This was everything you need for a thriller and crime story. It is not as black and white as you first think and like most typical thrillers, is full of twists. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This was a compelling read which I really did enjoy. The story kept me hanging right until the end when the author delivered a massive twist that I never saw coming. I felt it was a little slow and in my opinion, it could have been projected as more thrilling and more fast-paced. In certain places, this story was slightly repetitive and dragged a little but this never stopped me from turning the pages to get the answers I needed.

Matty Melgren had woven himself into the lives of twelve year old Sophie and her mother Amelia-Rose following their move to Massachusetts. To be honest Matty was a likeable character who was kind and seemed really loyal, he became a dad to Sophie who idolised him.

Amelia-Rose was a difficult character to like. She came across as closed off emotionally and in my opinion later on in her relationship with Matty she appeared totally in denial of anything that might appear suspicious.
When a serial killer starts to target young woman near enough identical to Amelia-Rose Sophie starts to have doubts about the kind of man he may be.

Told in two eras, the 1980s when they all first meet and then twenty years later, at times the difference became confusing and I had to go back and re-read parts to find out what year I was in. Saying that there was no doubt that this book held my attention all the way through, Did he or did he not kill those women?

This was a thoroughly addictive story and a read I would recommend.

This was a great read. It reads like a true crime book and is very easy reading and jumps from memories to present day. I'd figured out the twists before the end with only one kind of surprising me.

4.5 stars Well, this book hit the ground running, kept the intrigue high, and spat me out at the end exhausted but satisfied. Letting me surface for air a couple of times along the way, for which I am thankful!
We start with Sophie and her mother, Amelia-Rose, moving from Massachusetts to London to start a new life. There they meet Matty Melgren who starts to date Amelia-Rose and becomes a father figure to Sophie. But it's not long before there's a spate of murders in the neighbourhood and all the women appear to look quite a lot like Amelia-Rose. But it couldn't be Matty, could it...?
Well, we all know it was as he is currently in prison for it.. but the story told within this book is twofold... First it's Matty's request for Sophie to visit him, second it's their story of when they met and became a family... and the two weave themselves around and about each other, complementing each other, until, well... you'll see when the truth finally all comes out...
This is a book where it is best to go in as blind as you can. There are so many shocks and surprises to be found herein that any prior knowledge of them will definitely lessen the impact. Suffice to say I didn't guess the half of what was going on and really kicked myself in hindsight. There was certainly a lot going on below the surface for everyone!
I didn't really like Sophie, she didn't come across as a particularly nice character for me, but I empathised with her as she did go through quite a lot both in childhood and as an adult so I guess she is entitled to her pity party and woe is me attitude. Especially as her world was turned upside down more than once.
Pacing was a little hit and miss occasionally, it is a bit of a slow burn in places but then there were a lot of ducks to get in a row before the shooting could begin...
This is my first book by this author and I will definitely be checking out her back catalogue. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Victoria Selman’s Truly, Darkly, Deeply is an interesting use of the serial killer motif. A letter from Battlemouth Prison informs Sophie that Matty Melgren is dying and wants to see her. Sophie and her mother moved from Boston to London in the 1980s and Matty became part of their family and father figure for Sophie. A serial killer is at work in the north of London and twelve year old Sophie is fixated. The narrative is unusual in its interspersion of events today and of the 1980s, as well as blog posts and newspaper articles. The nub of the tale is the family relationship, Sophie’s psychologist and the man living downstairs. So, will Sophie finally get answers after twenty years and who was really responsible for all those women’s murders? A domestic noir psychological thriller that was somewhat mundane, lacking tension and only a three star read rating. With thanks to Quercus Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

A serial killer on the loose in North London. Their M.O. is very specifc. Brown shoilder length curly hair.

Whilst this may sound like a difficulty in finding victims. Being set in the early 1980’s where perms ruled supreme. There was a plethora of potential victims.

Take an a-typical family. Mum, daughter and a stand in father. The three of them a tight family unit.

There is a murderer on the loose, young women are their prey. The link their hair. That is what ties them to the family. A trophy from the killer to his girlfriend, all presented with a nice little bow around their necks.

This is a fast paced thriller, that is bound within a plot that gives nothing away till the end. It grabs you by the throat and holds you there till you’ve finished. The characters are strong and well rounded, well as long as you don’t take the crimes into account.

This has earned it a very easy book to recommend.

