A creepy, slow burn thrillerish tale, loosely based on the children’s classic The Secret Garden. Told from multiple perspectives, the story drew me in gradually, and I kept wondering how the story would play out. A book for those who love horror mixed with classic elements.

Actual Rating: 2.5

With promises of an aristocratic house, an intimidating sounding housekeeper and an abundance of buried secrets 'Medlock' sounded like it could be the gothic novel of my dreams - or nightmares - especially given the 'macabre' label that it's blurb promised. In theory 'Medlock' should have been a chilling new delight that I found impossible to put down, but - despite delivering on its promise of the macabre - this one didn't really work for me on the whole.

To be fair to 'Medlock' if you're looking for a quick, easy to read narrative that goes to some very dark and disturbing places then this could potentially be a successful read for you. The writing is easy to engage with, without being overly simplistic and manages to paint an unsettling picture throughout. It has more than enough detail to set the scene and is the kind of style that I'm sure will work for many readers. Personally I tend to associate the gothic genre with more lyrical prose though as I think it truly helps to bring the unsettling atmosphere to life and immerse the reader in the story. If, like me, that's your go to vibes within the genre then this one probably won't work for you.

'Medlock' also had the bones of an interesting story and had several elements that I could really see working for me, if things had been a little sharper in other regards. There were some dynamics at play that I wasn't expecting, at all. As much as I'd like to highlight those I'll keep things vague though as discovering those elements for yourself is what this book revolves around.

Unfortunately I wasn't too fond of the execution of a lot of those dynamics. There were moments when I was engaged in the story, so it's not all bad, but the further on that I read the more I felt my frustration growing over certain plotlines. Some things that I struggled with - like Mrs Medlock's attitude towards the children - seemed to click into place as the novel progressed, but other revelations and events left me rolling my eyes. This is a novel that lacked believability for me at times, and as events continued to escalate I found my irritation growing at the over the top drama. With more explanation perhaps some of these elements could have worked but personally I found a lot of the narrative a bit too far fetched by the end.

Similarly I have to admit that the narrative style of this one didn't fully work for me. In theory I love the idea of Mrs Medlock telling her story but the credibility of it left me flummoxed. Why would someone randomly open up to a new employee about such horrific events? I appreciated the twist that came further on but the actual decision to tell her tale needed work. Which is also how I felt about some of the other revelations throughout - some could work but needed more background details to support them.

There's a lot more that I could say when it comes to summing up my thoughts and feelings with this one but to do so I'd have to venture much too far into spoiler territory. Ultimately I can't particularly say that I recommend 'Medlock' however. It's an interesting horror approach to 'A Secret Garden' style story with ideas that had potential but for me it pushed credibility beyond breaking point by its end. It also lacked the lyrical writing that I tend to associate with these kind of tales, although that's more of a personal preference so may not affect every reader. I hope other readers get along better with this one than I did, although I imagine it will ultimately come down to how much you question certain events and whether you prefer a swift or atmospheric read.

I often find it quite hard to write a review for a book that was “just okay”. 

The description for Medlock sounded exciting, promising some sort of gothic vibe. However, I don’t feel like it delivered on its promise.

Mrs Medlock is telling a potential tutor, Natalie, her recollections of certain events in the late 70s. From the very beginning, this scenario felt entirely off to me. I couldn’t understand why Mrs Medlock was sharing so much information with someone at all, never mind this Natalie who I found rather intrusive and pushy. Obviously this becomes clear later on, by which time I had already answered my own question. These breaks in the storytelling though, where the chapters move to Mrs Medlock and Natalie, constantly pulled me out of the story. I found them to be totally disruptive to the flow of the narrative.

Something else I struggled with was Mrs Medlock’s age. Supposedly in her forties, she seemed so much older. A bit of a fuddy-duddy, and she didn’t really come across as likeable, either. As soon as something goes wrong, she seems to find herself on the verge of a breakdown and in assistance of the gardener. It nearly made me wonder how she'd been able to run a house for so long, since she seems incapable of facing the smallest kind of hardship on her own. While she was convinced she’d never be let go of her position, she never quite found enough courage to stand up to the lady of the house. Otherwise, most of the events that occurred might never have happened in the first place. As for those events, well, what to say? Some are sad, some are entirely bonkers and I didn't quite know what to make of it all.

I would have preferred more participation from the children in the house, as I felt they were the best part of the story. More adventures maybe, more discoveries. Definitely more secret garden stuff. There didn't seem to be much of that at all and the whole thing felt like somewhat of a let down. Sure, there are skeletons in closets and lots of secrets to be uncovered but a lot of those are not particularly for the eyes and ears of such youngsters. Some you might not expect, others seem rather predictable. Also, as a crime fiction fan, I must say I did appreciate the gore but I wouldn't go as far as to call it horror.

