The Brambles by Leah Erickson

The Brambles is part supernatural, part mystery/thriller and goes beyond the boundaries of death to solve a murder.

Elizabeth and her mom Annabel were always considered a little strange. Neither really socialised and nothing much was known about them. When Elizabeth was younger, she had three close friends: Vanessa, Lillian and Mack; but as with kids, they drifted apart as they got older. Elizabeth is found hanging by her neck from a tree, apparently a victim of suicide. As the police look deeper into the case, they find no birth certificate, no education record and no social security number for her.

Each of the childhood friends is dealing with their own issues. Mack has a brother damaged by war, a father who will only focus on the brother and a mother who is too dependent on him. Lillian is overwhelmed by the universe. She feels too much and too deeply and is battling to find her place in it all. Vanessa is very intelligent but feels that no matter what she accomplishes in life is not enough and is constantly looking for more. As Elizabeth starts appearing to them in different ways, they realise she is trying to tell them something. Her clues lead them to The Brambles; a sprawling mansion just round the corner from Elizabeth’s house through the forest where Milton Cooper, a dying film star, has a house filled with vagrants and partygoers looking for a good time. As the kids meet a motorcycle gang, a dodgy doctor and Mitch’s fanatically religious caretaker John, they become sucked into a world they might not be able to handle. Will Elizabeth get the retribution she seeks?

As the book began, I liked the idea of Elizabeth sending clues to her friends to try to hint that her death and indeed her life may not have been as it seemed. As the story continued, however, I felt it became incredibly drawn out. There was so much info given about the kids’ backgrounds and John’s journey and feelings yet not much offered as to why the clues were as “subtle” as they were or how Elizabeth knew of the location or contents of the secret place. While the main idea for the story was interesting, there were just too many holes to be able to pick at and because of the amount of info offered, scenes felt stretched to fit the story. Some characters also did things that didn’t correspond to previous actions or went against their personality traits described before. Yes, the friends wanted to help Elizabeth, but they put themselves in physical danger in situations where it would have been easy for them to be killed or had no problem taking unknown drugs to fit in with the people around them. These are high school kids; not paid private detectives or the cast of Pretty Little Liars.

The writing and editing were very good which did help the story along, but I felt let down that the elements didn’t gel together and the reality segments were far-fetched. The end ties up too neatly and I was left feeling something was missing. I don’t like closing a book and feeling just “meh” about something, but that’s I guess that’s why we all have different tastes!