Status: Completed

Rating: 4.9/5.0

When Matty walks into Sophie and her mother’s life things change and 20 years after he was sent down for murder can she get the answers she needs. Oh this was so gripping and I loved the then and now pov. The sprinkling of true crime blogs and reports made this more interesting. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Twelve-year-old Sophie lives with her mother, Amelia-Rose and father figure Matty Melgren in London. During this time, a series of murders occur. Alarmingly, the victims all resemble Amelia-Rose - petite with brown curly hair. Marty is eventually convicted of these murders - but was it really him, or was he framed?


I absolutely inhaled this book! It is so gripping and it fascinated me. It was so well written I felt I was reading a true story!

Absolutely brilliant, I loved this book. A really gripping and immersive read.
The story tells of Sophie who as a child develops a strong bond with her mothers boyfriend, having not known her own father. The story flips between the past and present when it reveals that Matty was convicted of multiple murders he committed whilst Sophie and her mother were seeminglt oblivious. As Sophie gets to grips with facing the past and learning to live with some of her own actions, 20 years on she still questions his protestations of innocence. Matty asks to see her as he is dying. Does he reveal the truth about the murders?
The book throws in some serious emotional curveballs in relation to the experiences of Sophie and her mother and leaves you questioning yourself whether Matty really is what you think he is. Really enjoyed this, great book!

Strong hook, disappointing execution. Truly, Darkly, Deeply started off strong, but after a while, became repetitive and slow. The tone was gloomy throughout and the other characters half-formed, I quickly became bored of the narrators agonising over the horrible thing she’d done. Aka, turned in a serial killer. The final plot twist wasn’t all that shocking, not because I had anticipated it, mostly because I simply didn’t care at that point.

It goes without saying, a book about a serial killer will go to some dark places! This one had a unique spin - we know who was convicted for all those murders, but for his family left behind are still questioning his guilt. And then Marty invite his step daughter Sophie to learn the truth. What a premise!!!

This one takes you to two timelines - the present as Sophie is building up to that prison visit with the hopes of finally learning the truth, and the past as she’s experiencing the aftermath of those horrific crimes and how her life plays out around them.

I was pulled in straight away with this one, and I will say that the prospect of her prison visit really pulled me along. I did find the pace of the book slow slightly with her introspections and internalisations. But overall a really good book with an ending I really didn’t see coming at all! This was my first read by Selman and won’t be my last!

A different spin on a crime story.

Sophie’s real father left when she was very young, but when her and her mum Amelia-Rose move to England from America and her mum meets charismatic Matty Melgren, their family is now complete. Sophie finally has a dad; and although his behaviour is odd at times and he disappears on occasion, he is warm, funny and she adores him. Life has finally started to go right. However, a serial killer is operating in their area and seems to be killing women who look like Amelia-Rose. Should she be worried that her mum is the next target, or is the killer a little closer to home?

What I really enjoyed was that the author decided to write a crime novel from a different perspective. Not only do we get the point of view of young and adult Sophie, but interspersed is the odd blog about the killings. This stopped the story from becoming too stale and helped to add another element of interest. It was thought-provoking focusing on the after effects of these kind of events have on a killer’s family, rather than the killer themselves.

This novel tries to grind itself in reality, and there are a few pop culture references that add to the context, but I’m not sure it completely felt like it was set in the 80s. If the references were changed, it could easily be a different decade, which leads to the question, why was it set then if it didn’t add anything to the story?

It is well written and started off pacy enough, but there came a point when they were drawing out the meeting a little too much and I was more than ready for it to come to an end. I just felt that it got a little repetitive where nothing new was happening and it could have done with something else developing; I’m afraid the more Sophie went on, the less sympathy I gave.

Overall, it isn’t a bad read. It definitely started off stronger than it ended, but could have done with a boost in the middle.

A bit slow and story too long.
Sophie is 12 and her Amelia-Rose move to London from the USA there she meets Matty who is very loving and Sophie ardours her then women are murdered and they all look like Amelia-Rose and evidence points to Matty but they can`t believe it`s him.
The story is set in the past and present it got confusing at times as it wasn`t clearly marked.
The present is set with Matty who has been in prison for 20yrs and wrote to Sophie asking to see her and to tell her the truth.
It got very confusing and I still don`t know what happened so it was not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the ARC

Truly, Darkly, Deeply gripped me from the get go - I love a book that starts with a letter and the ending successfully completed the loop.

Plenty of twists and a satisfying - if jaw-dropping ending.

The great thing about reading a new author is that you've got a full back catalogue to dive into and I'm looking forward to reading them.

Good read.

Recommend.

This is the story of Sophie and her mum Amelia-Rose, who in the 70s move from the States to London to build a new life for themselves. Here Matty comes into Sophie’s life, who became a much-loved father figure until the day he is convicted to life in prison as a serial killer.

