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Book Recommendation | Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman

Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman

Genre: Mystery & Thriller

Published: July 2022, Quercus Books

Swathi’s Rating: 4/5

Get it on Amazon


Blurb:

12-year-old Sophie and her mother, Amelia-Rose, move to London from Massachusetts where they meet the charismatic Matty Melgren, who quickly becomes an intrinsic part of their lives. But as the relationship between the two adults fractures, a serial killer begins targeting young women with a striking resemblance to Amelia-Rose.

When Matty is eventually sent down for multiple murders, questions remain as to his guilt — questions which ultimately destroy both women. Nearly twenty years later, Sophie receives a letter from Battlemouth Prison informing her Matty is dying and wants to meet. It looks like Sophie might finally get the answers she craves. But will the truth set her free — or bury her deeper?


Thoughts:

This is for you if you’re into serial offenders, a fan of true times, podcasts and lastly of books set in the 80s! If you’re not the above, then you’d still love the short chapters that end with cliffhangers and grip you so much that you can’t put the book down until you know what happened.

Told primarily from the view of Sophie, we are taken back to when she was 8 and her mother met this mysterious, kind and handsome man home, Matty and how he became the only man close to a father she had and how much she adored him. Until one day, she’s convinced he is the notorious killer that murdered several women who looked liked her mother and she feels guilt among several other things that the blood of those poor women are on her hands too for not realising the true nature of Matty any sooner.

Truly Darkly Deeply is a different take on a serial killer, not your usual who kills who, how he captures his prey, and the police investigation that follows. No this is the author’s imagination telling us the emotional turmoil suffered by several families including the ones that were close to the offender and how it continues to destroy lives after several decades later. Set in the world when modern technology has not yet been discovered, it was a scary place to think about it now.

Fantastic book. Comes highly recommended from me.


About the Author – Victoria Selman

After graduating from Oxford University, Victoria Selman studied Creative Writing at the City Lit and wrote for the Ham & High and Daily Express newspapers.

In 2013 she won the Full Stop Short Story Prize and her first novel, Blood for Blood, was shortlisted for the 2017 Debut Dagger Award.

Victoria lives in London with her husband and two sons.


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