Short Version: Not your every day serial killer narrative.

Long version:

The Plot: Part find the serial killer part folk horror this plot sways between subtlety and brutality and always carries a chill.

I really enjoyed the plot, the flipping between then and now was done well and didn’t confuse me. There are enough clues throughout that reveals are met with an “ahhh” rather than “oh fuck off” which is always appreciated :)

The Setting: All the locations in the book are used flawlessly to heighten tension. Descriptions are enough to give colour and flavour but none of them are over written.

The Characters: For me the characters is where the glue of the story is. Heather is so normal she could be you, everything from opinions to reactions it’s is all so normal and relatable. I love how complex Reave and my feelings about him were, I can’t say I liked him but I did maintain a sympathy for him and the inevitability of his story. I thought the mum being such a powerful character even though she was dead was elegantly done. The only character I didn’t really click with was Nikki, I thought she was a bit insipid.

lastly, I loved the fact it wasn’t a tired, bitter detective doing the investigating.

The Ending: Nailed it. I did work out a fair bit but that only added to my enjoyment of the ending.

The Prose: Nice flow with good rhythm and brilliant dialogue.

The Pace: Had a really good ebb and flow that matched the story and the rhythm of the prose, hangs together really well.

Who would love this? Crime and serial killer narrative fans.

The intrigue in this story is amazing, very well written with just enough revealed to keep you guessing. In fact, I would be surprised if anyone can work out what happens in this story. The main character is tough, she needs to be with all that happens around her. Brilliant book and highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book. Heather Evans returns home after her mother's death and discovers that her mother has been writing to a serial killer in prison for the last 20 years. When a so called copycat killer hits the news, Heather decides to involve the police. It soon becomes clear that her mother had been keeping lots of secrets about her early life. This is a real page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

A new voice for thriller fans is London storyteller Jen Williams, with the experienced fantasy author turning her pen towards crime tinged with shades of folklore in DOG ROSE DIRT. After Heather Evans returns to her hometown after many years following her mother's baffling suicide, she uncovers decades of correspondence between her mother and an infamous, imprisoned serial killer nicknamed The Red Wolf. .When the body of a young woman is found in the woods in a manner echoing The Red Wolf’s crimes, fear is dialled high.

Is there a copycat? Was there a partner long ago, or was he telling the truth as he proclaimed his innocence all these years? Williams delivers some interesting elements with her first thriller, with a nice set-up, switching timelines, and a good touch for dark atmosphere with shades of Grimm. Pacing and a protagonist who grates, perhaps intentionally, may divide some readers. A solid read that shows some promise.

A very engaging read that couldn't quite make up its mind whether it wanted to be a crime novel or a horror story. It ends up being a bit of both, The blurb on the back of the book will tell you what it's about and has been professionally done so need for me to regurgitate
Heather's story is modern day but there is also a voice from the past. For me Heather was immensely likeable and I clicked with her straight away. She is why I kept reading the book. The plot is concise, it doesn't wander off into rabbit out of hat territory in order to give people the increasingly bizarre twists they so desperately covet. Fairy tales are always grim (pardon the pun) and although a device I have seen used before this was a good way of introducing horror to a crime/psychological thriller.. Somewhat unbelievable ending, not least because the reader was left feeling a bit aimless and not entirely sure what was going on.
Reduced to 4 stars I'm afraid due to US spellings. I have been told that the US market is more important and that is why it is done but if I can read a US book and cope then visa versa should hold.

The Red Wolf aka Michael Reave is in prison serving a life sentence for the murder of numerous women. When the dismembered body of a young woman is found hidden in a tree trunk it bears a similar M.O. to the murders of the Red Wolf's victims. Heather Evans is an ex-journalist who hails from Kent and returns there, after learning that her mum, Colleen committed suicide. She discovers stacks of letters in a biscuit tin in the loft and realises that Colleen was communicating with the Red Wolf for many years. Heather needs to find the answers to many questions. Reave has claimed to be innocent for many years, but is he? Why did her mother kill herself? Is there a copycat killer at large?

