An absolute gem of a novel.

Not satisfied by just writing two timelines, Sarginson gives us pace, intrigue and enough twists to keep even the most jaded thriller reader interested.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Arc, I enjoyed it greatly and would suggest it for anyone that has time for a novel that you will not put down until you finish.

I enjoyed the book a lot. It's a gripping thriller with multiple twists and turns. It's quite long but mainly because the story is told in different time lines and from different point of views which I enjoyed. The changes in narrator and time lines are clear and not confusing.

It has a creepy vibe and is fast paced which I love. A definite must read for physiologically thriller fans

Goodness me, this was such a good book. Highly entertaining. Would definitely recommend to others, that's for sure!

This book was thrilling, and very fast paced. 3 girls, one cousin, one missing mother and a villian. How do they all connect. Meg the main characters and cousin, comes back to Deben manor to uncover the secret behind her missing mother. Told between current events and her mother's poverty/ backstory, the truth is revealed about one man who destroyed many lives.

I felt the suspense, I even felt the destruction caused by the villian, but too many events were driven by one nonsensical woman, who repents too late. Overall a decent read that encourages you to question everything around you.

#OneDarkSummer #NetGalley

✅️ Easy to read
✅️ Suspenseful
✅️ Twists and turns galore

Meg arrives at the grand manor house to start work as a nanny. But it's not the job that unsettles her — it's the house. She’s been here before, fifteen years ago, the summer her mother vanished… and a man died.

Now, back under a guise and with a new name, Meg is determined to uncover the truth. But someone remembers her — and they’ll do anything to keep the past buried.

The story is predominantly told from current day Meg's perspective but it's intertwined with her memories and her mother's storyline from the past. I liked this and thought it worked really well.


There are so many interwoven stories. And so many twists and turns - too many, if there is such a thing? Some predictable, some less so.

The story starts fairly slow but midway through the tension continuously builds - its claustrophobic and suspenseful. And then the plot unfolds at a decent pace.

Overall an enjoyable read - I devoured it in one evening.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC. All opinions are honest and my own.

I really enjoyed this book! This was the first thriller I read from this author and it definitely won‘t be the last.

THIS ONE IS OUT NOW!!
4⭐️ {Kindle}
(ARC review) — Thank you to author Saskia Sarginson and her publisher Boldwood Books. I received an Advanced Reader Copy for the April 2025 release of ONE DARK SUMMER in exchange for my honest review.

Do you enjoy a creepy vibe with a big mysterious manor that has a “off” feeling about it. Super atmospheric. Slow build, but plenty twisty. Great psychological thriller, with a side of goth, that also has that creepy vibe throughout.

Dual timelines and generational mishaps. Margaret the FMC wants to know what happened to her mother all those years ago when her world imploded.

As she gets closer to the truth, things start to really get interesting. Are some secrets better, kept unfound.

This one was fun—You may want to keep this lights on at night! ;)

Love the cover art 🩷

One Dark Summer by Saskia Sarginson, when Meg a.k.a. Margaret shows up to be the nanny for Ophelia‘s two children the mom has no idea that one the nanny has been there before two they’re related and three she’s there to solve a mystery. Meg stayed with Ophelia and her two sisters this summer Meg’s mom went missing and just like that then the sisters are as close as ever there will be many things she revisits from that summer including the attic she wasn’t allowed to go in, the summer house and her relationship with the three girls she envied so much. this book has three timelines the summer Meg stayed at the mansion her mom‘s POV with the man she left her dad for and the current day with her trying to solve the mystery. I found each POV to be more interesting than the last and couldn’t wait to see how they all tied together but trust me when I say I did not expect the ending that came I mean yes some of that I did but not the absolute ending that happened with Meg because if that’s not an OMG moment then I don’t know what is. I wish I could write a great review about how awesome this book is but for anyone who likes well done thrillers will absolutely enjoy this book there’s more than one finale in the book as a stories do not all tie up and current day per se. I mean it does but there’s different parts to the ending and all of them were awesome. #NetGalley,#TheBlindReview#BoldwoodBooks, er, #MyHonestReview, #SaskiaSarginson, #OneDarkSummer,

I felt like this book was so disjointed, the story was all over the place. I know it’s supposed to be a thriller and a bit unrealistic but the way things happened just had me thinking “what?!”. The characters weren’t consistent. The story didn’t flow. The plot was good I just don’t think it came together well. The ending eventually picked up speed and was a bit more intriguing but I never felt like I couldn’t put this down. I just think it was okay. Good premise but the writing was lacking.

One Dark Summer by Saskia Sarginson is a gripping, slow-burn thriller rich with atmosphere, secrets, and emotional depth. With multiple POVs, clever twists, and a haunting setting, it masterfully explores memory, trauma, and truth. A compelling, binge-worthy read I highly recommend. I couldn't put this book down and I loved it from cover to cover.

Slow burn thriller
Duel timelines
Old spooky houses
Compelling characters
Nanny troupe

This book has it all! Perfect summer thriller definitely pick this one up!

