The Forest by Lisa Quigley

The Forest is part horror, part thriller, with a bit of supernatural thrown in.

 

Edgewood is a very special town. People are safe in Edgewood and hardly anyone ever leaves. No one suffers ailments in Edgewood and everyone is happy. All this is due to the tithes that people offer to the forest in the fall festival. Tithes meant to be something of deep value to them. Faye and her husband Charlie are about to become the new town stewards, and as the new stewards, they are now privy to the real sacrifice that is meant to take place to keep the town safe.

 

Faye is horrified when the secret is revealed and wants no part of it. But when it seems no one will help her, she decides to flee with her baby son into the forest to seek refuge elsewhere. The forest has always been seen as a place of mystery and danger, so has Faye headed to the one place that could hurt her?

 

As a debut novel this is a superb piece of writing. I truly loved how each chapter goes back and forth between Faye in the forest and on the run, and the reasons leading up to her escape. When the timelines eventually collide, further secrets are revealed that could tear a family apart. By breaking the timelines, the chapters draw you in to read just one more, as you need to then go to the chapter after that to see where the story goes, and so the chapters roll on.

 

I did find, however, that sometimes the story seemed to get bogged down, especially in the forest. The number of instances where breastfeeding was mentioned made me want to skip over the parts. Once – no problem. Twice – all good. Three times – getting repetitive. Then four, five, six etc. and it almost became a filler. I felt the ending was a little rushed, and what was heading towards a great supernatural finale, became an “Oh, really?” moment. I needed more information about the Rowan amulet and the tunnel too.

 

All in all, a good book where you can connect with the characters, whether you love them or hate them.

 

Thanks to Perpetual Motion Machine for the opportunity to review the book.