Darlene's Book Nook: #Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher @LucyCAuthor @BlackstoneAudio

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

#Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher @LucyCAuthor @BlackstoneAudio

TITLE: The Killing Woods

AUTHOR: Lucy Christopher

NARRATORS: Fiona Hardingham and Shaun Grindell

PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audio

PUBLICATION DATE: January 7, 2014 (first published 2013)

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 9 hrs and 25 mins

GENRE: Young Adult, Mystery

ISBN: 9781482967425

Fatal attraction, primal fear, survival in the forest--from the author of the Printz Honor Book Stolen comes the highly anticipated thriller about deadly games played in the dark. Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd's dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl's broken body. "Gone," he says, then retreats into silence. What really happened that wild night? Emily knows in her bones that her father is innocent--isn't he? Before he's convicted, she's got to uncover the truth. Does Damon Hilary, Ashlee's charismatic boyfriend, have the answers? Or is he only playing games with her ... the kinds of games that can kill?

MY REVIEW:

I am a reading challenge junkie, and I love finding books to fit my challenge prompts. I needed a book with a title starting with a K, and I was scrolling through Overdrive looking for something to fit and came upon this one.

The book starts off creepy enough, with teenage Emily watching her dad returning home from the woods holding something in his arms. At first she thinks it is a wounded animal but then sees that it is a body. The dead girl turns out to be Ashlee, a classmate of Emily's. Emily's dad is arrested and charged with Ashlee's murder. Emily's dad is a former soldier suffering from PTSD, and the psychologist said that a trigger could make him think that he was back in the war where he accidentally killed a civilian.

The point of view then shifts from Emily to Damon, Ashlee's boyfriend, and we learn about a game that a group of kids used to play in the woods. On the night that Ashlee was killed, they were in the woods playing the game and Damon passed out and has no recollection of what happened or of taking Ashlee home.

I really enjoyed this mystery, which was dark and a bit disturbing. The dark woods are a perfect eerie setting for this type of story. Even though it is YA, my opinion is that it would be better suited for the upper end of that range because of the drugs and sexual content.

This is my first read by this author, but I quite enjoyed her and would definitely read something more from her.

I loved the dual narration by Fiona Hardingham and Shaun Grindell. They brought this dark tale to life and held my interest from start to finish. Here is a sample of the narration:

MY RATING: