Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams
I would like to thank Harper Collins for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Harper Collins
Published – Out Now
Price – £14.99 hardcover £6.99 Kindle eBook
What if your mother had been writing to a serial killer?
A convicted murderer with a story to tell
Serial killer Michael Reave – known as The Red Wolf – has been locked in Belmarsh Prison for over 20 years for the brutal and ritualistic murders of countless women.
A grieving daughter with a secret to unearth
Ex-journalist Heather Evans returns to her childhood home after her mother’s inexplicable suicide and discovers something chilling – hundreds of letters between her mother and Reave, dating back decades.
A hunt for a killer ready to strike again
When the body of a woman is found decorated with flowers, just like his victims, Reave is the only person alive who could help. After years of silence, he will speak to Heather, and only Heather.
If she wants to unearth the truth and stop further bloodshed, she’ll have to confront a monster.
The serial killer could be argued to represent the modern monsters of our age. The human that isn’t quite human and just preys on the unsuspecting has all the trapping of a folk tale. Sometimes we like to make them something truly inhuman and yet witty and stylish and that risks us forgetting what they actually do to their victims who are not set decorations. In the excellent Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams, we get a truly memorable dark haunting tale that still shines a light on the crimes’ victims that gives the genre a much needed twenty first century boost.
Heather Evans is an ex-journalist trying to find a living when she is shocked to learn of her mother’s suicide. Colleen Evans was a strict serious woman that Heather walked out on at sixteen and Heather finds the idea of her mother not acting like that forever is a shock. While going through the home she finds a bundle of letters from a man she realises is one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers Michael Reave the Red Wolf safely locked away for over two decades after a long long killing spree. Already horrified at this revelation Heather finds a series of new stories suggesting that someone is now acting out the Red Wolf’s crimes with scenes arranged eerily using flowers to decorate the victim’s corpses. Sensing her mother’s secrets may have a link and that this could be a story to re-start her career Heather agrees to meet Reaves in prison and while he spins fairy stories for her, she starts to feel someone else is getting closer hiding in the dark and leaving strange messages to grab her attention.
This is one of the most atmospheric crime stories I’ve read in a long time. Despite reading this in the summer I felt the cold, dark and greyness of the locations full of secrets and foreboding. Williams has skilfully fused a thriller story with this atmosphere to feel as if you’ve slightly gone into the woods and on the wrong path. Full of grief, regrets and danger we watch Heather try to find her way through a situation that however unusual is also uniquely personal about finding out the truth about your family/ Heather is a welcome change in characters not filled with burning desires for justice or forensic skills but one who enjoys digging into the story to find the future headline. Ambitious, rash and yet honourable with a welcome streak of not letting men get away with their sexism or attempts to control her – not the person ou ant to ask to smile. She may not be the friend you’d want to always hang out with but the one you’d trust to get you out of a tight situation as she weaves together the secrets of several decades. It’s refreshing to have a lead not acting in a quasi-apprentice way to a monster and while the scenes with Reave are a dance of each interrogating the other you don’t feel Heather is at any times moulding herself in Reave’s mindset.
Williams has split the book into two elements Heather’s hunt for the truth and what is going on with this new Wolf and the life of Michael as he grew up. These are some of the most disturbing scenes in the book as we explore the making of monsters and see out of trauma and abuse you can create someone who is happy in nature and capable of kindness but also very bewitched by their own desire to kill. Williams doesn’t make Michael a witty and funny dark companion to Heather but someone dangerous and yet understandable. Despite that we can still see a monster in front of us even if he can smile and tell fairy stories. Unravelling his inner mysteries and the connections to the present make the plot gain momentum until its disturbing conclusion.
The other highlight is how Williams elevates the tale with lots of atmosphere and great use of corrupted natural imagery and even occasional jump scares to push this thriller onto edges of horror. This comes back to the idea that serial killers are just another iteration of cautionary tales; and it is not a coincidence that Reaves becomes known as the Red Wolf. This is a tale of dark figures just out of sight, symbolism and people who are not always what they seem creating a strange eerie world of its own design and as we tread further down the path with Heather everything gets suspicious. With scenes set in a strange 1970s commune and rumours of darker things in the woods it feels like a murder mystery merged with the trappings of a folk horror story and all the better for it. If Williams wants to use these characters again in some way this has the ability to be a very compelling series.
Williams’ first thriller is a huge success and I hope we get to see many more such tales in the future. Fans of Phil Rickman or john Connolly should definitely look to pick this story up and it is a person read you read as the evenings lengthen, the temperature drops, and you hear a strange noise outdoor. Highly recommended!