Set in the fictional Kent town of Balesford, this is an unsettling and bleak story, though extremely compelling, as someone plays mind games with Heather. Colleen and Heather were estranged for a number of years but becoming obsessed with her mum's secretive nature, Heather decides to make a series of prison visits to Reave, with the aid of DI Ben Parker.

The tale is told in a back and forth format following Heather in the present time and going back to tailing Reave in the past when he was a young boy. I found Reave's set 'before' chapters to be especially riveting. Additionally, the reader is treated to a chapter by each of the murdered women shortly before their death which added pizzazz as well as a further disturbing element to the story. As Heather uncovers details about her mother’s past, she realises just how much of a stranger she was to her. There’s a folk horror undercurrent and a fairy tale element throughout, and Jen Williams has bestowed the reader with a fabulous offering although there are some very black dark tropes and themes in there including child abuse. All in all, an intense, exceptionally atmospheric and creepy tale to be read with the lights on!

Disclosure: Thank you to HarperCollins UK for providing a digital ARC of Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams via Netgalley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Oh I got so cross with Heather I really couldn’t be bothered with how everything panned out. Why would she keep such important things from the police other than to aid the author I suppose.

This was a new genre for the debut author with it being her first thriller novel. Jen Williams normally writes fantasy novels. As a new to me author, I always go into them with excitement and trepidation . Excitement because you hope to find a new favourite author and trepidation because you just don’t know what to expect, you want it to be amazing but you’re worried it might not live up to expectations.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise because not only did it live up to what I love about crime thrillers, the plot absolutely blew me away. It was darker than anything I’ve read for a while! It even made me wince! And anyone who knows me will know it takes a lot for me to have that reaction to any book!

It has a touch of Silence of the Lambs and an element of dark fairytales and folklore which gave it a twisted sinister feel. It is essentially a serial killer thriller with a unique difference.

Dog Rose Dirt is a slow burn novel throughout a majority of the book but that certainly doesn’t take away from the creepiness this book is steeped in. It was atmospheric in description and certainly gave me the shivers.

‘Once Upon A Time There Lived A Wolf
But This Is No Fairy Tale
He Was A Killer’ - first draft cover tag line, Jen Williams’ website.

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Dog Rose Dirt’ by Jen Williams in exchange for an honest review. I elected to supplement my reading with its unabridged audiobook edition, narrated by Emily Pennant Rae.

I had enjoyed Jen William’s epic fantasy, The Willowing Flame Trilogy, and so was excited to read her first standalone crime thriller. I felt that it was extremely good. Very dark and atmospheric.

Its protagonist is disgraced former journalist Heather Evans, who has returned to her childhood home following her mother’s inexplicable suicide. There she uncovers something truly chilling - hundreds of letters dating back decades between her mother and Michael Reave, a notorious serial killer known as The Red Wolf. He has been locked up in Belmarsh Prison for over 20 years for the brutal and ritualistic murders of countless women.
 
While Heather struggles with this discovery, the body of a woman is found displayed in a similar manner to Reave’s victims. Copycat? After years of silence Reave says he will speak, though only to Heather. Such a meeting could assist the police in stopping the bloodshed and hopefully help Heather to unearth the truth about her mother. Plus, these meetings could perhaps revive her career given her exclusive access.

I found this a compelling premise and I was thoroughly hooked from start to finish. I will warn that there were a few scenes in flashbacks that were difficult as they involved the fledgling serial killer’s cruel acts. The worse one thankfully occurred off page.

There are elements of horror, the Gothic, and fairy tales within ‘Dog Rose Dirt’. Not only does Reave’s identification with the Red Wolf and his use of woods as his killing ground link to Red Riding Hood but he also shares a series of dark and grisly fairy tales with Heather during their meetings. She learns from Michael that her mother was also interested in the darker aspects of fairy tales, while Heather’s memory was of an overly protective parent who only told her stories about “happy ponies and girls at boarding school.”

There are a number of revelations within the story and I was totally glued to my seat throughout. I certainly will be interested to see what Jen Williams writes next.

