An absolute masterpiece of a novel.

Sophie and her mom move from the US to the UK when she is eight. Her mother meets Matty and Sophie is over the moon to have another person in her life. Told through Sophie’s eyes growing up with Matty and her Mom and now in present day when she is going to meet him, the writing is something to luxuriate in.

Recommended to anyone that has ever read a book about serial killers and just wanted a bit … more.

Terrific.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read and review this.

A gripping book told from the POV of Sophie that jumps between her childhood and her adult life.

A young Sophie and her mother move from Massachusetts to London her mother begins a relationship with Matty Melgrew. Matty seems like the perfect boyfriend and father figure, someone to whom Sophie becomes instantly attached to. It is during this family-orientated life that a string of murders occur and as the number of victims grows, Sophie can't help but notice that the dead women are of similar appearance to her mother Amelia-Rose.

In her adult life, Sophie is haunted by her childhood past, particularly her feelings of guilt. She is reluctant to visit her former father figure when he requests her visit in prison, who is now dying. Matty has always maintained his innocence. However she does ultimately visit him to not only close the door on the life she once shared with him, but to also learn the truth of what really happened, and ultimately gets more than she bargains for.

Reading this reminded me of Ted Bundy, which could've been the inspiration for this story?

A gripping tale and very much recommended.

An incredibly gripping book. I couldn't put this down, and when I did it was still in my head.
Told from the POV of a child , this gives the book an interesting take on a serial killer story.
With just a few characters in the book, you very quickly feel like you know them.
This is a fast paced, dark and very gripping read that i wont fast forget.
Highly recommend.


I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this book gripping, and interesting but also depressing at the same time. It is a very dark read with twists and turns.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Holy moly...what a book!! I thought it would be a 'standard' serial killer book but NO!!! Twists and turns and unexpected scenes. Never really sure where it's going to head off to next. It's like you're with Sophie trying to figure it all out. Highly recommend!

Why decide to write a book then realise you can’t make it as long as you would have liked so use repetition to fill it out. The story was ok and the characters interesting enough but just way too much filling for the whole thing to be judged as good.

After Sophie and her mother move from Massachusetts to London her mother begins a relationship with Matty. Matty seems like the perfect boyfriend and father figure but is he hiding a dark secret? As women who look eerily similar to her mother are found murdered could there be a a killer closer than anyone could have imagined?

This was a really interesting story as the it focused on the lives of the women in the case that a man has been convicted of a being a serial killer. The long lasting effects were heartbreakingly portrayed as we see Sophie as an adult and still haunted by the events of the past; particularly her feelings of guilt. A truly gripping read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

This book is Truely and Deeply Dark. It gripped me, broke me and twisted me. I had a few ideas where it was going but didn't see the biggest twist, which was good because sometimes not being able to predict what's coming is more fun!
The book is told from Sophie's perspective of all that happened. The troubles and turmoil. The only bit that puzzled me is she doesn't address one of the facts disclosed to her by Matty.
Overall I really enjoyed this book.

I was utterly gripped by this book and found it to be a refreshing take on a serial killer told from this different perspective. It felt very real, filled with emotion and ultimately the hops of recovery for Sophie. I don’t want to give any spoilers but would recommend this as one to read

I was entranced by Truly, Darkly, Deeply throughout.
The prose was very immersive and beautiful without being pretentious or flowery; the pacing was great, and the characterisation was second to none.
I enjoyed the ending, and though I partially saw it coming, it was masterfully delivered and very satisfying. I'd love to read more from this author.

5*

This had me hooked from the start and I couldn't put it down. Only a few characters that you get to know and understand really well... or so you think. It's written from an interesting perspective with one story teller who goes between the past and the present. I would definitely recommend it to others.

I could not wait to get my hands on this book after the hype around it.
It is unusually written as usually crime books are written from the detective's POV and explains how the crime gets solved. This time, the book is written in Sophie's POV and the culprit (potentially) is her mother's boyfriend.
This is a terrifying scenario which has happened so many times in reality so the book is all too realistic. The fact that it is written in a little girl's POV and now young woman only makes it more petrifying and real in my view.
I need to read something "light" and "happy" after this book but I am glad I made the journey with the author through this psychological exploration of the dark side of humanity...

Well where do I begin? Victoria Selman May look all cute, smiley and happy but gosh she has a talent for taking readers to the darkest corners with her storytelling.

