’ve read it, I’m mad at myself for neglecting it.
Deffo one to recommend

Was this review helpful?

A gripping story about how people you know are not always who you think they are, I was hooked right from the start. I will admit that I guessed the plot twist at the end, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it all the same, and will be keeping my eye out for more books from this author in the future

Was this review helpful?

A superb thriller that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat of life with a serial killer.

Was this review helpful?

This has been in my NetGalley list for so long, and I am mad at myself for it. This book had such an incredible build up to the explosive conclusion that it had me gasping. For the whole book, I was unsure if Matty was guilty or innocent, I was leaning to the guilty but there was always that little bit of lingering doubt. Sophie was a very likeable character and I am glad she got the answers that she had been searching for. The intermittent news articles and bonus material was sometimes repetitive but did add an extra layer to the narrative.

Was this review helpful?

We’ve all read books concerning serial killers, their wives, their daughters, their next door neighbours, their first cousin twice removed pet goldfish but Truly, Darkly, Deeply is a fresh and original look at a serial killer through the eyes of a young girl, Sophie. Set in the 1980’s in London, Sophie aged 8 and her mother Amelia Rose have moved from the USA to settle in North London.

Amelia Rose meets Matthew (Matty) Melgren and they start a 4 year romance. Young and impressionable Sophie looks up to her mother’s boyfriend and soon a strong bond is established. When several local young woman go missing and later turn up murdered, the neighbourhood begins to panic. Women no longer feel safe walking home alone, the police have absolutely no clues and the term “serial killer” hadn’t even been invented then. Young Sophie becomes obsessed with the press coverage especially as the victims all share an uncanny likeness to her mum Amelia Rose, but luckily Matty is there to reassure her and make her feel safe.

Fast forward 20 years and Matty is now in prison serving Life for murdering all those women and children, nicknamed The Shadow by the press, he contacts Sophie, now 32 as he is dying and wants to see her.

The book is narrated by Sophie and with the dual time lines of the 1980s and present, the chapters slowly peel back the full story behind the serial killer, his girlfriend and her young daughter.

Sophie was such a wonderful character, first as a young girl desperate for attention and love, missing a father figure and truly loving and trusting Matty to protect her and her mother and give them the stable family she craved. The readers will spot a few warning signs in the early days, but Sophie’s youth and innocence allows her to dismiss these incidents at the time and only when she is relaying her story in the present does she start to question things more deeply.

Grown up Sophie who is slowly retelling her story leading up to her visiting Matty in prison is as much a victim as the women he killed. Although she is still alive, she is not really living a life. She’s damaged, has trust issues, feels guilty and ashamed, is vilified for being associated with a serial killer and has struggled ever since he was arrested and charged. Now she needs to find the inner strength to face up to him in prison and hopefully lay some ghosts to rest and get the peace she so deserves.

I absolutely love reading books set in places I know well and being a North Londoner myself, it was fun to read about Hampstead, Camden and the surrounding areas which actually brought more realism to the story for me personally.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Truly, Darkly, Deeply and would definitely recommend it to any thriller fans out there.

Was this review helpful?

I know this isn't a very original way for me to start this but I'm not sure what to make of this book.

I had been looking forward to this for a while, and it started off so well. However, it got quite drawn out and repetitive. I was keen to continue reading it and the ending kind of made up for some of it, but I was finding myself a bit bored in the middle. Could definitely have been improved by being shorter.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Quercus books and Netgalley and sorry I took so long to read this, but am so glad I have now.
Absolutely brilliant. Well written, it grabs your attention and is one of those books where you say to yourself just one more chapter and then do more. Definitely recommended

Was this review helpful?

Absolutely amazing. So well written, it really grabs your attention and keeps you grinned throughout. The choice of narrator is brilliant too. Definitely one I’d recommend

Was this review helpful?

A dark thriller which you read from the point of view of the step daughter Sophie of a convicted murderer - from her childhood to adulthood and how it affected her.
An interesting read and quite realistic as to emotions and thoughts through the book.

Was this review helpful?

Truly Darkly Deeply takes us from the 80s when Sophie's Mum had a relationship with the charming Matty Melgren to present day when Matty is in prison for killing many women in North London when he was with Sophie and her mum. Sophie looked at him as a father figure and can't relate the Matty she knew with a cold blooded killer. Did he do it?

I loved the back and forth of this novel and how we kept getting glimpses that constantly made you doubt whether Matty was a killer or not. I also liked the nod to real life serial killers - Matty aka Ted Bundy... Des the neighbour and his smelly drains - Des Nielsen anyone?! I'm sure there are more that I missed.

I felt the end, wasn't as I expected, but was satisfying. My only gripe was the repetition in places to labour a point - Sophie's mum no longer using orange juice to sweeten her wine. Otherwise it was a great read!

Was this review helpful?

Darkly is pretty apt for this book - although intriguing I found this quite a tough read. With the current discourse around whether the victims of violent crime get enough spotlight compared to the perpetrator, the Ted Bundy -esque Matt set me on edge a bit too much and I couldn't get a hold on what the book was aiming to achieve. The writing itself was very readable but it could have done with more pace initially to hook in even further. The 80's setting made this feel more plausible ahead of the advent of CCTV etc, but perhaps has been a victim of poor timing release wise in light of the Dahmer controversies, even if fictional.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed this book, one of those engrossing reads that you don't even realise you are flying through. Definitely worthy of being in the "un-put-downable" category.

