A quick summery read. I enjoyed all of the aspects of the story. It centers around 17-year-old Zoe, who gets kidnapped while she's out with friends. The police aren't really much help in finding her and don't really seem all that interested in the case. Her parents do some investigating on their own but the real heroes are a neighbor boy and his cousin who help her escape from the derelict insane asylum where her captor is keeping her. All in all, it was an enjoyable read. I wouldn't say it kept me guessing until the end but definitely kept me intrigued enough to keep turning the pages. One thing that I was sort of bothered by was the lack of actual chapters. It just bounced back and forth between narrators (which was fine) but it didn't seem separate enough. Might have just been the formatting on my Kindle though.

I appreciate the this book for its style, but it wasn’t what I was expecting and isn’t really my cup of tea. I will say for fans that like spooky asylums, that they might enjoy this. It was just hard to get into for me and I couldn’t connect with the writing.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

Like an experienced chessmaster, the author carefully places her pieces around the board, lulling the reader into a false sense of security, before striking swiftly and without warning. I mean, who saw THAT ending coming?

A masterful debut from an author with huge potential. More please!

*My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

⭐⭐⭐⭐ !

Secrets of a Serial Killer is a multi-POV adult thriller following the kidnap of seventeen-year-old Zoe told from her eyes, her young neighbors Thomas and Maggie, her mother, Helen, and the potential killer himself.

Truth be told I went back and forth between three stars and four more than once. I was not immediately gripped at the beginning, and that was probably due in part to how often the POV switched on me. It sort of blended together at first, but once they became more established and things started rolling, it was easy to breeze through this so I ultimately decided to give it a four. Especially since it utilized a trope I so love when it comes to murderers!

Despite getting a grip on the kidnapper and his MO fairly quickly, there was still plenty of room left for surprises in the last third of the book. I especially enjoyed the POV of the children, our unwitting heroes who were most definitely in the wrong place at the right time. The pieces of set up, while initially seeming disjointed, began to fall together in neat patterns that while at times predictable, were executed rather well. There was plenty of conflict and tension between characters of every POV, which granted a richness and realism that made the horror all the more real when it came time for it.

Our culprit took on many names, following old and familiar behaviors of any typical killer. Blaming/crediting his mother with "who he was", harboring a deep sense of inadequacy that he attempted to assuage with bloodlust and a constant mental rhetoric of being the most powerful being on earth. His POV hit disturbing on all cylinders. There was no room for doubt where he was concerned, and the climax hit the ground running when it all began to fall apart.

The ending, while ominous, was not as satisfying as I would have liked. I'm not sure if it was the limited knowledge of the ending POV, or the fact that I needed just—a tiny bit more. Another page, maybe, a few hundred words. I felt like I was on the cusp of leaving with a real cold fear that didn't quite get to form all the way. But I enjoyed this far more than I was expecting with how I reacted to the initial chapters and I am so glad I pressed on.

This one hits the shelves on July 17, 2020 folks! If you want a twisted, ruthless read that gets you right up in the mind of both the monster and his victim alike, you will definitely want to pick this one up!

Thanks to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, Rosie Walker certainly knows how to grab the attention of her readers from the get-go. This novel certainly lives up to its hype as an 'edge-of-your-seat' thriller. It is a compelling read that dispenses with everything superfluous to the plot, which makes its impact all the greater. Walker, unlike some authors of this genre, holds tight to her meticulous plotting, and the story unfolds in a no-nonsense, unambiguous way. That is not to say that Rosie Walker does not have style - which she does in abundance, but she also holds true to a style of thriller which is fast-paced and relentless in the forward-motion of a well-crafted story-arc. Told over a short time-frame, the action simply does not let up. This one has all the hallmarks of a great, fictionalised serial-killer romp, and I devoured every page in anticipation of stunning denouement. I was not disappointed, and I'm sure you won't be either. With plenty of scary, tense and genuinely frightening moments, Walker's 'Secrets of a Serial Killer' is pure adrenaline for crime lovers.

#SecretsOfASerialKiller #NetGalley
I devoured it. A good read.
A serial killer has been terrorising Lancaster for decades, longer than should ever have been possible. The police are baffled, eluded at every turn by the killer whose victims span generations. Speculation is rife among the true crime forums; is someone passing on their gruesome trade?Every local mother's worst nightmare has become Helen Summerton's reality; he’s taken her daughter, Zoe. As the clock runs down so do her chances of survival. Can Helen unearth the secrets of the killer before it’s too late?
I loved it's plot as well as narration while characters were just ok.
Thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for giving me an advance copy of this awesome psychological thriller.

A terrifying page turner of a book...Zoe is missing and a serial killer has her...there is so much more. This certainly is not your average serial killer book, it is so well written with so many tidbits that help set the creepy and eerie tone of the book. Heart pounding chapters that tie everything together. The ending is like the scene from the movie Carrie, when the hand comes up from the grave. Excited for Rosie Walker's next book.
Thank you Netgalley for an ARC and the publishers.