𝔸 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣. 𝔸 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕. 𝔸 𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕗𝕦𝕝𝕝 𝕠𝕗 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕖𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕤...

Meg lifts her hand and knocks on the door to the grandest house she's ever seen. She's about to start a new job as the nanny for the two small children who live here. But it's not the job that's making her nervous.....

As Meg walks in she realises she recognises the house, down to every detail. Luckily the home owner doesn't recognise Meg, but Meg definitely knows how she is.... because this is where she spent a summer as a child many years before. The summer when her mother disappeared, the summer Meg thought she killed a man.

Now shes back, disguised as Margaret, to uncover the secrets left behind so many years ago.

Massive thanks to NetGalley for the arc of this book! I really really enjoyed this book, I haven't read anything by this author before but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for other titles. The writing was easy to read and kept me wanting more! The ending had me second guessed everything I thought I knew!

This book starts off a little slow, but builds into a story that is hard to put down. It centers on Meg, who is trying to figure out what happened to her mother, who disappeared when she was a young teen. Her cousin now owns the mansion that she believes conceals those secrets, so she poses as a nanny in order to get close to the family-- hoping she won't be recognized-- while she digs deeper. You also get some chapters told but other characters, which work to help the reader understand the big picture.

The author does a great job of weaving the storylines together in a way that makes each one stronger, while also supplying many surprises and twists. It was not hard to root for Meg, but I was constantly on the edge of my seat that she was going to get found out as she gets deeper into the mystery. There are a couple huge twists that I absolutely did not see coming, though after I knew them I saw that the author had expertly laid the right bread crumbs. With the possible exception of Meg's mother, I felt like the characters were believable and made decisions that people would really make- I was more on the fence with her mother's decision-making, though. I really liked the way the book ended- it might have been verging on unrealistic but I thought it was the right ending for this particular set of characters.

Overall, I found this to be an engaging read with a lot of great surprises. It does start off a tad slow but is definitely worth the slow burn. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One Dark Summer by Saskia Sarginson was a very dark psychological thriller which was totally gripping from the very beginning till the end. It was full of great twists and turns and was a beautifully written and very powerful book.
I loved the short chapters which made it a quick and easy enjoyable read. A great book for your day off or your holidays.
I highly recommend it.

One Dark Summer is about Meg, who visited her cousins in the manor one summer after her mom went missing. She believes her mom was linked to the other women who lived in the house, due to a painting where she was wearing a family heirloom.

I thought One Dark Summer was a solid mystery thriller. The time jumps confused me briefly, but it was easy to fall back into the story. It kept me entertained and it read pretty quickly.

I received One Dark Summer through a book tour through Boldwood Books. My thoughts and opinions are my own

One Dark Summer is a slow-burning mystery that takes time to get into, but don’t give up on it because, trust me, it gets better. Sarginson has a talent for rich, immersive storytelling, which, as the story progresses, becomes addictive. You feel for the character of Meg and want to believe that she will get the answers she has been searching so hard to find.

This is a novel that not only explores the impact of parental loss at an early age but also the unreliable nature of memories and how trauma can cause barriers to retrieving them.

I love a plot that provides insights from multiple perspectives, and One Dark Summer is cleverly written in this respect. It helps to not only fill in the blanks but also compels the reader to continue; you need all sides of the story to complete the narrative and work out what happened in the past and what is happening at Deben Manor now.

Identical was my first introduction to Sarginson's books, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was drawn to One Dark Summer by the blurb and the prologue had me hooked!

Moving between the past and present the story is narrated from multiple POV, and split across three parts.

I found the characters beguiling, making me doubt their credibility, while the twists had me doubting myself.

The setting of Deben Manor was perfect. Old houses always tend to be hiding secrets behind their doors and they're not always pleasant.

The perfect binge read.

‘One Dark Summer’ is a great psychological thriller. There are quite a few twists throughout the book. Though I figured most of it out, it was still a fun read. Shorter chapters added to the suspense. 4 stars

This was a good book with so many twists and turns! I like how it was told through different viewpoints!

One Dark Summer
by Saskia Sarginson
Pub Date: Apr 13 2025

One Dark Summer is a nail biting thriller that moves between the past and the present. The first half is rather slow but after that it is definitely worth the wait! It's a house full of deadly secrets, a missing mother and a forgotten child. The book takes on a gothic air such as "Jane Eyre". Many twists and turns, a book I'm sure you will love!

Synopsis: It was the summer that changed everything… With trembling hands, Meg knocks on the door of the large manor house. Behind her, the view down to the river is spectacular. She’s here to be the nanny to two young children. It’s not the job Meg is anxious about, though. It’s the house itself that scares her, and the secrets lurking inside. Not only that, but will her new employer recognize her?

Many thanks to #OneDarkSummer #NetGalley and #BoldWoodBooks for providing me an E-ARC of this 5 Star psychological thriller!