What do you think?
Rate this book
Secret Story
You're an underpaid civil servant who dreams of chucking it all to become a famous author. You live with your overbearing mother who always seems to interrupt when you're writing a key scene. Your imagination is dark, your inspiration the terrible things that can happen to a young woman traveling alone . . . .
Your terrifying short story about a horrible murder on an underground train is about to be published. Even better, it will be made into a movie. A pretty young journalist is pursuing you.
Except.
You've been fired.
The journalist wants an interview, not a date.
The film's director wants you to make a few changes in your story.
And, worst of all, your imagination has run dry.
You'll just have to kill someone new . . .
Your terrifying short story about a horrible murder on an underground train is about to be published. Even better, it will be made into a movie. A pretty young journalist is pursuing you.
Except.
You've been fired.
The journalist wants an interview, not a date.
The film's director wants you to make a few changes in your story.
And, worst of all, your imagination has run dry.
You'll just have to kill someone new . . .
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
12 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Ramsey Campbell
857 books1,592 followersRamsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 29, 2018
I liked Campbell’s writing style, but the actual story didn’t draw me in.
October 8, 2011
Ramsey Campbell has a unique ability to write very compellingly about a naturally despicable character. The protagonist of the book is Dudley Smith, he's sort of like an anti-Dexter. He's neither clever nor interesting by himself, he lacks imagination or a moral code, yet I enjoyed reading a 398 page book about him, which is a credit to author. There is quite a bit of very dark humor in the book as well. It reminded me a lot of Overnight, another recent Campbell book, oddly compelling despite tedious characters.It's grotesque yet entertaining and I liked it, it's a 3.5 star read for me easily, though recommending it would be a different story.
July 20, 2013
I wanted a horror story to read during a heat wave and instead I got torture porn where all the characters were rude to each other's faces and then very passively did nothing about it. this includes the climax of the book where everyone involved in a kidnapping/torture was almost too polite, passive-aggressive, or in denial to call the police or be outraged or anything (except for the killer trying to kill people, of course).
January 15, 2020
Una obra más de Campbell que, aunque es un poco larga, no se hace pesada, sino que envuelve tan bien en la trama, que se pasa sin sentir las horas. Un libro entretenido, aunque, de forma particular, me hubiera gustado más descripciones de su entorno, ya que ello me gusta mucho de este autor al situar sus novelas en el Reino Unido.
July 13, 2025
Ramsey Campbell is unquestionably a master. This book, however, is not representative of that status. This was unfortunately just a terribly dull story.
Secret Story is painfully slow and obsessed with the minutiae of a deeply unlikeable man's unraveling ego. The main character, Dudley, is a smug, self-important incel who thinks murdering women who don't see his perceived worth will make his life more meaningful via his writing. Instead he just spirals into a repetitive mess of paranoia and justification.
The other characters are thinly developed and all just kind of a group of the worst people you'd think of to spend time with.
I don't need likeable characters to enjoy a story but they do need to be compelling, and this group ain't it.
There’s no real suspense, no surprises, and no reason to care. The book confuses tedium for tension and offers little payoff for your patience. A chore to get through.
Read Ramsey Campbell, but skip this one
Secret Story is painfully slow and obsessed with the minutiae of a deeply unlikeable man's unraveling ego. The main character, Dudley, is a smug, self-important incel who thinks murdering women who don't see his perceived worth will make his life more meaningful via his writing. Instead he just spirals into a repetitive mess of paranoia and justification.
The other characters are thinly developed and all just kind of a group of the worst people you'd think of to spend time with.
I don't need likeable characters to enjoy a story but they do need to be compelling, and this group ain't it.
There’s no real suspense, no surprises, and no reason to care. The book confuses tedium for tension and offers little payoff for your patience. A chore to get through.
Read Ramsey Campbell, but skip this one
April 22, 2015
Part social commentary, part dark comedy, Ramsey Campbell’s 2006 publication of Secret Story is mostly just a good old-fashioned page turning thriller about creepy adult children and their absentee fathers and oblivious and enabling mothers.