It felt slow at the start but then the end was rather abrupt. Thomas and Maggie's characters were well-written from a children's perspective.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was slow to start but once it got started; it moved rather quickly & I couldn't out it down. Kept me wanting to know more & find out what happens.
Will definitely recommend to others. I will have to look for more books by this author.

This is dark, tense, chilling and thrilling!
I cannot believe how good this book is! It’s very character heavy and all knits up well together to form the most creepy read! Highly addictive

I had a hard time getting into this book. There were too many characters in the beginning and it was a little choppy. Midway through it had my attention and my heart racing. Once I got there, I couldn’t stop reading. I would recommend this creepy, suspenseful thriller.

WOW! Let me catch my breath! This debut novel drags you into the depths of depravity and spits you out with no remorse! A chilling and atmospheric read that will give you goosebumps galore! I loved the multiple POV’s and the sense of place was on point! But that ending - OMFG 😱 More please!

Full review will be posted on my blog on publication day and link provided

Described as a thriller that will constantly keep you on the edge of you seat, I couldn’t have said it any better. The main character is an angsty teenager, the perfect kind of teenager to attract the eyes of unwanted attention, but we’ve all been through it, wanting to wear the shortest skirts imaginable, staying out late with your friends and constant fighting about boyfriends and grades with your parents. That was Zoe’s life, of course that is way to normal for a thriller and her life quickly changes after a night out at a pub drinking some pints with her friends.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story from start to finish, it was everything I look for in a good thriller, the nice amount of chills and unpredictable action. Rosie’s debut novel was exactly that, the book is written through 4 different POV’s, Helen (the mom), Zoe (the angsty teen), Thomas (some kid) and Him (uhm). The whole plot is set during three consecutive days which makes this quite a short and fast read, but I really wouldn’t have had it any other way since I felt the plot was really tightly organized and the author didn’t waste any time with unrequired descriptions of scenery, instead she focused on all the gory scary stuff.

There isn’t really much one can say about this novel without spoiling half of it, so I will abstain from sharing all the details I absolutely adored, just let me tell you that I didn’t finish this book in one sitting because it started to get late, and if I had I wouldn’t have been able to sleep properly that night.
It’s a four out of five stars for me, and I’m really looking forward for Rosie Walker to publish more books, I know I will be reading them for sure.

Thank you, Net Galley and Harper Collins Publishing for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book.

Keep on reading fellow Book Lovers!

I loved this fast paced thriller that with a twist even at the end. Captured my interest right from the beginning, partly gave me ending I wanted but leaving me with that slight feeling of unease.....brilliant.

When out with her friend and boyfriend one night, 17 year old Zoe finds her drink being spiked and her subsequent capture a crazed man. There appears to be a link between missing girls in Lancaster alongside some sort of link with the now closed mental health asylum.
Cousins Thomas and Maggie are after some excitement and decide to start a secret missions club. A trek through the forest leads them to a derelict caravan which seems to house many dark secrets of its own
Wanting to explore further the cousins are attracted to the asylum. However they soon find themselves in the extremely dangerous situation of finding Zoe and trying to plan an escape.

Absolutely recommend this book and look forward to another by this author.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

My go-to books are edge-of-your-seat thrillers. There are so many books published every day that promise to scare me, keep me up at night, etc. They very rarely live up to their hype, so I was skeptical when the tagline for my latest read promised to "make your skin crawl." My obsession with the thriller genre began by reading R.L. Stine's Fear Street books way back in middle school. Even then I could tell the writing was subpar, but they were quick reads and I loved trying to figure out the bad guy. Later on, I graduated to reading adult thrillers and I can still remember Dean Koontz's "Intensity" in vivid detail all these years later. I enjoyed that story so much and it's been quite awhile since I've found a book that scared me in such an effortless way. And then I read "Secrets of a Serial Killer" by Rosie Walker.

Holy cow! This book is phenomenal! I could not put it down. The writing is superb and the plot is creepy and full of suspense. There is some violence and gore, but none of it feels like it's there for shock and awe. It serves a purpose in creating suspense and fear, but it doesn't get out of control. This could be easily turned into a terrifying horror movie. I know it may be hard to believe, but I don't have a single complaint about this book. Not one!

When I began reading, I was worried that I would have difficulty keeping track of all of the narrators. There is Zoe, a 17 year-old girl dating an older man, much to her parents' chagrin. She thinks she has all the answers and is fiercely independent, as you'd expect of a teenager. Helen is Zoe's mother and she works as an architect, specializing in repurposing historical buildings into modern living spaces. Her current project involves an old insane asylum. She is divorced from Zoe's father and tends to put all her energy into micromanaging her daughter's life. We also have Thomas, a prepubescent boy who lives next door with his journalist mother. He's consumed with finding out what happened to his father who left suddenly without explanation. He spends his time with his cousin, Maggie, who loves to explore and pretend she's a detective. And then we have HIM, the elusive serial killer the police claim doesn't exist. He's determined to make Zoe his next victim and has twisted things in store for her. Despite the numerous narrators, I needn't have worried. The points of view are masterfully woven together into a seamless story line that had my heart pounding from start to finish. The characters feel very real and authentic in their roles.

