A disturbing dark read.
Sophie unearths some devastating news about her family and their actions.
All because her mother’s boyfriend was a serial killer.
I wasn’t surprised at the book’s outcome, but it did leave a bitter taste.

Book: Truly, Darkly, Deeply Author: Victoria Selman Star Rating:
Publication Date: 27/06/23
Trigger Warnings: Serial Killer, Murder, Gaslighting, Self Harm, Violence, Child Death

Firstly, I would like to thank @unionsqandco, @victoriaselmanauthor and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book prior to publication in exchange for an honest review, I really appreciate it!!

Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman in simple terms explores having a serial killer as a step-dad! How bizzare is that!! The premise of the story was absolutely fantastic!! It was so interesting to see how the mind of a twelve year old girl processed the fact that the man she looks up to as a father figure is actually a serial murderer who murders women that look just like her mother!!

There were some sections of the story that I felt were a little bit drawn out and this is the reason I marked it down a couple of stars but honestly, I quite enjoyed it, it wasn't a bad read at all!! *

This serial killer novel grabs you from the first line and does not let up until the mind blowing ending. It is told from the perspective of a woman whose father figure is convicted of being a serial killer. The author draws inspiration from all of the well known serial killers and combines many traits to create the fictional killer. I highly recommend reading this book, especially if you enjoy books from a unique perspective and about serial killers.

Thank you @unionsqandco and @netgalley for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

I thought a book from the POV of a potential serial killers family would be an interesting twist on my usual crime thriller. The premise was promising but I found this boring. It was slow going and dragged. It was also repetitive. So many of the chapters just felt like a rehashing of Sophie's feelings of guilt. Her character was also a bit irritating.

If you are looking for a slow burning, darkly distinctive crime novel then Truly Darkly Deeply needs to be on your TBR pile. Amelia Rose moves to London from the USA with her young daughter Sophie. They live a quiet life without many friends but they are speak to their family back home often. But then Matty enters their lives and both mother and daughter fall into an easy relationship with charismatic man although their are signs from the start that something is a little off with him. When a serial killer starts targeting women who look very similar to Amelia Rose, it is Matty who falls under investigation, and he is eventually imprisoned for those heinous crimes. As an anglophile, I adored the North London setting and devoured the references to Hampstead and Camden.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Truly, Darkly, Deeply and would definitely recommend it to any thriller fans out there.

A book about a serial killer and his unknowing family, this had me hooked from the premise alone! And although I had some nits that I didn't love, I still very much enjoyed reading this book!
*
After a series of murders in London in the 1980s, 12-year-old Sophie's mom's boyfriend gets convicted, leaving her family reeling--how did they miss it? Was he wrongly convicted? 20 years later, she gets a letter from him, he's dying of cancer and wants to see her, will she find out what actually happened?
*
To start off with my nits, I found it somewhat repetitive - the use of ominous language ("little did we know...") but also Sophie constantly asking herself "what if he didn't do it." Because of that, the parts of the timeline set in the present felt very slow compared to the flashbacks. I also found some (but not all) of the reveals to be fairly obvious.
*
Logically, I think I should be rating this book lower, but I just enjoyed it so much while I was reading it despite some of those issues. I got through it really quickly, and never wanted to put it down. I loved the flashbacks, and seeing how this investigation into a serial killer evolved, and in particular the psychological effect it all had on Sophie.
*
If you're interested in a slow-burn psychological mystery (not really a thriller) about a serial killer, this was a really great read.

A letter from Battlemouth prison lands with a thump on Sophie Brennans doormat, it’s where Matthew (Matty)Melgren has been for over 20 years. Matty was the partner of Amelia-Rose, Sophie‘s mother and he is the closest thing Sophie ever had to a father. Mattie was found guilty of multiple murders yet he is a killer with no stereotype, he seems so ‘normal’, handsome, well educated, well dressed. The news the letter contains is that Matty is dying and hasn’t long left and he wants to meet Sophie. Matty has haunted Sophie‘s dreams for years, can she confront him and lay the ghost of guilt to rest?

I really enjoyed the direction this novel takes as we view events through young and adult Sophie‘s eyes. It questions and weighs up the possibilities of innocence and guilt in several ways and this is reinforced through blogs that are interspersed throughout the narrative and also demonstrate the fascination some people have for serial killers. It looks closely at the scars and damage that are left behind by those convicted of serious crimes. The novel is well written and compelling especially the characterization particularly of enigmatic Amelia-Rose and mesmerising Matty and you certainly feel Sophie’s angst. The feelings she has are palpable and the guilt she carries feels almost like a living thing, which I guess it is as it’s lived with her for years. Matty’s portrait dangles the is he, isn’t he conundrum in front of you and you speculate just as people did at the time of the killings in the early 1980s.. The ending is a surprise but it most certainly works and helps to explain to some things you puzzle over.

Overall, it’s a very well written and well paced mystery thriller which is hard to put down. I’ve read books before by Victoria Selman but this is the one I’ve enjoyed the most.

