The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

4 stars
Emily’s dad is a war veteran with PTSD and when he brings a dead body home after a night in the woods, he is accused for murder. Emily knows her father didn’t do it, but it seems like no one believes her. Damon Hillary was Ashlee Parker’s boyfriend and he can’t remember what happened the night Ashlee died. The games he and his friends played in the woods are not the only games he starts playing when he starts talking to Emily. I consider myself to be a huge Christopher fan. I love her book, Stolen, to bits and pieces and I think it’s one of the most poetic books I’ve ever read. Christopher had a way with words of invoking different images as well as feelings. Her words captivated me in a way that I still remember being absorbed in to this day (I read Stolen a few years ago). I was so excited to see that she was releasing a new book. A book about murders and games, no less. It sounded perfect and in some ways it was. There were times when I was reading The Killing Woods where I felt like I was trapped in a dangerous psychological game and I felt like a deer running through the woods. I was constantly coming to dead ends and beginning to question every single character’s sanity. It was like reading about characters that would be featured on the Bates Motel. I was horrified, thrilled, and captivated. Which is all great and this book was great, but I could also be easily sucked away from the book because while I could become captivated I could just as easily turn away. It was all a bit confusing and I still don’t know how I feel exactly about this book in terms of the emotions it evoked. It was a great book though. There isn’t a lot for me to complain about but something just felt incomplete.


The main female character is Emily. I can’t decide if I like Emily or not. The more I’ve thought about her, the more I dislike her. Sometimes she was an enjoyable character to read about and she has a great back story and I got to know Emily, but I never felt like I fully knew her. There are some characters that it just seems like their soul is being bared for the reader to see, but Emily always felt closed off slightly distant. She was there in presence, but not much in personality.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 7.5

The main male character is Damon. Sometimes I liked Damon and sometimes I didn’t. He’s nothing but a big raging monster truck. He could be quite scary and I feared about his obvious mental instability. I personally think he’s a lot crazier than Christopher made him out to be. There were times when he was boarding on psychopathic tendencies. These tendencies were just brushed aside after a while and ignored until they would randomly pop up again. Damon was a ticking time bomb and he almost exploded several times.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 3

The Villain- I did kind of see that coming. I wasn’t all that surprised, but at the same time I loved the motive. Accidental asphyxiation. Oh, boy!  It was something new and I liked it.


Villain Scale: 8

I don’t really have much to say about the other characters because they were all there but then they weren’t. I did like Joe or is it Joey. I think it’s probably Joey. He had potential, but he was just swept under the rug.


Character Scale: 7

I was very put off by the Game at first, but as the book progressed I started to like the direction it took. I think maybe what I was missing from The Killing Woods were characters. I adore Gemma and especially, Ty in Stolen and I think that the fact that the characters didn’t make me feel what I felt for some of the writer’s other brilliant characters made this book less captivating. I still really enjoyed The Killing Woods. It’s a great angsty, psychological read and I recommend it. Just don’t go into hoping for characters like Ty and Gemma because you won’t get them.



Cover Thoughts: I really like the cover. There’s something about it that is just spooky and it’s very eye-catching.

I received this book from Goodreads Firstreads.