Great characters aside, the setting of this novel is also spot on. The time is set in the present in Lancaster, UK, but there's a lot of talk about the history of the lunatic asylum Helen is developing. A famed serial killer was kept there for some time in the 1980s and there seems to be quite a few coincidences between his crimes and several girls who have recently gone missing. The cops chalk it up to a bunch of runaways, but Thomas's mother causes problems for the authorities when she claims there's a serial killer on the loose in her articles. The abandoned asylum and its surrounding woods create the perfect ambiance for such a terrifying story. I could actually smell the mildew from the old caravan in the woods. The writing was that descriptive. I was able to visualize every single scene in this book without any problems and it really was a total creep fest. There's no way this story would have been half as engrossing as it was without such a dynamic setting.

After doing some research on the author, it appears this is her debut novel, but I will definitely be reading whatever Rosie Walker comes up with next. If you're a fan of thrillers and are looking for a truly scary reading experience, you've really got to check this one out. You won't be disappointed!

My Rating: ★★★★★
At the time of this post, this title is set to be released on July 17, 2020.

*Thanks to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Leonard Mc Vitie is a (fictional) serial killer that got caught in 1959 after killing at least 48 people. He had a very peculiar MO: first, he would select someone he would frame and incriminate this person by leaving evidence and taking over their identities before he killed his victim. Several of those people got convicted for his crimes. Mc Vitie was considered insane and never stood trial but spent the remainder of his life (he died in 1985) in Lancaster Lune Asylum. He turned out to be a prolific writer and somehow managed to collect ‘students’ whom he tutored in his speciality, manipulation and serial killing.
Helen is an architect that doesn’t live far from the now derelict asylum and is commissioned to convert the building into luxury flats. They’re only in the preliminary stages trying to get the appropriate planning permissions and such. Her daughter Zoe (17) has a boyfriend that’s 7 years older who makes her feel slightly uncomfortable for no obvious reason. When Zoe and her friends go out to the pubs one evening, she and her friend Abbie stay behind when their boyfriends go to meet other friends in another pub. Both girls get roofied, but only Zoe is taken and due to the particular circumstances no-one notices her missing until the next day.
Abbie’s boyfriend Matt is obsessed with serial killers and has done research into Mc Vitie. He’s sure that in the 80ies, there was another serial killer in the area that was never caught and was dubbed Mr X by the cops.
A local journalist writes an article about the unusual number of young girls that goes missing from the area over the last years. She’s certain that there’s a serial killer behind this but unsure whether this is still Mr X or a new predator. The police claim that there are no bodies and no evidence of crimes.
A couple of brave 11-year olds explore the woods around the Asylum and discover an abandoned caravan that they claim as their ‘clubhouse’. They’re frightened by a piercing scream nearby and run like hell. But the girl lost her older brother’s ‘borrowed’ knife and they’ll have to return and find it.

With nothing more than the title to go on, you do know that there’s a serial killer involved in this story. The author exploits that very cleverly by liberally sowing the seeds of suspicion. The book has a slow start with descriptions of a whole day filled with the activities and actions of the main characters (and there are quite a few of those). One of those voices belongs to the killer. If you look closely at the male characters, you’ll notice that as long as the identity of the killer isn’t revealed, they all look slightly suspicious. It reads like a solid psychological thriller where the creepiest moments are those everyday situations when you’re unsure what everyone’s motivation really is.
But once you know who the criminal is, the book changes completely and it becomes fast-paced and more like an action/adventure thriller. The ‘big chase’ feels a bit obligatory and there are a few rather unlikely things happening in this part of the book but they certainly add to the suspense.
When you think that all’s resolved, the psychological bit kicks in again and you’re left with a few unanswered questions as to what happens next/later. It can be an opening to write a sequel but it’s a fitting end for this story. In life, we also don’t know what’s waiting behind the corner.
It’s very crafty engineered, this book. It makes you question everything and everyone.
I thank Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC. This is my honest, unbiased review of it.

In “Secrets of a Serial Killer” by Rosie Walker we are brought into the life of a serial killer that has been using the small town of Lancaster for decades as a hunting ground. When Zoe, a seventeen-year-old student, goes missing everyone in her circle works to try to find her before it’s too late. But will a determined mother, retired policeman father, serial killer obsessed friend, journalist neighbor and two eleven-year-old Harriet the Spy watching cousins be enough?

A definite page turned with all the right feelings of a serial killer thriller. I received an ARC of this book through Net Galley and this is my honest review.

This was so creepy and I loved it!!!! I enjoyed how the different character's perspectives and knowledge wove together, and the impending sense of doom that was created. A well established setting, complicated character dynamics and a truly engaging story made for a wonderful read!

I liked the flow of this book and how all of the perspectives lead into one another. It wasnt all this is what this character is doing and now this is what this character is doing like some books do. I did enjoy this book but i found it to be all one level, i would have liked just a little bit of something more.