Stranger in the Woods

Very well written, confusing at times with characters but maybe that’s just me.The story is Bonkers, but that just adds to it! kept me on my toes, and what I guessed was NOTHING like the ending that happened.Only a 4 as it was ‘too out there’ for me at times, but other than that a very good psychological thriller to read!

I’m not a huge fan of psychological thrillers, but the writing and characterisation drew me into this one from the first page. Australian photographer, Isla Wilson, lands an assignment in a remote part of Scotland. She’s there to produce a feature on Alban McGregor, a successful architect, scarred by tragedy. Two years ago, his young daughter, Elodie, died following her abduction.Isla steps into this new environment, understandably nervous, but settles in quickly. She makes friends with some of the neighbouring families, but can’t hit it off with Alban’s wife, Jessica. The tension in the McGregor household and surroundings steadily grows as Isla becomes immersed in the tragedy that befell Elodie.The author builds the suspense and danger as Isla gets closer to the truth. There are plenty of suspects for the abduction and some good twists. The final twist left me gasping, more in disbelief than surprise, but that’s only my take. It doesn’t detract from what is a well written and crafted story with vivid and engaging characters, all set in a lovingly described and atmospheric Scottish Highlands setting.

I found a lot of suspended belief was required in this adventurous tale but over all I quite enjoyed it. I think perhaps she crammed one or two coincidences in too far, although there is no way any reader will be complaining it was boring, trust me. There are a lot of characters to take on board and it is a busy book but a good one. Jessica was a character I wanted to smack......came across as a total flake most of the time and I wouldn't have wanted to spend a week in her company, let alone a month !! I liked young Stella and also Rory. Isla seemed nice enough but I kept thinking she came across as way younger than her years. You forgot she's meant to be late-twenties as she acted like a bit of a dopey older teen most of the time.I had to knock it down a star as there are quite a lot of repetitive mistakes in it, apostrophes mainly being her bugbear, it appears. She got them right maybe a third of the time, so someone knows the difference, but the other two-thirds were wrong. The main problem was in names, persistently writing McGregor's (as a named example) and not McGregors'. Highly distracting and inconsistent. So was bee line written like this, something I've not seen before. She wrote draft and not draught and onto not on to once but that was it for spelling errors, which is good-going these days.She did refer to Isla binge-watching a TV series and in the next breath told us she'd decided to finish watching later which caught my eye and I wondered too about Isla being met in a Departure lounge as opposed to an Arrival one !!! We were also told Aubrey's parents had returned home one morning but that previous night they'd been partying at her home so that was also a bit baffling. A way into the story she also mentioned Alban's "easy charm" which went totally against all her feelings about him we'd read up till then !! The first 200+ pages she'd spent telling us that he was a bit odd, really, so I'm not sure why she did that. Then in April (in Scotland) Alban was bemoaning the fact that summer hadn't last long enough.I really liked her very sweet dedication at the beginning for her dad, though it made me sniffy, too and the cover's a very nice and eye-catching one as well.

Really enjoyed reading this book. If you like reading books that get you thinking this one is for you. Worth buying

There is a touch of disbelief in this story if you can suspend it you may enjoy the story. Cannot say too much without giving the main story away but it all happens in this book.

Once this got going, it was quite gripping, if a little far-fetched in parts. Strong emotional storyline.

Such an excellent read! The ending was absolutely not what I expected! Very hard to put down, would highly recommended!

Shortly after starting this book, I started to lose interest, but carried on reading and was so glad I did. So many people with secrets that will shock you. Who can be trusted and can you even trust yourself and you’re own memory! An interesting, twisty read that will keep you guessing throughout. With a shocking, unexpected ending!