Although it's the story of a serial killer it comes from the angle of the family which makes it a little bit different. Truly, Darkly, Deeply tells the story of Matty, a charming, good looking guy in the 1980's in London, Matty is arrested for multiple murders of young women, and one of the first to be branded with the title of "serial killer", a crime he claims throughout that he is innocent of.

The chapters are told through the eyes of Sophie. At age 12 Sophie and her mother Amelia Rose relocate from Massachusetts to London to start a new life. It's not long before Amelia Rose starts up a relationship with Matty who then takes on the father-figure role to Sophie. It's obvious Sophie adores him, she craves his attention and cherishes whatever time she is able to spend with him.

Now as an adult, looking back on her life with a convicted serial killer she struggles to reconcile the man she loved as a father, with the man now sitting in prison. Her whole life is upended. When Matty reaches out 20 years later wanting to meet with Sophie she is torn. Should she meet with him to try and get some kind of closure or will it only reopen all the wounds and guilt she still struggles with every day?

I loved how the storyline changed between present day and the past as all the pieces of the puzzle started to come together and I thought the author did a fabulous job of tying the ending up with a twist that I certainly didn't see coming.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the chance to read Truly, Darkly, Deeply. I highly recommend for fans of true crime, thrillers, serial killers - you know, all those creepy twisted stories out there :)

Was this review helpful?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
The book is billed as a dark, unsettling thriller with a shocking twist, a genre I enjoy. As the book starts we quickly find that the tale swaps between Sophie's childhood (before and after her move to London) and the present day when she has been called to meet with Matty in prison. The childhood memories are marked by references to the early 80's through music, clothing and news items but there is no other warning such as headings for the chapter. There are threads to the story which seem to go nowhere such as the photograph of Jame, and lots of information about the bullying she suffered at school. By the time I reached the end of the book I thought the narrative had included a great deal of irrelevant detail which added nothing and detracted from the effort to build any suspense. The twist was an anticlimax and barely credible, not matching all the information I had waded through in the preceding pages. I don't think this book is as described and wouldn't read any others by this author based on this experience.

Was this review helpful?

What a book! I was hooked from the start! Told from the point of view of Sophie, a serial killers stepdaughter in dual timeline, this was really intriguing and had me wanting more!

I really enjoyed jumping between past and present, i found it really helped tell the story and each point of view filled in the gaps from the other. I really felt for Sophie and it made me sad to think of the life she had growing up and the years she wasted as an adult too. I loved the use of newspaper articles and interviews to help tell the story, it added an extra element to the story and gives you more to think about when trying to work out what had actually happened.

The only criticisms I had were that it took so long for Sophie and her mum to start suspecting him when to me it was very obvious for ages! And I also didn’t find the twists overly shocking. They surprised me but they didn’t SHOCK me if that makes sense?

Was this review helpful?

© 10 Aug 2022
This is a book that had me not wanting to put it down until I knew what had actually happened and by who and how does it all end.
I sympathised for Sophie as I read about her childhood and what she went through but I still had an inkling that we were not learning everything about her and this kept me reading as I need to know more.
As an adult we discover Sophie still has something important she feels she need to finally deal with and we also see she has personal demons to cope to cope with.

Was this review helpful?

A disturbing,dark thriller which we read from the point of view of Sophie,the step-child of a convicted murderer. We go back to when she was twelve and forward to present day. An intriguing read.

Was this review helpful?

A chilling dark thriller which I could not put down! I was engaged from the start and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, great twists too!

Was this review helpful?

This is a quick read with a strong start & enough intrigue to keep you going despite the fact that not a lot seems to happen. Sophie is our narrator & the timeline flips back & forth from the early 2000s to 20 years earlier & a series of killings in North London. Matty, Sophie's mothers boyfriend, gets accused & sent down for the murders & we follow the lead up to & fall out from this moment.

This book is heavily sold on its 'shocking twist' & that did keep me going at times when I felt it got a bit repetitive. The twist, or should I say twists, are good but I wanted more in the middle...more action, gore, drama.

I wonder if I'd have enjoyed this more as an audiobook as the pacing could be better suited for that.

Was this review helpful?

Such an interesting read. Explored an accused serial killer through his step-child. It is a very different perspective.

Was this review helpful?

A different perspective on the serial killer story, this time from the viewpoint of a twelve year old girl who desperately wants her mother's boyfriend to be her father. Therefore, the focus is on the domestic situation rather than the murderer or his victims.

At the beginning it is already established that the killer has been caught, tried and imprisoned. The question throughout is whether he is guilty or not, plus the child who thinks it's her fault somehow. The story is written in the first person in two time frames: as a child and as an adult, twenty years later. Sometimes this is a bit confusing as to what time period the story is in as there are no date indicators despite some references to music, technology and fashion. It is quite a slow start as it expresses life and living with the grandparents with their views and expressions. However, the relationship between the killer, his girlfriend and the narrator is interesting despite some 'clues' not really showing as significant.

The strength of this book is that the question of the murderer's guilt is fought against by the child who is very fond of him. He is unusual in that he isn't a loner or socially awkward, as most serial killers are portrayed. Handsome and charming, he is reminiscent of Ted Bundy in that respect. The ending had a couple of revelations - one that I expected, one that I didn't and one that was a tad confusing that didn't quite come off. Having said that, it is an enjoyable read.

Was this review helpful?