There seemed rather a lot of questions that remained unanswered in the end, which bothered me as well. I don't desperately need everything to be wrapped up all nicely into a little bow but I did wonder about how much the lord and lady of the house were involved in the shenanigans that occurred. But all in all, while this review might lean slightly to the negative side, I didn’t actually dislike 'Medlock', and I did want to find out how everything would play out. I just expected that little bit more.

Medlock is a perfect dark, Gothic slant on The Secret Garden, with a simmering claustrophobia on every page. Although it is set in 1979, when times were very different, the atmosphere at Marwood Manor and the way the characters interact feels almost Victorian in their severity.
The character development is superb and my heart bled for several characters, but especially Mary.
The final few chapters are extremely emotional and I could not sleep until id finished it.
This book has brought me out of my reading slump and restored my faith in the power of books, so thank you SG Hartnell.

I don’t know where to start with this book. To begin with, it has no connection to the Secret Garden other than a couple of names, a sickly boy and a garden.
The book starts with an idea that in 1978, a young girl called Mary loses her parents, goes to live with relatives, encounters the housekeeper Mrs Medlock, meets the boy shut away, and steals a key to get into the forbidden garden. That’s where the connection to the secret garden ends, and I think this is a bit of a shame because there was potential to explore the story and themes in a different time frame, and with the horror we were promised.
Nothing much happens then for the entire first half of the book, and if this hadn’t been an ARC, I would probably have DNFd it about a quarter of the way through. The last third of the book picks up, and we have some really great slasher-style horror in there, which is where it earned the two stars, but to get to that point is a bit of a meander.
My biggest problem with the book is the lack of consistency. When you look at the book as a whole, the main plot is around a 14 year old boy and his tutor who arrive at the house. Once we have the set-up related to the secret garden, which is quite near the start, the focus shifts to the impact they have on the house, and it’s as if the author forgot the secret garden connection completely. The housekeeper didn’t need to be Mrs Medlock. The little girl didn’t need to be Mary. Even the garden didn’t need to exist as it was. It could have just been part of the garden in general. None of the Secret Garden themes were explored, developed, referred to. It honestly feels as if the reference was just to sell the book via a nice description in the blurb. This book had more in common with Saltburn and The Secret History than The Secret Garden. And to be honest, if that was how it was comped, I still would have read it. The horror and twists were great. They just came out of nowhere and weren’t built or developed in the first half of the book.
My other issue is how women were portrayed. I knew before I investigated that the author was young and male. Medlock is snappy and neurotic, she is referred to as ‘middle aged’ in her early 40s, admittedly by a teenager, but still. When she comes across a situation that is difficult or upsetting, she has a full emotional breakdown and then calls for a man. And in her diary from the past, she is submissive and party to a bizarre power-skewed arrangement with the lord and lady. The two mothers in the story are glamorous but nasty and spiteful, shallow, uninterested in their children. Even the late lady of the house has the sole purpose of producing an heir, and came across as shallow and spoilt. The maid is simply there as a toy for one of the male characters and has no real significance apart from that. And then we have other young women brought in by the tutor; it is made clear as part of the story that they are not allowed to be known by their names and are seen purely as objects. The men, of course, are all strong and manly. It’s all very Handmaids Tale. Maybe that was on purpose.
I’m actually really devastated that I didn’t like this book, as I’m a huge fan of the secret garden, and I was excited to read a rewrite. I feel that this could have been two books - the retelling with some horror, and then the story of the housekeeper and tutor in a different house. In this author’s hands, both could have been incredible. It’s almost as if he starts writing a book, gets distracted and ends up writing something entirely different to what he started, and then moves onto something else without looking back to polish or edit. If this was my book, I would want to give it at least one or two more edits before submission, and would probably have ditched the secret garden connection completely. The horror is fantastic, and I can see why some people have rated this one higher than I have, just on that alone

Medlock is a darkly gothic reimagining of The Secret Garden, blending eerie atmosphere and haunting world-building that makes it impossible to put down. The dialogue leans more Victorian than late 1970s, giving the novel an old-world gothic feel that will resonate with fans of classic tales.

I enjoyed the atmosphere in this novel and the characters too, it read like a perfect modern-ish day gothic book.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK | Sphere and S G Hartnell for the eArc of Medlock.

Being a fan of character building and slow burning dread, the synopsis of this book captured me and it was every bit as macabre and horrifying as I wanted it to be. I loved Hartnell's writing style and the era of when the book was set back in the 1960/70s had a wonderful edge over the book. In the 2020's we tend to forget how awful we still treated our younger people and this book almost had a victorian feel to it. Which also suited the ambience of the place it was also set, an isolated manor.