Let’s get one thing straight; Dudley Smith is not Dexter Morgan from Jeff Lindsay’s fabulous novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. No one but a fellow sociopath is going to root for Dudley to get away with his murders, because he is a sociopath in the truest sense. He lived his life cocooned in his own self-absorbed world. The people around him are there only to reflex his superiority in all things. Dudley is smarter, more talented, and generally just better than anyone. This belief is fostered by his self deluded mother. Dudley can do no wrong in her eyes. His misogyny knows no bounds. All women are potential victims and any perceived slight is enough to get his murderous juices flowing. Of course the irony of it is Dudley is not smarter, and is not even a good author because he is unable to create a fictional story and is able to write only after killing someone.
The social commentary in this novel is this. When Dudley Smith writes a short story about a subway murder, that mirrors the tragic “slip and fall” death of a young actress several years earlier. We get to see the spectacle of social media, and exploitation of tragedies by Medias. But these are minor points. The true skill of this novel is how Mr. Campbell managed to write both a page turner and a slow burn thriller at the same time.
Secret Story builds and builds on Dudley’s anxiety. We as the reader know that Patricia, the reporter doing an article on Dudley for a local magazine is going to his next victim, but Campbell’s pacing is the slow build-up to the actual abduction which does not occur until page 257 of the 400 page novel. And yet the sort chapters lend themselves to a quick pacing of the scenes.
I’m not sure if the manners of the deaths in the end were meant to be ironic but that is how I took it. And that is how this novel ends, with dark irony.
Let’s get one thing straight; Dudley Smith is not Dexter Morgan from Jeff Lindsay’s fabulous novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. No one but a fellow sociopath is going to root for Dudley to get away with his murders, because he is a sociopath in the truest sense. He lived his life cocooned in his own self-absorbed world. The people around him are there only to reflex his superiority in all things. Dudley is smarter, more talented, and generally just better than anyone. This belief is fostered by his self deluded mother. Dudley can do no wrong in her eyes. His misogyny knows no bounds. All women are potential victims and any perceived slight is enough to get his murderous juices flowing. Of course the irony of it is Dudley is not smarter, and is not even a good author because he is unable to create a fictional story and is able to write only after killing someone.
The social commentary in this novel is this. When Dudley Smith writes a short story about a subway murder, that mirrors the tragic “slip and fall” death of a young actress several years earlier. We get to see the spectacle of social media, and exploitation of tragedies by Medias. But these are minor points. The true skill of this novel is how Mr. Campbell managed to write both a page turner and a slow burn thriller at the same time.
Secret Story builds and builds on Dudley’s anxiety. We as the reader know that Patricia, the reporter doing an article on Dudley for a local magazine is going to his next victim, but Campbell’s pacing is the slow build-up to the actual abduction which does not occur until page 257 of the 400 page novel. And yet the sort chapters lend themselves to a quick pacing of the scenes.
I’m not sure if the manners of the deaths in the end were meant to be ironic but that is how I took it. And that is how this novel ends, with dark irony.
June 25, 2025
Lo peor de Campbell, sin duda alguna. Al menos entre lo que te leído de él. Aburrido, sin gancho, falto de imaginación. Una pena y una pérdida de tiempo.
A esto hay que añadir una mala edición, con una traducción nefasta y sin corrección de texto.
A esto hay que añadir una mala edición, con una traducción nefasta y sin corrección de texto.
December 1, 2012
I didn't even finish this book. I reached page 200 and gave up... Not a single likable character, no one I could emotionally invest in. Truly disappointing considering Campbell is one of the best writers in the genre.
January 30, 2020
This was an utterly strange story. Everyone in it is horrible. The main character, Dudley Smith, is a complete nutbag, which is clear from the jacket cover and is no surprise. He's a crime writer who gets his ideas from actually killing people. But it's not just him; everyone else is awful too. Both of his parents, his boss, his neighbour, his co-workers. I accepted that for a couple of reasons. One is that the book is meant to be creepy, not cheerful, so it wouldn't make sense to fill it with sunshiny people. The other is that I believe the author intended to make it easier for us to sympathize with Dudley, who wanted to just kill everyone he came across.
