Book Review- The Killing Woods

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
♦publisher: Scholastic
♦release date: January 07, 2014
♦hardback: 232 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦source: from publisher for honest review

♦rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

The Killing Woods, starts off like a shot in the dark, bringing with it mystery, death and murder…

In the dark, shadowed forest of Darkwood, night falls and a secret game begins. In the still of night, death falls upon the forest floor. Burying with it memories, secrets and the truth, beginning the psychological thrilling chase of who’s done it, and who really is capable of murder.

Narrated by the voice of Emily and Damon, two of the unlikeliest of characters to team up, enter into a silent resolve to solve the murder for themselves.  Emily the daughter of an ex- combat soldier accused of the murder and Damon the last one to see his girlfriend alive.

Being heartfelt and raw, the emotional angst surfaces, as new and unanswered questions are brought forth, as the suspect list builds along with the mystery.  As equally as Emily believes in her father’s innocence, Damon protests. 

For Emily, dealing with a combat veteran father, coping with PTSD, seemed hard enough. Until that night when she saw her father emerge from the woods with a girl draped across his shoulders like an injured deer. More shocking than the pale gray skin and blue tinted lips of the dead body, was the fact that Emily’s dad can’t remember where he found her or why he has her. Bringing with him more misery and heartache, while the charges of manslaughter fall upon him. Leaving Emily, the only one to discover what truly happened to Ashlee.

Leading to discoveries between the truth that lies on the surface and the truth that is buried within the forest floor. Causing your mind to reel between numerous suspects, where no one is free from speculation. Could a soldier kill in the heat of a flashback, or is it the perfect plot to frame someone for murder?

For Damon, more questions arise as time passes. He can’t keep silent the regret and fear that lurks deep in his subconscious. The nagging truth lays just below the drug induced fog of that evening. Damon knows he needs to retrace his steps of that evening, to discover the truth and find out what game was really being played with Ashlee and the guys in the woods. Yet, every time solstice of mind approaches, Emily comes to his thoughts, haunting him and infuriating him all at once. Damon knows he should hate Emily for what her father did but he just can’t understand why he feels compelled to speak to her.

Fractured memories are like the fractured light that seeps through the forest trees. Truth lies in the depths of their minds and the only way to heal, is through discovery. Awakening a part in all of them, that must discover what really happened that night.

Like a howl piercing the dead of night, Lucy Christopher takes you on a vivid, wild, imaginative ride. Mustering the courage to shed light on the issues of drugs sexuality and dangerous games. Her writing is hauntingly realistic as she unearths the dark side of PTSD and the lasting effects that it has on the families that survive with it. With her dark and murky mystery, Lucy Christopher teaches us that truth is not always as it first appears. Highlighting dangerous consequences to a new epidemic among teens.

The Killing Woods, hunts you down like a hunter in the forest stalking its prey. Baiting you with each chapter to continue down the path, keeping you from looking away even for a moment, asking the question can the Mind be the ultimate killer?