On a side note - I much preferred the original cover teaser as quoted above with its reference to fairy tales than the more explanatory one that ended up on the final cover art. I appreciate that some readers run screaming from any whisper of fairy tales in their crime fiction though for me it distinguished ‘Dog Rose Dirt’ as something different.

So you’re back in your childhood home sorting out your recently deceased mum’s estate and you find letters to a man, a man who isn’t your father. A man who is locked up in prison for the foreseeable for murder. 🤯🤯🤯 One question – WHY???! Obviously not a question that can be answered easily…. or so you’d think…

Heather didn’t quite expect to go from sorting out her mum’s house to meeting a serial killer like a Ferrari on a test track. And this serial killer is a tricky character. He’s not to be trusted and just like Heather, I got the impression he was hiding something!! He gave me the heebie jeebies in the way he talked to Heather, my skin crawled!

From the brutal opening to this twisty turny kind of book right to that OMG ending, I was hooked. I was glued to my kindle as the story jumped between characters and timelines. Well and truly addicted for little under 24 hours as the writing absorbed my attention from real life. Loved it! I’ll definitely be hunting out more from Jen Williams.

Hmmm how to write a review without giving anything away, Well we have Heather an estranged daughter from her Mum Colleen who apparently committed suicide, so Heather has gone back to her childhood home to sort out the funeral, cryptically her mums suicide note says to both of you and as Heather is an only child she starts delving into her mums past and finds that she has been writing to a man known as Red Wolf - a serial killer. What else has her mum been hiding from her.
This novel is very good at building the suspense and has a dark fairytale theme running through it. It’s definitely worth a read.

My Thoughts: This book completely took over my life whilst I was reading it, Everything about it just instantly drew me in and made it impossible to focus on anything else!

I really felt that the topic of suicide was dealt with with compassion thought towards the victim and the reader, as someone who has lost friends to suicide it was appreciated and made think that maybe this was something the author herself had dealt with in the past.

We’re following Heather, who following the tragic death of her mother had returned to the family home to clear up some of her things and also maybe try and get some answers as to why her mum would end her own life, after all she’s known her her whole life and although their relationship wasn’t ideal or perfect in any way, she had no idea that her mum was feeling so low.

It’s whilst getting her mother’s things together that she stumbles upon some letters from a very well known convicted serial killer, Michael Reave. The correspondence goes back years and it seems they knew each other quite well, could her mum have been hiding a double life?

Not long after Heather returns, dead bodies are being found in ways very similar to the way Michael’s victims were found all those years ago, so Heather takes her newly discovered letters to the police in the hopes that it will help then with their investigation and maybe even help her get the answers she needs at the same time!

I’m not doing the best job of selling the story and for that I apologise but please trust me when I tell you that it was gripping, tense, haunting, full of twists and turns and something very different to any kind of thriller I have read before!

I didn’t see the ending coming at all, but once it’s revealed it all kind of falls into place and makes all the little niggles I had whilst reading make sense!

I can’t wait to see what Jen comes up with next, one thing is for sure, I will definitely be picking it up!

🐧❤️

Heather Evans has returned to the place she was raised to deal with the estate of her mother. Heather’s mother had committed suicide with no clue as to why. While sorting out the family home, Heather finds hidden letters to her mother from a notorious serial killer who is still serving time in prison.

Serial killer Michael Reave, known as The Red Wolf, has spent years of his life in prison after being convicted of the murder of numerous women, who were killed most horrendously and left displayed. Heather is distraught and confused why her mother and this man would be in touch at all.

When a copycat killer begins where Reave left off, Heather is determined to find out how Reave knew her mother and expose the copycat killer at the same time. Heather contacts the police and agrees to work with DI Ben Parker. Reave hasn’t been one for opening up about any of his crimes but agrees to see Heather, closely watched by Parker.

What a story this is, as Reave isn’t going to give her everything at once. There is a little pro quo going on. Heather is an ex-journalist but still has her connections, which don’t always work in her favour. I loved how the characters developed, especially Reave, who caught me out, such a gentleman to take you in.