I've read and enjoyed the Ziba MacKenzie series back in 2019-2020, and I've been looking forward to read more of Victoria Selman's writing ever since. Add the fact that I have a weak spot for serial killer thrillers, and it's easy to understand why I was excited to finally have a copy of Truly Darkly Deeply hanging out on my kindle. I mean, have you read that blurb? This book doesn't only have a serial killer who *might* be innocent, but the story is also told from the POV of the stepdaughter who called the cops on him. There was no way that I was going to be able to resist this premise, and I'm glad I didn't because it turned out to be a fascinating read.

Truly Darkly Deeply has such a strong premise, and it is one that managed to draw me in immediately. The story is told from Sophie's POV, who is the stepdaughter of the convicted serial killer Matty Melgren. This kind of POV is always absolutely fascinating, and it comes with so many questions. How could they not have seen behind the mask? How do his actions affect the ones left behind? Dealing with the aftermath and public opinion is no easy feat, as this story will show us. The plot switches between the present, where Sophie is wondering whether to visit the dying Matty in prison, and the 1980s when the murders took place. Sophie is still a young child there, but the flashbacks sounded surprisingly mature.

I confess that I was surprised to find the pace to be a tad too slow to my liking... This might have had to do with the fact that some parts read more like a family drama than psychological thriller, and the serial killer angle was more in the background. There was also quite a lot of repetition of the guilt and suspicions both Sophie and her mother felt, and this started to get a bit annoying to be honest. Especially the mother's reactions and mental instability... But I guess it does show what being in a similar situation can do to someone.

The building up of suspense was again quite slow; since most of the book takes place in the past, the true urgency of it all is a bit lost because you already know how things are going to end. There is still power to be found in Sophie's thoughts and reactions to the events as they unfold though. We all like to think we would KNOW if someone close to us ended up being a serial killer, but would we really? I can imagine loving someone can make you blind to some of the signs, explaining them away instead of listening to your gut... Truly Darkly Deeply does a great job exploring and showing us those feelings.

The story itself is mostly slower going and focused on Sophie's experience spending time with Matty in the 1980s and how this has affected her in past and present. There is no doubt that the present POV packs a major punch at the end though, and it was one that I never saw coming despite spotting some of the red herrings. All in all it turned out to be a very successful psychological thriller that mixes a serial killer angle with family drama.

Unfortunately this was not a winner for me, I ended up skimming the last 50 pages. I found the writing style very grating - I can't put my finger on why, it was very much just like reading page after page of someone's annoying, slangy, inner monologue.

I wanted to find out the ending, but when I got there I was incredibly disappointed.

This is a really interesting premise for those interested in the life of Ted Bundy’s family, for example. A fictional story from the POV of a serial killer’s step daughter. She grapples with how she could have known or what she might have missed. She also suffers from anxiety that he didn’t do it and she was wrong to judge him - how could the charismatic and charming and loving father figure in her life kill all those women? Two timelines are running, her childhood with him and her adulthood planning to visit him for the first time in prison, twenty years after his arrest. The adult timeline dragged for me, she was constantly just going back and forth about whether or not to see him, what her therapist said, and how she didn’t know if he did it or not. Many chapters felt redundant. The childhood timeline, however, was really intriguing and every set made you question his guilt or innocence. The twist at the end felt far fetched but appreciate a surprise.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman is a well written story about choices and consequences. Matty Melgren was accused of murder after a sketch of the killer went out into circulation. The person who called the police to report him is the one person who thought he hung the moon. His girlfriends daughter, Sophie, never really thought he could have committed the brutal killings but the resemblance was just too much for her to ignore. After the police arrest him, she starts having doubts. There was no physical evidence that would have pointe the finger at him. It was all mostly circumstantial. Sophie starts to act out and allow the grief and disbelief to consume her. Years later she gets an opportunity to see Matty in prison. She wonders if that visit will help her understand what happened. Would he tell her the truth or would things be left to the imagination. The author does an amazing job of keeping the reader in suspense and asking the question, how well do we truly know those around us. The characters are well developed and flawed with a hint of untrustworthy. The ending is explosive and brings together all of the elements that have kept the reader asking many questions throughout. It truly is one hell of a book that makes me want to read more from Selman.


5 out of 5 stars



Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

A story of one girl's choices and how they haunt her as an adult. Matty was beloved by his community until he is suspected and then convicted of being a serial killer. The daughter of his girlfriend at the time was Sophie. She makes a decision when she is younger that leads to Matty's conviction. But as an adult, she finds herself questioning this decision.

This one was just ok for me. I was lacking the suspense and couldn't really connect with the narrator. Others might like the writing style more than myself though!

Sophie has lived for 20 years not knowing whether she did the right thing in calling the police and accusing her mom's boyfriend of being a serial killer. Never sure whether he actually was guilty or whether the case was circumstantial, she's lived with her guilt throughout her adult life. When she receives a letter from his prison saying he's dying and wants to talk to her she needs to figure out what her next move will be. Is it worth meeting with him to try to finally get to the truth?