Some of the characters were one-notes that made no real sense. Shell, the female "shock" comedienne was one of them. She basically stands up at a microphone and spits bitterness and bile about men to yowling packs of females and yet she is a comedienne? She didn't say one funny thing, or even one thing ironic or wry. Just nastiness and hate and urging women to hate and injure men. A lot more could have been done with that character, since she seemed to represent women in general who refused to accept poor treatment from men such as Dudley. She seemed to have been created just to have a target for Dudley that almost justified his contempt for her. A more nuanced character would have made that emotional journey for the reader much more impactful.
The polarization between women and men seemed very stark and ugly in this book. The tension and hate between the genders was very pronounced. This made sense when seen through the eyes of the main character, who fears, hates, and kills women, but it seemed pervasive to pretty much all the characters.
The captivity/torture scene near the end of the book was far too detailed and lengthy for me. I skipped most of it because it was just an indulgence of misogyny and ugliness. I believe this was deliberate on the part of the author, and not just because he writes in the horror genre (something I learned about him AFTER reading this book!). I also think it illustrates his main character. The author is a crime author writing about a crime author who can write in detail about crimes because he actually committed them. Very meta. It's a sort of melding of author and character that is interesting on an intellectual level but makes for disturbing reading.
Now here is the part that made me roll my eyes in complete disbelief. A character who has been kidnapped, bound, punished, and told repeatedly that she will be soon dead for THREE FULL DAYS finally gets free. And what does she do? Escape? No. Run away? No. Call the police? No. She SITS DOWN WITH THE KIDNAPPER AND HIS NUTCASE OF A MOTHER AND CHATS WITH THEM. I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying it. She'd been wrapped in packing tape from head to toe and kept in a bathtub by a complete psycho for days and yet doesn't leave the house once she is freed? No way. No person on earth would do that after what she went through.
What I did like about this book was the way the author showed us the mental decline of the main character. The more Dudley indulged in the murders that he thinks satisfy him, the more he lost touch with reality and his humanity. I appreciated the fact that it was his killing of women that finally killed him.
I didn't enjoy this book. Even readers who can handle all the negativity, pain, hate, and bitterness of the characters will probably find parts of the plot very strange.
Some of the characters were one-notes that made no real sense. Shell, the female "shock" comedienne was one of them. She basically stands up at a microphone and spits bitterness and bile about men to yowling packs of females and yet she is a comedienne? She didn't say one funny thing, or even one thing ironic or wry. Just nastiness and hate and urging women to hate and injure men. A lot more could have been done with that character, since she seemed to represent women in general who refused to accept poor treatment from men such as Dudley. She seemed to have been created just to have a target for Dudley that almost justified his contempt for her. A more nuanced character would have made that emotional journey for the reader much more impactful.
The polarization between women and men seemed very stark and ugly in this book. The tension and hate between the genders was very pronounced. This made sense when seen through the eyes of the main character, who fears, hates, and kills women, but it seemed pervasive to pretty much all the characters.
The captivity/torture scene near the end of the book was far too detailed and lengthy for me. I skipped most of it because it was just an indulgence of misogyny and ugliness. I believe this was deliberate on the part of the author, and not just because he writes in the horror genre (something I learned about him AFTER reading this book!). I also think it illustrates his main character. The author is a crime author writing about a crime author who can write in detail about crimes because he actually committed them. Very meta. It's a sort of melding of author and character that is interesting on an intellectual level but makes for disturbing reading.
Now here is the part that made me roll my eyes in complete disbelief. A character who has been kidnapped, bound, punished, and told repeatedly that she will be soon dead for THREE FULL DAYS finally gets free. And what does she do? Escape? No. Run away? No. Call the police? No. She SITS DOWN WITH THE KIDNAPPER AND HIS NUTCASE OF A MOTHER AND CHATS WITH THEM. I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying it. She'd been wrapped in packing tape from head to toe and kept in a bathtub by a complete psycho for days and yet doesn't leave the house once she is freed? No way. No person on earth would do that after what she went through.