The whole book drips a building dread and told from the diary of Mrs Medlock and a prospected employer of the Manor and Mary, a young orphaned girl builds a picture of what our housekeeper, Mrs Medlock has endured in her lifetime. Harrowing, horrific and traumatic. The finale, even though I'd twigged, was a great way of ending this book. A great macabre psychological horror

4.25 stars for storygraph. 4 stars for Netgalley

S. G. Hartnell, you have converted me to the horror genre! I liked how the suspense slowly builds and it kept me guessing as to how the actual horror was going to transpire. That precious moment when the atmospheric gothic drama transpires into something quite extraordinary. Highly recommended.

Poor Mrs Medlock! What horrors that woman had to face. This novel is set in the late 1970s and is all set around a stately home. The owners (particularly the wife) are demanding, dismissive, entitled and quite nasty. The events of this book transpire when the skeleton staff of this house have several children dumped on them to look after while the lord and lady go off to America. The first, their sickly son. The second, a young girl who is a distant relation and has lost her parents. The third, a belligerent teenager who has misbehaved too extensively for school, the son of other nobility who comes with a creepy and misogynistic tutor. Mrs Medlock tries to enforce the wishes of her bosses and maintain order in the house, but faces a mutiny from the new arrivals.

A bit of a slow burn at first, but worth the investment in the build up as it’s so effective for explaining the horrors that occur. There’s such a monstrous sense of being trapped in this book, Mrs Medlock has invested so much in her twenty years working in the house that it’s hard for her to walk away, even when things become unbearable. We are also reminded of the lack of opportunities available to her and how trapped she is in society.

The situation is grossly unfair, her employer is callous, the expectations on her are ridiculous and the entitlement of her charges and employers and their friends is sickening, and that’s not even the worst of what’s to come.

I was gripped by this book. I raced through it with a growing sense of terror throughout. Fantastic book.

The dialogue gives Victorian vibes rather than late 1970s, so the story may well appeal to readers of gothic tales. This is a horror spin on The Secret Garden with a bit of Rebecca in there, too.
This will be a hit with fans of bestselling psychological thriller author B.P. Walter, writing here as S.G. Hartnell.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

Possible spoilers

3.5 ⭐


I was a little way into this before I cottoned on to the familiar storyline. I know. I'm slow.
I was very pleased to discover it was an updated re-imaganing of the secret garden.
But sinister.
As we went on, it got darker and darker.
That tutor was giving off very dodgy vibes.
Overall I enjoyed this mix of new and familiar, and although I guessed a few of the plot lines, I was pleasantly surprised by the way a few others went.
Entertaining.

Unfortunately I had to dnf this one as it wasn't going anywhere. I didn't care about any of the characters and it was very slow. Didn't seem very horror to me, and I loved the secret garden as a child. Apologies for not being able to finish it.

Medlock is a gothic reimagining of The Secret Garden, with atmospheric and haunting world-building that will keep you wanting to turn the pages almost faster than you can read them.

Welcome to Marwood Manor, shrouded in mystery, grief and family secrets.

𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧, 1978: Mrs Medlock is the housekeeper at the manor. One night, a distant relative to the Lord and Lady of the manor arrives on the doorstep, Mary a young inquisitive girl whose parents have died of the flu. That inquisitive nature sets off a deadly sequence of events, where Mrs Medlock finds herself thrust into the centre of it all.
𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧, 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮: Natalie, a potential tutor for Rupert, the Lord and Lady’s son, arrives at the manor and sits down with Mrs Medlock, but before she agrees to taking the job, she wants to listen to everything the housekeeper has to say. And there’s a lot that Mrs Medlock has to say.

I don’t want to say too much about this book plot-wise because I truly feel like it’s one best gone into blind. What I will say, is that how the story unravels through Mrs Medlock’s storytelling and diary excerpts, was utterly consuming and I couldn’t put this one down.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book!

Wow, I'll say wow wow wow non-stop for this book. It's an unputdownable thriller with a strong gothic ambience.
Welcome to Marwood Manor, the property of Lord Ashton, where you'll be welcomed by Mrs Medlock, the housekeeper.
Here also lived Rupert, the son of Lord Ashton, who's remained in his room for years because he seemed to get health issues.
Mrs Medlock got busier with more children coming into the Manor. From Mary, the orphan,  a sole survivor of influenza in Scotland; then Ernst and his tutor, Mr Quint.
The Marwood Manor with the dark secrets kept by Mrs Medlock for twenty years, and it's finally about to be revealed.
It becomes a bit gory and creepy prior to the end of the story.
The ending is brilliant!! And I think it deserves my 5 stars.

