A Dark and Secret Place

I read this book because I enjoyed the Winnowing Flame trilogy by Jen Williams.

The beginning was promising and had me hooked : the atmosphere was dark and the author managed to build a nice bit of insecurity. I really like the writing style.
However Heather is very unlikable and all the other characters are dull. Nikki in particular is the perfect no-personality side-kick.
I am not used to police mysteries but I still found the story very predictable. The culprit was obvious from the first time they appeared even if their motives were not.

In general I was disappointed since the strength of the Winnowing Flame trilogy were the world-building and imaginative elements that we do not have in A dark and secret place. The plot or characters do not make up for it so this strikes me as “just another serial killer story”.