What I did like about this book was the way the author showed us the mental decline of the main character. The more Dudley indulged in the murders that he thinks satisfy him, the more he lost touch with reality and his humanity. I appreciated the fact that it was his killing of women that finally killed him.
I didn't enjoy this book. Even readers who can handle all the negativity, pain, hate, and bitterness of the characters will probably find parts of the plot very strange.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 10, 2025
US mass market edition
The back cover of this book is what hooked me, and I guess it hooked a lot of other writers. The book (according to the back) is about a writer who dreams of chucking it all in to become a famous author. But that’s where the cover blurb and the actual story seem to drift apart. For this review I will start by typing up the back cover:
You’re an underpaid civil servant who dreams of chucking it all to become a famous author. You live with your overbearing mother who always seems to interrupt when you’re writing a key scene. Your imagination is dark, your inspiration the terrible things that can happen to a young woman travelling alone. . .
Your terrifying short story about a horrible murder on an underground train is to be published. Even better, it will be made into a movie.
A pretty young journalist is pursuing you.
Except.
You’ve been fired.
The journalist wants an interview, not a date.
The film’s director wants you to make a few changes in your story.
And, worst of all, your imagination has run dry.
You’ll just have to kill someone new. . .
So, that’s the back cover and naturally I’d read that and run up to the counter, hand over my dosh and rushed home to settle in for a good read. But; the style of the writing was a tad hard to get used to, it’s very British, which isn’t usually a problem for me (most of the lit in NZ comes from the UK), except this one took me awhile to get used to it. Scene changes would start with someone talking, then other people would talk and I had no idea there were other people about until they spoke. The back blurb covers only the first half of the book. But what really put me off reading was an unbelievable reaction to an unbelievable scene involving the wife of his best friend.
About the story: Dudley is crazy. He has been for a long time and his mother thinks all the drugs she did in her youth are to blame. What she doesn’t know is that the stories Dudley is writing are factual. Chapter two is the best chapter in this book; it’s about a murder at the train station (tube/subway) and it forms the backbone of this book. His mother sends this story into a competition and it is accepted for publication winning the top spot. The story is shown to an indie director who wants to film it and would like Dudley’s assistance with writing the script to keep it as real as possible. He agrees.
After a reading (pre-launch) someone recognizes the story as a real event and informs the parents of the girl killed at the subway, and they naturally kick up a mega media stink and Dudley’s story is pulled from publication. But the editor likes Dudley and offers him a spot in issue two of the magazine. The movie is changed as well. They won’t show that scene but Dudley has to come up with something else.
The book drags on a bit from here on in, don’t get me wrong the storylines are interesting and the character developments are excellent, but I am left to wonder why most scenes were written. I saw little point to most of them.
The ending is as expected but don’t skip the epilogue (like most readers), you’ll nod your head though most of it.
In short: this book is long winded but a decent read. The style is interesting as are the characters.
The back cover of this book is what hooked me, and I guess it hooked a lot of other writers. The book (according to the back) is about a writer who dreams of chucking it all in to become a famous author. But that’s where the cover blurb and the actual story seem to drift apart. For this review I will start by typing up the back cover:
You’re an underpaid civil servant who dreams of chucking it all to become a famous author. You live with your overbearing mother who always seems to interrupt when you’re writing a key scene. Your imagination is dark, your inspiration the terrible things that can happen to a young woman travelling alone. . .
Your terrifying short story about a horrible murder on an underground train is to be published. Even better, it will be made into a movie.
A pretty young journalist is pursuing you.
Except.
You’ve been fired.
The journalist wants an interview, not a date.
The film’s director wants you to make a few changes in your story.
And, worst of all, your imagination has run dry.
You’ll just have to kill someone new. . .
