Review: The Woods by Vanessa Savage

Title: The Woods

Author: Vanessa Savage

Published: August 2020, Grand Central Publishing

Format: ARC Paperback, 384 pages

Source: Publisher

 

Summary: 

Two girls went down to the woods…
But only one came back

There’s a lot from Tess’s childhood that she would rather forget. The family who moved next door and brought chaos to their quiet lives. The two girls who were murdered, their killer never found. But the only thing she can’t remember is the one thing she wishes she could.

Ten years ago, Tess’s older sister died. Ruled a tragic accident, the only witness was Tess herself, but she has never been able to remember what happened that night in the woods.

Now living in London, Tess has resolved to put the trauma behind her. But an emergency call from her father forces her back to the family home, back to where her sister’s body was found, and to the memories she thought were lost forever…

 

My thoughts:

This is the second book I’ve read by Vanessa Savage, having read and loved The Woman in the Dark last year. This author is absolutely going on my must-read list. There is just something about her writing that I find so compelling.

Once again, we have another completely atmospheric read that just pulled me right in. This latest book is so complex and with a host of characters, this one really kept me glued to the pages. What really happened to Tess’s sister Bella all those years ago? Now that she has been called back to her childhood home, Tess is determined to get to the bottom of it. Problem is, she hasn’t been able to remember the events of that night and she hasn’t been able to sleep since she’s been back. Can we rely on her to accurately give us details of what happened? But what about the others? Can we believe their accounts?

I loved the way this book was told. Right away, I was suspicious of everyone and it really kept me on my toes and made it hard to put the book down because I wanted to get to the bottom of things. Everyone involved had secrets of their own, which made it that much more difficult to point the finger.

This is such an addictive, unpredictable read and because Tess cannot remember the events of what happened the night Bella died, it causes her to be somewhat of an unreliable narrator. The rest of the cast of characters prove to be quite suspicious in their own right, and the setting, that of the woods, makes for such a creepy, atmospheric read proves to be quite foreboding in and of itself. The tension and suspense slowly builds with unexpected twists and turns that really keeping you on edge. It all combines to bring you to a stunning conclusion, one that I did not see coming at all! I loved every second of this book and highly recommend it.

 

***I’ll be posting a #giveaway for this book on my Instagram page shortly…head over there to win 1 of 2 copies!