The narration oscillates between events in the past and the present, where Sophie, after so many years, still struggles to come to terms with the betrayal of trust and the sheer monstrosity of the deeds committed by the man she loved and adored as a child. She receives a letter from the prison informing her of Matt’s terminal illness and she knows that she will have to see him in order to settle the nagging doubts about his culpability that eat away at her.
The time between receiving this letter and the actual visit is spent recalling events of the past that haunt her daily. She awaits the big day with trepidation and when it arrives, an unexpected turn lies in wait for her.

In order to heal, Sophie follows the advice of her psychotherapist and writes a letter to her childhood self, which turns out to be the book in front of us. In it she deals with her personal experience and also looks into the strange fascination / obsession some people have with serial killers.

I remain unconvinced of the plot and its main characters - both, in my opinion, lack development – but was however still interested enough to see it through and to find out how Sophie’s story will end.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Hachette UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is honestly brilliant. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about this book but there is something about it that makes it standout. It could be the the voice of the main character Sophie that is written in a really relatable and real way or it could be that despite this book’s dark and sadistic theme it manages to deliver it a sensitive and thought provoking way or it could even be the way it keeps you in suspense right to the very end. Whatever it is, this is a truly great read and it is definitely one of my favourite reads this year.

3.5* upped to 4
There's a lot of potential in this story,: the characters are well developed and intriguing even if I didn't like them. There's a lot of twists and a man who could be a serial killer or not.
It's an interesting take on the serial killer family trope but I guessed the twists and the story became a bit boring.
One problem is that it starts with a bang and then drags with a lot of repetition. I assume it can a be stylistic choice and some will love it, I wasn't a fan.
As I said there's a lot of potential and will surely read other books by this author even if I wasn't a huge fan of this one.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

3.75⭐️

This psychological thriller is my first read by this author. It felt more like character studies with the strong concentration on the personalities,beliefs and feelings. It has the feel of a true crime memoir which worked for the story.

Sophie and her mum Amelia-Rose move from the US to London. Amelia-Rose soon falls for charismatic Matty Melgren. After the relationship fractures Matty is convicted of multiple murders which rocks their worlds. 20 years on he is dying and has requested to see Sophie.

Sophie is the narrator, the story is told using a past and present time frame. The past contains some snippets from the real world at the time which grounds the story. Some of the past narrative comes in the form of news reports and podcasts.
We get to see how strong Sophie’s mom is, making a fresh start as a single mom in a strange country, although she seemed overly needy as far as Matty was concerned
its also evident how the relationship with Matty has totally obliterated Sophie’s ability to trust anyone again, and also broke Amelia -Rose. Much of the book concentrated on this aspect.

Through Sophie’s hindsight there’s constant questioning about what they knew, and when they recognised their suspicions. You can feel the tension of the agonising which felt was drawn out. I was constantly being judgemental about all of them.
You can feel things building to a head as the prison visit draws near.
Although all the angst,self questioning and second guessing wore a bit thin towards the end.

Non of the characters come across as very likeable, Sophie was the more engaging of them. I found the pacing slow, the tone throughout quite gloomy.

I enjoyed it, but it didn’t wow me. It felt a bit bleak for me. Not sure how I felt about the ending, although it was believable.

My heartfelt thanks to @netgalley and @quercusbooks for sending me this e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!

Let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed this one! This has nothing in common with your average thriller, it reads more like a true crime from the POV of a 12 year-old girl!

Set in the present day but with flashbacks to the early 1980s, it was one of those books I couldn't put down. I think the author has managed to recreate the 80s with meticulous research that takes you down memory lane. With references to famous British TV shows like Only Fools and Horses and net shopping bags, Boy George's music and the mention of Lady Di's wedding, I had to pinch myself to make sure I hadn't travelled back in a time machine!

The book opens with Sophie, now an adult, receiving a letter from her stepfather, a serial killer serving a life sentence. The letter tells her that he is dying of cancer and wants to meet her. The man has protested his innocence for the last twenty years and although Sophie never wanted to see him again, she knows that meeting him will be the only way to give her some sort of closure.

What follows is a retelling of what happened since Matty, her stepfather, walked into her life when she was only 11 years old!

With no substantial evidence against Matty, the reader is left with the question: did they lock up the right man for the brutal murder of over 10 women?
Let me just say I was in doubt till the very end!

I loved every minute, especially the writing and that final little twist!

True crime lovers should not miss this book, out next week!

This was so clever. It twisted and turned like a corkscrew, you never being sure what to believe. I changed my mind about Matty about a dozen times throughout the book and it has a very satisfying conclusion.