A DARK AND SECRET PLACE by Jen Williams

 

For fans of Kathleen Barber and Julia Heaberlin comes a chilling psychological suspense from award-winning author Jen Williams about a woman who discovers her late mother had a decades-long secret correspondence with a serial killer, begging the question: how well do we know our own family and even ourselves?

When prodigal daughter Heather Evans returns to her family home after her mother's baffling suicide, she makes an alarming discovery--stacks and stacks of carefully preserved letters from notorious serial killer Michael Reave. The "Red Wolf," as he was dubbed by the press, has been in prison for over twenty years, serving a life sentence for the gruesome and ritualistic murders of several women across the country, although he has always protested his innocence. The police have had no reason to listen, yet Heather isn't the only one to have cause to re-examine the murders. The body of a young woman has just been found, dismembered and placed inside a tree, the corpse planted with flowers. Just as the Red Wolf once did.

What did Heather's mother know? Why did she kill herself? And with the monstrous Red Wolf safely locked inside a maximum security prison, who is stalking young women now? Teaming up with DI Ben Parker, Heather hopes to get some answers for herself and for the newest victims of this depraved murderer. Yet to do that, she must speak to Michael Reave herself, and expose herself to truths she may not be ready to face. Something dark is walking in the woods, and it knows her all too well.

MY THOUGHTS: 

This is one dark and creepy book. A thriller that kept me turning pages. My first book by this author.

Can you turn a child into a future serial killer? Can you groom them and shape them to be evil? Is that even possible? What happened in the commune all those years ago? 

This book started out strong and kept me interested all the way. I had to know. I wanted to know. Who was doing these awful killings? It couldn't possibly be a man who was locked away in prison. He could not be instigating these horrific murders could he. Was he groomed from a young age? Did someone train him to be a killer. Or were they born with it? 

There are not a lot of likable characters in this story. But I did feel sorry for Michael. I really did. Even though he was behind bars for being a serial killer I felt sorry for the poor man. I think circumstances made him. I think being so abused and hated shaped him into what he became. I don't mean that he should not be in prison because most certainly he should. I just mean he was a child. A very badly abused child. The product of a horrible family who hated him. By a man who took him in. Fed him. Taught him. 

This book definitely made me cringe in so many ways. It was not an overly emotional book at all. I didn't cry are get sad. I felt horrible though. I felt bad for the child. I felt bad for Heather who had to face so much too. What kind of secrets did her mother keep? What kind of person was her mother? She could have been a good person but with a lot of terrible secrets. A burden to bear that she just could not face in the end. Maybe not a burden. Maybe a weakness. A sadness that she could not overcome. A guilt. A secret that she could not live with. Or maybe she was murdered...

This book will take you places. It will hold your interest. If you like dark and scary that is. The one thing that I wish it would have added in the end was whether Heather and the DI Parker ended up together. But that didn't happen so I will use my very vivid imagination..

Thank you to #NetGalley, #JenWilliams, #CrookedLaneBooks for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

4/5 stars and I do recommend you read it for yourself. You may like it. You may find it to be to dark and creepy. Too intense. Depends on what you like I suppose.