So, that’s the back cover and naturally I’d read that and run up to the counter, hand over my dosh and rushed home to settle in for a good read. But; the style of the writing was a tad hard to get used to, it’s very British, which isn’t usually a problem for me (most of the lit in NZ comes from the UK), except this one took me awhile to get used to it. Scene changes would start with someone talking, then other people would talk and I had no idea there were other people about until they spoke. The back blurb covers only the first half of the book. But what really put me off reading was an unbelievable reaction to an unbelievable scene involving the wife of his best friend.
About the story: Dudley is crazy. He has been for a long time and his mother thinks all the drugs she did in her youth are to blame. What she doesn’t know is that the stories Dudley is writing are factual. Chapter two is the best chapter in this book; it’s about a murder at the train station (tube/subway) and it forms the backbone of this book. His mother sends this story into a competition and it is accepted for publication winning the top spot. The story is shown to an indie director who wants to film it and would like Dudley’s assistance with writing the script to keep it as real as possible. He agrees.
After a reading (pre-launch) someone recognizes the story as a real event and informs the parents of the girl killed at the subway, and they naturally kick up a mega media stink and Dudley’s story is pulled from publication. But the editor likes Dudley and offers him a spot in issue two of the magazine. The movie is changed as well. They won’t show that scene but Dudley has to come up with something else.
The book drags on a bit from here on in, don’t get me wrong the storylines are interesting and the character developments are excellent, but I am left to wonder why most scenes were written. I saw little point to most of them.
The ending is as expected but don’t skip the epilogue (like most readers), you’ll nod your head though most of it.
In short: this book is long winded but a decent read. The style is interesting as are the characters.
June 4, 2023
DNF. I tried to give this book a fair shake despite the reviews but i couldn't keep up. Thought would change mid sentence and I couldn't understand what it was trying to say. I'm probably not the target audience here but this book was a flat out no from me.
December 10, 2023
I HAVE HEARD THIS AUTHOR IS AMAZING AND HE IS EASILY ONE OF THE BEST AUTHORS ON HORROR FICTION, BUT THIS BOOK SIMPLY WAS GOOD AND AN EASY READ BUT NOTHING OUTSTANDING AT ALL.
Read
September 10, 2024Campbell delivers an interesting story although I admit at times I struggled to finish it. Ultimately, he sticks the landing at the end and I am glad I hung in there.
June 16, 2020
I really liked the premise of this book; An author that has to kill in order to come up with his stories is intriguing and I believe has happened in real life as well. However, the book didn't do for me what I wanted it to, even though I find it hard explaining why. Though I think that Dudley might be the reason why I didn't like this as much as I could have. Dudley -the main character in this book- is really really unlikeable. Sure, he is the villain and you're not supposed to like a villain but he just felt off. Which I believe could be a good thing, but at the same it didn't really make me enjoy the book all that much. I would have preferred the charismatic type of murderer (that sounds strange I know, but I hope you get what I mean). All in all a book that was not bad but also not great. So I guess it is 1 - 1 in the Ramsey Campbell scoring system now since I have only read 2 of his books yet but still have a lot more to go (I have received quite a few of his books from my neighbour). Though I do think I will for my next choice rely on the GR comment and rating section more than on the summary of the book.
August 21, 2007
Meh.
I wanted to love this book--it's such a great idea: an aspiring writer who bases his serial killer "character" on his own exploits, happily working anonymously until he is exposed by a meddling mother that enters him into a local writing contest.
The biggest problem for me was character development. Dudley, the serial killer, was pretty flat. (I'm not sure if I was meant to start out feeling sorry for Dudley, as he is both verbally and physically attacked. If so, it just didn't work well enough for me. Is he a bullied victim that snaps or a sociopath without conscience? Probably both, but I began to lose interest.)
I didn't have much opportunity to develop any feelings for the other charcters in the book, particulary his victims. I was kind of hoping the author was using a device, along the lines of: the serial killer gets picked on and assaulted and his next victim is obnoxious and thouroughly unlikable, but this was not the case.
The writing wasn't bad; I just didn't have enough details.
I wanted to love this book--it's such a great idea: an aspiring writer who bases his serial killer "character" on his own exploits, happily working anonymously until he is exposed by a meddling mother that enters him into a local writing contest.
