The Killing Woods
I am a firm believer that if you’re not in the mood to read a certain book then you shouldn’t read it at all. For me, it doesn’t matter how good the book is or how good people say the book is, if I don’t feel like reading it but pressure myself into it anyway, it will not be good. Which is why I have a pretty big pile of books next to my bed, many of them bought years ago. The Killing Woods were one of them, a book I got quite a while back but haven’t been in the mood for, until now. And I’m glad I waited till I felt I wanted to read it, because I’m sure that if I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have thought it was as good as I think it is now.
The story starts right when Emily’s dad comes out of the woods carrying a dead girl whom Emily immediately recognizes as Ashlee, a student from her own school. No one knows exactly how Ashlee died but Emily’s dad is soon taken to custody, in belief of being the murderer since he suffers from PTSD after accidently killing a civil woman while working as a soldier for the US Army. The police thinks that Emily’s dad has been in a flashback again, which he often is, believe himself to be back in combat and thus accidently ending up killing Ashlee in the woods that night. But Emily is a firm believer that all her dad was trying to do was helping. But no one listens to her and there are no witnesses of what happened that night and no proof of another murderer. Yet Emily doesn’t stop, she knows her father is innocent and now she has to prove it.
This is a very interesting, and quite different story, from what I’m just to reading. But it was also enjoyable. Emily is stubborn and firm when it comes to her father’s innocent, even though everyone else, even her own mother, thinks her father is guilty. Thus Emily goes out to chase down whatever clues she can find and on her way she meets Damon, one of the most popular guys at school and also Ashlee’s boyfriend. Damon himself does not believe there’s another killer than Emily’s dad and yet somehow they end up together, running around in the woods where Ashlee died, trying to find things so that they can reconcile themselves with what really happened that night and all those things that goes on in their own heads.
Lucy Christopher’s story is written in alternate chapters in both Emily’s and Damon’s perspective, which gives a great depth to the story and also explains so many things which we wouldn’t have known if the story would only have been told from Emily’s point of view, or Damon’s. I really liked that, because they’re very different but both have fathers who’ve been in the army and both lost something very important to them that night in the woods. To find the truth they have to work together while at the same time trying to accept the loss of Ashlee and the possible truth of Emily’s father actually being a murderer.
When I started reading this book, I thought it was going to be scary. I knew it was a thriller and books like that have a tendency to crawl under my skin and latch on, which I don’t particularly like, but, I read it anyway. And I really liked it, I did. It was fast paced and interesting, never a dull moment. Christopher left enough clues during the story for the reader to figure out who the murderer was, but yet you couldn’t be sure until you read those last few pages. It was excellent, wonderfully written and touching deep parts of the characters, which was made it an interesting read. And it wasn’t that scary. It was, however, highly enjoyable and I would recommend this to anyone who likes a tricky mystery to solve.
The story starts right when Emily’s dad comes out of the woods carrying a dead girl whom Emily immediately recognizes as Ashlee, a student from her own school. No one knows exactly how Ashlee died but Emily’s dad is soon taken to custody, in belief of being the murderer since he suffers from PTSD after accidently killing a civil woman while working as a soldier for the US Army. The police thinks that Emily’s dad has been in a flashback again, which he often is, believe himself to be back in combat and thus accidently ending up killing Ashlee in the woods that night. But Emily is a firm believer that all her dad was trying to do was helping. But no one listens to her and there are no witnesses of what happened that night and no proof of another murderer. Yet Emily doesn’t stop, she knows her father is innocent and now she has to prove it.
This is a very interesting, and quite different story, from what I’m just to reading. But it was also enjoyable. Emily is stubborn and firm when it comes to her father’s innocent, even though everyone else, even her own mother, thinks her father is guilty. Thus Emily goes out to chase down whatever clues she can find and on her way she meets Damon, one of the most popular guys at school and also Ashlee’s boyfriend. Damon himself does not believe there’s another killer than Emily’s dad and yet somehow they end up together, running around in the woods where Ashlee died, trying to find things so that they can reconcile themselves with what really happened that night and all those things that goes on in their own heads.
Lucy Christopher’s story is written in alternate chapters in both Emily’s and Damon’s perspective, which gives a great depth to the story and also explains so many things which we wouldn’t have known if the story would only have been told from Emily’s point of view, or Damon’s. I really liked that, because they’re very different but both have fathers who’ve been in the army and both lost something very important to them that night in the woods. To find the truth they have to work together while at the same time trying to accept the loss of Ashlee and the possible truth of Emily’s father actually being a murderer.
When I started reading this book, I thought it was going to be scary. I knew it was a thriller and books like that have a tendency to crawl under my skin and latch on, which I don’t particularly like, but, I read it anyway. And I really liked it, I did. It was fast paced and interesting, never a dull moment. Christopher left enough clues during the story for the reader to figure out who the murderer was, but yet you couldn’t be sure until you read those last few pages. It was excellent, wonderfully written and touching deep parts of the characters, which was made it an interesting read. And it wasn’t that scary. It was, however, highly enjoyable and I would recommend this to anyone who likes a tricky mystery to solve.