This is an absolute gem. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this one. Sophie is our storyteller in this one, she has been fantastic. We have really been able to get her viewpoints on Matty throughout this one.

I do love a good serial killer read and Selman has written a gem. This has tension laced throughout the pages, clues planted in the different chapters and just when I thought I knew where this was going- I find I’m completely wrong.

This is extremely well paced and Selman has the perfect balance of innocent vs guilty. This alongside Sophie’s inner thoughts and feelings have made this book completely unique and unputdownable.

I have read ALL of Selman’s books and this is quite possibly my favourite of them all. This is a book I have been invested in. I’m also left wanting more. The ending of this one made me a little speechless- which isn’t easy to do.

Selman is able to transport her readers to the pages. You can’t help but sense the fear of the community amidst the murders. Sophie and Matty’s relationship has been interesting and complex throughout this one.

I am devastated that I won’t experience this for the first time all over again. This is a masterpiece and I have loved every page. I absolutely a million percent recommend this book.

I heard alot about this book before reading it, however i cannot see whetr thru hype was fro.. For me it just seemed a bit flat. Bothing to makr me stand up and take notice.

I must admit to not knowing Victoria Selman's books, but being a regular listener to the Crime Time FM podcast, I was intrigued to read one, and I'm so glad I did.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply is a compelling and chilling read and one written from a very different perspective in the crime genre. We're used to seeing things from the Detective POV, and more frequently, the criminal POV and victims are also getting more space on the page in terms of backstory rather than being simply someone who dies on page 1. However, in this book, the story is told from the POV of Sophie, who is growing up in the company of a potential serial killer.

Sophie and her mother move to London, and her mother meets a new charismatic boyfriend, Matt. However, as the tale unravels, suspicion grows in relation to whether Matt has been involved in the murder of several local women and also a child in Ireland. Sophie's story is told over several years, and the reader is caught in the did he/didn't he scenario along with Sophie's own wavering views. On the one hand, he has been a kind and loving father figure to her (something that's missing from her life). And on the other hand, there are some questions that can't be answered.

This is a very fast read. I was drawn quickly into the story and wanted to find out the outcome. I didn't see what was coming at the end when the author throws in a final twist.

It's a dark and disturbing read and a book I'm still thinking about several days after finishing it.

I'd definitely read more by this author.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply is a well written compelling story told in two different timelines from the point of view of Sophie. Sophie as a child and Sophie now.
Inspired by real life serial killers it is a clever and addictive story with lots of twists and turns that will keep you guessing.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I enjoyed it so much that I immediately went onto the internet and downloaded a couple of her earlier books.
Highly recommended!

This was a really interesting take on the serial killer trope. Told from the perspective of Sophie, a woman trying to come to terms with the fact that she may have been like a daughter to a man arrested and convicted for multiple murders. Matty Melgren has always protested his innocence, and now that he's dying in prison, he has asked Sophie to visit. Will she finally learn the truth?

As we return to Sophie's childhood, we see the beginning of her Mom's relationship with Matty, and just how much Sophie came to love him. How can she reconcile the man she knew, with the brutal serial killer he was said to be?

When Sophie does visit Matty in the closing chapters of the book, there are plenty more twists revealed, and she is still left wondering what the truth is.

A fascinating and engrossing read that kept me gripped throughout.

Victoria Selman does it again! If you're already a fan of Victoria's novels, you'll absolutely love this latest installment and if you haven't read any, this is an excellent place to start!

I was absolutely drawn in from the 1st page and was gripped until the very end.

Sophie and Her Mother are drawn in by the charming Matty but when a spate of murders occur and the victims all look remarkably like Sophie's Mother, She begins to worry the killer may be a little close to home.

I love how we are kept guessing right until the end. The book explores the theme of seeing what we expect to see and really makes you think about what we focus on as a reader and in life in general.

A must read!

Content/Trigger Warnings
This is a book about a serial killer, and family secrets. Gory murder reports. Child death/murder. Inappropriate behaviour towards a child. Depression. Self harm. Addiction to drugs/alcohol. Extreme trauma. It’s bleak guys.


Today I’m reviewing Truly Darkly Deeply by Victoria Selman, and oof is it bleak. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I don’t think that’s the point of the book. I was intrigued and definitely wanted to keep reading in order to find out the answers to the mystery at the book’s heart.

The book is about Sophie, a woman who lives her life alone apart from a rescue dog named Buster. At the start of the book she receives a letter from a prison stating that an infamous serial killer is dying and is requesting to see her. The rest of the book follows along with how she knows him, and why he could possibly want to see her.

It turns out that she met the man when she was a lonely 8 year old child who had just moved to London with her single mother, Amelia Rose, from Boston in the US. Matty Melgrew (I mean, if you choose to live your life being called Matty, by choice, then I don’t think anyone should be surprised if you turn out to be a serial killer) comes into her life as her mother’s new boyfriend. Starved of a father figure, and friendless at her new school, Sophie falls head over heels for Matty. He is the perfect playmate, never an authority figure, always having seemingly endless time and patience with her. This relationship contrasts against that between Sophie and her mother, which becomes more and more antagonistic as Sophie grows up, fuelled in part by Sophie’s terror that her mother will push Matty away, as the relationship between Amelia Rose and Matty appears to become more strained. All these relationships are set against the backdrop of a string of murders in North London, women who seem to bear more than a passing resemblance to Amelia Rose, heightening Sophie’s feeling of unease as she begs her mother to take precautions when she’s out.

When Sophie is 12, Matty is arrested for the serial murders, including a murder committed in his home town in Ireland, of an 8 year old little girl, the same age as Sophie when he met her. He is arrested after an anonymous tip is received, and suspicion runs high about who made the tip. Was it Amelia Rose? She seemed to be struggling immensely with both the murders and her suspicions of Matty. Or was it someone entirely different? Along with Matty’s true guilt or innocence, this is one of the mysteries of the book.

So Sophie goes to visit Matty in prison, as he requested, to find out the truth, once and for all…

As I said earlier, I didn’t enjoy this book, but I was completely engrossed and picked it up whenever I got the chance. I loved how Selman wove her web until you could understand why both child and adult Sophie were completely confused about Matty’s guilt/innocence. As an outsider looking in it seems so obvious, but for a traumatised child, and later woman, nothing is as clear cut. I LOVED the extra twist of the knife at the end, I did wonder at points through the book if it could be true but the characters were drawn so well that it was still a delightful shock at the end!

The only things that stuck out to me were the formatting (very probably because it was an ARC copy), where all of a sudden you were reading a news story or a blogpost about the murders, but I got used to it very quickly. I’m hoping in the full release it’s more obviously marked, although I have to say that it helped keep me on the back foot so that I wasn’t sure what was happening. As did adult Sophie talking to her mother. It was obvious that she was holding a conversation in her head, but it really wrong footed me at the beginning as I didn’t know the story at first. Pretty clever author trick there Ms Selman! *tips hat*

The characterisation was superb. I felt the loneliness of both child and adult Sophie, and the trauma was palpable. I did feel that Amelia Rose needed fleshing out more, but I know why she wasn’t and it makes sense to me. Matty was at times a fun character to read, until the author switched it up and he became menacing or disturbing, before switching him back. It really helped me to identify with child Sophie, who despite her unquestioning adoration for Matty, still felt that unease, and that feeling of being unsafe, no matter how much she loved him. Some of the things Matty did to Sophie were textbook abuse and gaslighting, making her question her sense of right and wrong, her safety, everything. If you’ve suffered abuse where any of these things have been a factor then I’d give this book a wide berth.

In summary, this is one twisty, and twisted book, that I didn’t want to put down. Did I sometimes feel like I needed to scrub myself raw in the shower? Yes. Was it still worth reading? Very much! As I said, if you have suffered abuse, child abuse (there is a scene that has elements of child sex abuse, as part of a larger pattern of abusive behaviour that may be triggering), or Intimate Partner Violence, you may want to skip this one.

I’d recommend this to people who love a good mystery, especially a psychologically, twisty turny one (is that even a genre??), or anyone who loves books about serial killers or murders in general. You won’t see much, if any, in the way of crime solving from the police side - and what you do see is represented in media articles during and after the investigation - but it’s still interesting to watch it unfold from a different angle. It’s not a book I would usually pick up, I usually prefer to read about my serial killers through the eyes of law enforcement, but I’m very glad I chose this one. It was definitely interesting and well worth a read.

It’s a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately life has got in the way which has had a serious impact on my reading schedule. I will get to this book soon as I have seen so many positive reviews and will leave a review on all the relevant sites