Richard & Judy Introduce Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selman

A truly masterful thriller, dark and deep as the title says. Twelve-year-old Sophie adores her mother’s boyfriend Matty. But in their neighbourhood stalks a serial killer, and his young victims look just like Sophie’s mother. Matty is sent down for the crimes. But what’s the real truth? Superb, intense and utterly addictive.

Judy's Review:

Sophie, aged 12, lives with her mother, having just moved from Massachusetts to London. The reader doesn’t really understand why, and this feeling that something’s slightly off, something we don’t quite get, continues throughout this clever, compelling novel. In London Sophie’s mum meets Matty, a handsome charismatic Irishman, and Sophie, fatherless, becomes intensely attached to him. When several young women are murdered in her North London neighbourhood, each of them bearing a striking resemblance to her mother, Amelia-Rose, the search for a serial killer begins to shatter Sophie’s life.

We know from the beginning that Matty has been arrested and imprisoned for the murders, and the story begins twenty years on when Sophie, now an adult, receives a letter asking her to visit him in jail. He’s dying of cancer and wants to speak to her one last time.

Richard's Review:

This is such a vivid and original novel, a fascinating web of lies, deceit and dread. Although Matty has destroyed her life, when he reaches out to her from his deathbed Sophie is still not 100% certain that he is guilty, such is Matty’s charm and warmth. As a father figure she loved him, he made her feel happy and protected. But as she relives the months leading up to his arrest, she remembers his strange, disconcerting behaviour and the things that didn’t quite add up. And she feels guilty that he’s in jail, feels it’s somehow her fault.

The ending is shocking. The truth extraordinary. And you suddenly understand why as a reader you felt something was unspoken, off-kilter, the whole time. A triumph.