Truly, Darkly, Deeply is a standalone psychological crime thriller by author, Victoria Selman. This author is new to me. I loved the attention-grabbing cover and chilling synopsis and just had to know more. Already I can tell that this author is going to be someone I read over and over again. I loved the dual timelines as the main character described her childhood before everything changed. I’m a huge fan of serial killer crime stories and found myself easily engrossed in this psychologically captivating story. It’s not super fast-paced but the storyline really sucks you in and you just have to keep reading to know the final truth of what happened. Throughout the book I was torn which way I wanted things to go and found the conclusion satisfying. The characters in this book were detailed, complex and I enjoyed the concept of whether we ever really know those closest to us and what they are capable of. The book asks hard questions and delves into complex themes which are well handled. I enjoyed this one immensely and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes domestic suspense, serial killers, or psychological crime stories.

The first thing one reads of the book is this: "A taut, breakout psychological serial killer thriller with a wicked twist." and let me tell you, THAT'S WHAT IT GIVES US.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply takes us from the present to the past constantly, always from the perspective of our protagonist, Sophie.

The truth is that with each episode I was getting more and more anxious because I wanted to know how everything ended with Matty Melgren in prison and what was going to happen when she met him again after all those years that had passed.

I warn you, it is not a book for the anxious. He clearly wanted to read as quickly as possible to know everything.

When the book tells us that it has a plot twist (I would say several) that really leaves us stunned, we have to believe it. Because although I had been suspecting some little things, others really were a bucket of cold water. And I loved it!

I look forward to reading more books by this author because I loved the way she presented the facts, carried the story forward, and how she leaves readers wanting more and more with every word we read.

Thanks NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Super twisted and engaging book. It's gripping and intense psychological thriller. I was shocked and horrified at the end. I liked that It's told through Sophie's perspective because it gave a different thought provoking reading. Trauma and crime both had lasting effects. Superb.

Truly, Darky, Deepy is dark and somewhat disturbing. When Sophie was a child her mother moved her to London and met a man named Matty. Matty became the father Sophie never had but he might be hiding something. When he's arrested in connection to several murders in the area both Sophie and her mother try to grapple with the fact they had no idea they were living with a serial killer. It's a non-linear timeline which isn't my favorite but the story kept me engaged and guessing. It's a slow build story whose plot twist had me dropping my jaw.

If you are a fan of true crime, I have a book that you should definitely check out. There are two books I have read previously that reminded me of this book, The Phantom Prince and A Serial Killer's Daughter. The Phantom Prince is about Ted Bundy's girlfriend who had a young daughter, and A Serial Killer's Daughter is about the daughter of the BTK killer. Truly, Darkly, Deeply was like a fictional account of those two books. In this one, Amelia-Rose and her young daughter, Sophie, move to a new town to start a new life. When they life, her mom reconnects with a man named Matty Melgren. Matty is a great father figure to Sophie. He plans special things for her and her mom, remembers her favorite ice cream, and sits up with her late at night when she has nightmares. He has also been suspected of being a serial killer. In and around their town, several girls go missing, who are found brutally murdered and assaulted. Sophie spends a lot of time trying to reconcile and figure out how that Matty that she loves, adores, and respects could be responsible for such heinous crimes. This book also explores the relationship that Matty and her mother have, and the relationship that Sophie has with her mother. I thought this was very interesting, and from Sophie's perspective, you can see little hints and clues throughout her childhood that made it possible Matty was responsible for the crimes. I can't imagine being in that position, and it definitely puts a different light on the question: how could you not know? I think people like Matty and the BTK killer and others often have these double lives as a facade to help them seem as normal as possible, so they can keep flying under the radar to commit their crimes, and maybe some parts of them longs to be normal. I don't know what it is about these true crime stories, but human behavior and psychology fascinates me, and this book definitely gives you an inside look at that. I like how this was from Sophie's perspective, and you can't help but feel fore her and all that she is going through mentally and emotionally. Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read an early digital ARC of this book. I will definitely recommend it to my followers, and I have already recommended it to one of my true crime loving friends!

What a truly dark and creepy story! This book was aptly titled, and I had a hard time sleeping after reading this one. I so wanted to believe Matty was innocent, for Sophie. But was he really even guilty, like everyone except Sophie believed? Great intense thriller to keep you guessing until the end.

Truly, Darkly, Deeply – Victoria Selman

Star rating- 3.5

Thank you NetGalley, Victoria Selman and Union Square & Co. – A Subsidiary of Sterling Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Let me start by saying I am so glad I finished this book, because I almost gave up on it. This book has many pros and cons, so let start with the positive. I genuinely enjoyed the last 35% of this book. It picked up a lot, and the ending was fantastic in my opinion. It was super unpredictable. I also really enjoyed the writing of the MC, I felt like I really empathized with her throughout her story. That being said most of this book was very slow, and the book was a bit reputative in some places notably the MC’s inner monologue. The premise of this book was interesting though. The idea of being the step daughter to a convicted serial killer, but not ever fully knowing or believing he was the monster people say he is. This book focused on a dual timeline from when she is a child dealing with women going missing, to when she is an adult second guessing the investigation that convicted her step father. Overall, if you’re looking for a slow burn mystery that gives you Ted Bundy vibes, this book is 100% for you.

(Trigger Warnings: All of them, take care)

Happy Reading Everyone!