The story drops back into the past where I felt like a rabbit in headlights mesmerised by a charismatic and luring man. He had such a gentle voice of reasoning in my head, and I was petrified. It is such a chilling and captivating story, both past and present. Do we ever really know anyone?

The in-depth descriptions are perfection, awakening every sense in a horrific way that brings clear images off the pages to see from every angle. But it was the calm that was the most frightening. A stunning read not for the faint-hearted by any means, as it doesn’t let you go.

I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

This took me a while to get my rhythm, but that said once it was there I needed to know what happens.
The book starts with Heather at her mother's house. Her mother has committed suicide and Heather has not seen her in years. Heather's personal life is a mess, she was sacked from her job, you find out why much later in the book, and you get the impression she has been drifting along.
While sorting through her mother's effects, she discovers that her mother has been in touch with a serial killer over the years. Further investigation leads her to discover that her mother knew him from a commune she lived in before Heather was born. She takes this information to the Police as someone is killing using the methodology of the serial killer who is currently in jail. She finds a connection with the detective leading the investigation and they become close. However, as in most books, things aren't what they seem to be and all the action leads to a climax where Heather finds out the truth and that people aren't what they appear to be.
After a slow start I really enjoyed this.

After her mother commits suicide, ex-journalist Heather Evans returns back home to Balesford to arrange the funeral. Staying in her former home Heather begins to sort through her mothers things. She finds letters written to her mother from Michael Reave, the serial killer known as The Red Wolf who has been in Belmarsh Prison for over 20 years. From the letters Heather realises that her mother was writing to him for decades. What did her mother have to write to a serial killer about and why had she hid it for so long.
In Lancashire, women have been found dead, their bodies dismembered and decorated with wildflowers. The police fear that it is a copycat of the Red Wolf.
Desperate to find out why her mother killed herself, Heather wants to meet Reave to find out how he knew her mother and the police are hoping she can get details from him that might help them capture the new killer. But will seeing Reave cost her too much and take her to dark places she really doesn’t want to go?
I really enjoyed this book, it’s dark and edgy, at times I found Heather strong and resourceful and at times incredibly naive which was a bit frustrating. The ending was so tense I was holding my breath and I wasn’t ready for the twist that came!
The only thing that almost put me off reading was the title but I am glad I didn’t let that put me off.

Creepy, disturbing, but with so much going on it was both hard to keep track and obvious what was going to happen next. I don't want to give too much away but the reader knew Michael was no innocent as we read his early story alongside the current day. Too much was explained with Heather's investigation and her relationship with DI Parker. There was no reason, apart from advancing the story, that she would have kept important incidents from the police. So, although this was a gripping read, too much was convenient to be truly special. #netgalley #dogrosedirt

The serial killer could be argued to represent the modern monsters of our age. The human that isn’t quite human and just preys on the unsuspecting has all the trapping of a folk tale. Sometimes we like to make them something truly inhuman and yet witty and stylish and that risks us forgetting what they actually do to their victims who are not set decorations. In the excellent Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams, we get a truly memorable dark haunting tale that still shines a light on the crimes’ victims that gives the genre a much needed twenty first century boost.

Heather Evans is an ex-journalist trying to find a living when she is shocked to learn of her mother’s suicide. Colleen Evans was a strict serious woman that Heather walked out on at sixteen and Heather finds the idea of her mother not acting like that forever is a shock. While going through the home she finds a bundle of letters from a man she realises is one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers Michael Reave the Red Wolf safely locked away for over two decades after a long long killing spree. Already horrified at this revelation Heather finds a series of new stories suggesting that someone is now acting out the Red Wolf’s crimes with scenes arranged eerily using flowers to decorate the victim’s corpses. Sensing her mother’s secrets may have a link and that this could be a story to re-start her career Heather agrees to meet Reaves in prison and while he spins fairy stories for her, she starts to feel someone else is getting closer hiding in the dark and leaving strange messages to grab her attention.

This is one of the most atmospheric crime stories I’ve read in a long time. Despite reading this in the summer I felt the cold, dark and greyness of the locations full of secrets and foreboding. Williams has skilfully fused a thriller story with this atmosphere to feel as if you’ve slightly gone into the woods and on the wrong path. Full of grief, regrets and danger we watch Heather try to find her way through a situation that however unusual is also uniquely personal about finding out the truth about your family/ Heather is a welcome change in characters not filled with burning desires for justice or forensic skills but one who enjoys digging into the story to find the future headline. Ambitious, rash and yet honourable with a welcome streak of not letting men get away with their sexism or attempts to control her – not the person ou ant to ask to smile. She may not be the friend you’d want to always hang out with but the one you’d trust to get you out of a tight situation as she weaves together the secrets of several decades. It’s refreshing to have a lead not acting in a quasi-apprentice way to a monster and while the scenes with Reave are a dance of each interrogating the other you don’t feel Heather is at any times moulding herself in Reave’s mindset.

Williams has split the book into two elements Heather’s hunt for the truth and what is going on with this new Wolf and the life of Michael as he grew up. These are some of the most disturbing scenes in the book as we explore the making of monsters and see out of trauma and abuse you can create someone who is happy in nature and capable of kindness but also very bewitched by their own desire to kill. Williams doesn’t make Michael a witty and funny dark companion to Heather but someone dangerous and yet understandable. Despite that we can still see a monster in front of us even if he can smile and tell fairy stories. Unravelling his inner mysteries and the connections to the present make the plot gain momentum until its disturbing conclusion.

The other highlight is how Williams elevates the tale with lots of atmosphere and great use of corrupted natural imagery and even occasional jump scares to push this thriller onto edges of horror. This comes back to the idea that serial killers are just another iteration of cautionary tales; and it is not a coincidence that Reaves becomes known as the Red Wolf. This is a tale of dark figures just out of sight, symbolism and people who are not always what they seem creating a strange eerie world of its own design and as we tread further down the path with Heather everything gets suspicious. With scenes set in a strange 1970s commune and rumours of darker things in the woods it feels like a murder mystery merged with the trappings of a folk horror story and all the better for it. If Williams wants to use these characters again in some way this has the ability to be a very compelling series.

Williams’ first thriller is a huge success and I hope we get to see many more such tales in the future. Fans of Phil Rickman or john Connolly should definitely look to pick this story up and it is a person read you read as the evenings lengthen, the temperature drops, and you hear a strange noise outdoor. Highly recommended!

This is an interesting mystery/thriller that's pretty dark and creepy with some scenes that some may find disturbing.

I'm finding this a difficult one to review because whilst overall, I think I enjoyed it, it did seem to take a long time to get there and there were times when I said to myself "oh, just get on with it!"

The plot of the book is intriguing and the tension is a constant throughout but it just seemed to be dragged out a little; it started great and I was hooked, the middle was slow and the ending was fast paced if a little OTT. The characters are well developed and interesting but Heather was a little tedious at times and I didn't really become invested in her much; some of her actions also seemed implausible to me.

The parts I did like were the "before" sections, the links to the Grimm Brothers stories, the scenes when Heather went to see Michael in prison and the general creepiness that was ever present but there was just something that I can't put my finger on properly that resulted in me not loving it.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK / HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

I haven’t read anything by Jen Williams, but this is a truly creepy thriller which set my pulse racing. There are so many books in this genre, good, bad and indifferent. This is one of the best because it’s a complex and twisted story which hooks from the beginning and throws you out at the end.

I didn’t know whose narrative was to be trusted. Layer by layer, the plot thickened and the past was exposed. It’s very clever in construction, pacing is superb and the central characters have depth. It’s a don’t read on your own at night if you’re at all fearful; it’s quite unsettling and that’s down to the strength of the storytelling and writing. Really enjoyed this.

A well-plotted serial killer story that has a lot of depth. Grief and long buried family secrets drive this novel, building tension and intrigue as the story spins out. Williams ensures a creepy undercurrent runs through her novel by peppering her story with unsettling folk horror moments. I couldn't put it down!