1978. Mrs Medlock has dedicated the past two decades to Marwood Manor, serving as its dutiful housekeeper and one of the last remaining staff, tending to the Lord and Lady and their frail young son while guarding the estate’s many secrets.

For twenty years, she has been the silent keeper of Marwood’s past—its whispered scandals, its hidden truths, and the secrets buried within the walled garden. Out of sight, but never truly forgotten.

But when a distant relative, Mary, arrives seeking refuge and determined to uncover the manor’s mysteries, Mrs Medlock realises the past may no longer stay buried. And some secrets, once unearthed, can never be silenced ..

Medlock is a contemporary gothic horror reminiscent of The Secret Garden. It’s a slow-burning tale that expertly builds tension without relying on cheap scares. Instead, it fosters an ever-present sense of unease, that leaves a growing dread as the secrets of Marwood Manor begin to surface.

At the heart of the novel is Mrs. Medlock, the long-serving housekeeper, who gradually unravels under the weight of both time and the horrors she has kept buried. Her transformation - from unwavering and disciplined to resigned and utterly broken - is one of the book’s most compelling and heartbreaking aspects.

Alongside her, Mary’s resilience and determination drive the story forward, making her a fascinating counterpart to the weary Mrs. Medlock. Every character is fully realised, adding layers and authenticity to the eerie atmosphere.

The pacing is deliberate, allowing the mystery to unfold at just the right speed. The final third delivers a chilling crescendo with unsettling revelations. The novel’s gothic atmosphere, coupled with its haunting secrets and slow-burn horror, makes for an immersive and deeply unsettling read.

From its opening line “Everybody died that night” to the final pages, Medlock is a beautifully crafted and deeply atmospheric novel - a must-read for fans of gothic fiction.

A huge thanks to NetGalley, Sphere, Little Brown Books, and BP Walter / SG Hartnell for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I liked how this book was kind of a mash-up of various different pieces of Gothic fiction. There were call outs to Secret Garden (definitely Gothic literature even if it was for kids), The Turn of the Screw and Rebecca. These were just the ones that I noticed. But somehow or other the characters were also rather underwhelming and I just ... didn't care. It was interesting that Thatcher turned up at one point. But it felt completely unconvincing that it was supposed to be taking place in the late 1970s/80s. The portrayal of the servant class did not match up. I can't come up with a long review of this as I didn't really engage with it particularly. I was expecting a servant story on similar lines to Longbourn or Nelly Dean and this one is far more forgettable than that.

This is a dark reimagined tale of The Secret Garden. The author has created such a perfect setting like the one in the classic. The characters are intriguing and curious while some of the characters are mysterious and secretive. The book is filled with mystery, secrets, strange happenings and twists. I must say this is a dark gothic reimagining of the classic tale. There are mysteries of the manor and locked garden then there is someone who is harbouring secrets. I loved the atmospheric setting and shocking revelations at the end. I thought the book was dark, unsettling, mysterious and gripping. The author did a good job because they didn’t include the racism part.

It’s 1978 Mrs Medlock is a housekeeper at Marwood manor, and she has been there for twenty years. She is one of the last members of staff at the manor and she has a lot of secrets to tell.
When the Lord and Lady of the manor decide to take a trip to America she is left to look after the children. But strange things start happening when one of the children Rupert comes to stay with his tutor Mr Quint. Strange people start to arrive and weird things start to happen.
I thank Hodder and Stoughton for a very early copy of Medlock as it’s not due to be published until October 2025. I enjoyed this the story of the goings on in Marwood Manor. This is a slow burn of a story and doesn’t really pick up until the last third of the story. The only thing bugging me about this one is the timeline. It might be a bit trivial for some but, it is supposed to be set in the 70’s. For me personally, thought it had a more Victorian feel to it for first two thirds of this story or it might be just me. 4 stars from me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The build-up was a little slow but it kept my attention and was a quick read. The final third of the book took a turn I wasn't expecting.

4.5 stars rounded up

In what is intended to be a horror version of The Secret Garden, Hartnell transplants the story of orphan Mary (now from Scotland), the strict housekeeper Mrs Medlock, the ailing cousin (now Rupert) and that forbidden garden to Oxfordshire in the late 1970s.

Most of the names have also been changed, and now there is a second (living) lady of the manor and a third child – teenage Ernest and his tutor Mr Quint.

Between Mrs Medlock’s secret and the creepy lascivious Mr Quint and his cult of followers, the plot becomes increasingly bizarre.

What could have been a turn-of-the-screw re-imagining of The Secret Garden (if that was ever needed) turns into a ludicrous reworking that leaves so little of the original story that the association no longer makes sense.