Severn House Publishers: 2/1/19 (reprint)
eBook review copy; 240 pages
ISBN-13: 9781847518941
The Girl in the Woods by Patricia MacDonald is a so-so/recommended mystery surrounding a murder that occurred fifteen years previously.
Blair Butler has returned to the small town where she and her sister, Celeste, grew up with their Uncle Ellis after their mother died. Blair left as soon as she was able and never looked back, especially after her best friend, Molly, was murdered there fifteen years ago when the girls were thirteen. Now Celeste is dying and Blair returns to her bedside, only to have her sister tell her a shocking secret that means the man convicted of killing Molly is not guilty and the real killer is still out there. Molly begins to investigate and let people know about her sister's secret, but this only seems to stir up more secrets and resentment.
This is all in all, an okay mystery/thriller, with nothing to really set it apart or make it stand out. Blair is an annoying character/caricature, but she is set in a novel full of annoying characters/caricatures who all are representative of a certain type of person. Descriptions of characters are simply a repeated rehashing of their negative personality traits and actions. The narrative itself is very derivative and takes huge plot elements from several other novels (two novels in particular) so there is no real original story telling here. You will likely know where the story is going. It is, however, a fast and quick read. (I've rounded up to three stars.)
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Severn House Publishers.
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