The biggest problem for me was character development. Dudley, the serial killer, was pretty flat. (I'm not sure if I was meant to start out feeling sorry for Dudley, as he is both verbally and physically attacked. If so, it just didn't work well enough for me. Is he a bullied victim that snaps or a sociopath without conscience? Probably both, but I began to lose interest.)
I didn't have much opportunity to develop any feelings for the other charcters in the book, particulary his victims. I was kind of hoping the author was using a device, along the lines of: the serial killer gets picked on and assaulted and his next victim is obnoxious and thouroughly unlikable, but this was not the case.
The writing wasn't bad; I just didn't have enough details.
November 3, 2010
Has enough dreaded creep to it to fill a half-dozen books, but its plodding (not in a bad way) and unrelenting story telling can make it rough to read through it bit...by...bit. A serial killer whose secret writings are sent into a contest by his overbearingly zealous mother goes from being terrified by his predicament to delighting in the fame he is sure he deserves. He starts being drawn to a woman assigned to work with him. Where other (and in his mind, lesser, I am sure) men would get flirty and/or shy, he begins to plot how he can add her to his list of "stories". Campbell reaches the top of his game as he describes Dudley's breakdown from the inside. Looking at the victim that he has taped up, covering her entire face, he blames the victim for not looking human enough. Little frustratingly accurate insights like that can make this a hard book to read, as can the slow as molasses nature of the ending, but it is worth it if Campbell and/or serial killer books are your thing.
August 15, 2007
sometimes i need to fulfill my craving for horror/thriller. ironically, it's usually when i'm stressed, depressed or need to get my mind off something immediately. i'm rather picky about what i read - not just any horror book will do. i like sinister, psychological stories that take time to unfold rather than instant-gratification splatterfests. secret story is not written in a complicated way but it grips. it's both obvious and subtle and i can definitely escape from a long day with it.
the other reason i enjoy this is because it's set in Liverpool, a city that i once lived in for a year, so places and street names are familiar to me. the writer himself is Liverpudlian and makes his home there. will definitely try to find more of his books when finished with this one. according to the titles list, this author is quite prolific.
the other reason i enjoy this is because it's set in Liverpool, a city that i once lived in for a year, so places and street names are familiar to me. the writer himself is Liverpudlian and makes his home there. will definitely try to find more of his books when finished with this one. according to the titles list, this author is quite prolific.
March 27, 2016
Campbell é considerado a versão britânica de Stephen King, escrevendo não só horror sobrenatural, mas também ótimos suspenses, tendo como cenário a sua Liverpool natal, caso deste livro com tons de humor negro: ele alfineta desde as indústrias literária e cinematográfica até a busca pela fama, passando por tópicos diversos como “feminismo” radical. O personagem principal é patético, mas perigoso, e é aí que reside o interesse nele, ainda mais quando sua vida se complica ao ser confrontado pela pergunta que todo escritor já ouviu: de onde você tira suas ideias?
September 14, 2007
The story of the secret story is a abuse low paid worker who has problems since he was born because of his mother's drug abuse. His name is Dudley and he starts to write stories about the horrid deaths of women of different ages. He writes about women falling into the depths of the ocean then getting cut up by the motors of a boat. This book makes you thing in a different way.
September 19, 2014
No suelo rendirme, pero lo he dejado a las 200 páginas. Ramsey Campbell es un escritor que me suele gustar mucho, pero esta novela no me convence. Los personajes actúan de manera demasiado extraña, y no sólo el psicópata protagonista.
Read
April 10, 2009I read half and quit. The writing is okay, just didn't hold my interest.
Read
July 27, 2011A little disappointing...I'm a big Ramsey Campbell fan, but this was not one of my favorites.
February 8, 2012
I enjoyed the fast pace and fascinating characters of Secret Story. I thought the characters were quite well-drawn and the story gripping. An entertaining read!
July 26, 2017
Very disappointing. I love Mr Campbell's work, but even he has his off days! Could not sympathise with the characters at all.
November 26, 2021
ugh
—-
i mean, brilliant
—-
i mean, brilliant
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews