This Little Dark Place

In A.S. Hatch's, This Little Dark Place, this shocking 288-paged thriller is so startling and borderline creepy from start to finish. It all started when Daniel told Lucy about how and why he got incarcerated in a letter. We're introduced to Daniel and Victoria, a loving couple who's been trying to make a baby and start a family.  But later on, things grew distant when Dan worked in his workshop and Vic paid less attention to him.  That's when he started correspondence with Ruby, who spent time behind bars for assaulting her partner Lee. After losing his mother Ivy and a baby, they move into his inherited cottage in the countryside. Before the move, Vic spends more time at the gym and less with him until they grew apart and went their separate way. Time alone in the cottage, he resumed his correspondence until it grew creepier, deeper and darker and a bit more intimate. Later, when Ruby's free, she tracks Dan down at his home and helps decorate it. But he didn't know if he could believe her or trust her. Later, when Vic wants to reunite with him, Dan needed to do something with Ruby. But when he disposes her, things turn deadly with a shocking ending on what happened to Dan.

This debut had given me goosebumps to creep along the spine. It had all the elements to help you keep you up at night. I did care about Dan and Vic's relationship in the beginning and became worried about the split toward the middle. I've thought Dan was a bit of a hard-worker who should've spent more time with her a tiny bit more. I did become suspicious of his pen pal relationship with Ruby, when it all started to be innocent in a neutral manner. The theme here is to be careful on whom you can trust, whether in person or online. I did wish we knew Dan and Vic's last names when we first met them. I did love the vast locations throughout England from London to Wilder and everywhere in between that paint excellent scenic pictures for the paintings.

If you love to stay up at night,  you'll love This Little Dark Place, which is filled with twists and turns, plenty of suspense, non-stop action, heart-pounding drama, and lots of mystery to keep you page-turning to the end.