THE KILLING WOODS (LUCY CHRISTOPHER)

Story Description:
Scholastic Inc|January 1, 2014|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-545-46100-9


Fatal attraction, primal fear, survival in the forest: From the author of the Printz Honour Book Stolen, the highly anticipated thriller about deadly games played in the dark.

Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Sherpherd's dad is accused of the crime. An ex-soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl's body. "Gone," he says, then retreats into silence. What really happened that night? Before he's convicted, Emily must find out the truth.

Mina and Joe, the only friends she has left, warn Emily against it, but she feels herself strongly drawn to Damon, Ashlee's charismatic boyfriend. Together they explore the dark woods. Soon Damon brings Emily into the Game: an extreme version of childhood games like hide-and-seek that he and his crowd play at night as a way to break boundaries, to lose themselves.

A strange, sexually charged relationship develops between Emily and Damon. And when she realizes he may know more than he'll reveal, she plays the most dangerous game of all, risking her own life for a confession. To expose the lies that will exonerate her dad, she's got to survive one last desperate night in THE KILLING WOODS.
 　
MY REVIEW:
Emily saw her Dad carrying something in his arms through her bedroom window. Looks like he caught another deer she thought to herself. However, as he approached the house out of the dark forrest, Emily soon realized this was no ordinary deer because it wasn't. It was the dead body of a Ashlee Parker!

Emi,y's Dad suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and was convinced he was having a flashback and killed the girl. It had been pouring rain, and thunder and lightning, which me mistook for an active firefight and hunkered down in his bunker he'd built in the woods.

He carried the limp, dead body into the house and layed her on the kitchen table. He sat on the floor sobbing - "it was me, me, me," he kept repeating. Emily's mother called 911 and Emily just stared at the soaking wet, dead body of her mutual friend.

Needless to say, he was promptly arrested and charged with murder. Emily didn't know what to think. At school her supposed friends began dropping off like flies and she endured regular taunts about her father "the murderer."

But did he really murder, Ashlee that night in the woods or was there something more powerful and sinister going on? Emily planned on finding out and began her own investigation once the police had cleared out of the Darkwood Forest. What she encounters there will surprise and shock you.

I was not expecting this particular outcome at all. THE KILLING WOODS is an alarming read that will keep you turning the pages late into the night. I was so engrossed that I read all 559 pages in one sitting.

THE KILLING WOODS was uniquely original and the outcome will be a much talked about topic of conversation for all.

I had not read any of Lucy Christopher's prior work but will now back-track and look into other novels she has written.