The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
My Rating:  2 of 5 Stars

Title:  The Killing Woods
Author:  Lucy Christopher
Narrators:  Fiona Hardingham & Shaun Grindell
Length:  Unabridged; 9 hours, 25 minutes
Publisher:  Blackstone Audio
Published:  January 7, 2014
Source:  Publisher via Audiobook Jukebox
Genres:  Fiction; YA Fiction; Juvenile Fiction; Mystery; Secondary Fiction
Subjects:  Mystery & Detective Stories; Games

Synopsis:

My Review:
Usually I find it harder, especially when it comes to listening, to books that take place in other countries.  I also find it hard to listen to narrators with an English accent.  However, I didn't seem to have any trouble with this book.  Although I didn't have difficulty listening with the accent, I did have a bit of trouble with some of the things referred to in the book.  I'm not certain with some of the happenings in the book.

I was a bit confused with "The Game" that the book kept speaking of, and was slightly confused at the age of Damon, based on the fact that he was punishing Emily at what I gathered to be school (in which he also appeared to be a student).  I also couldn't figure out why, PTSD or not, Emily's father refused to speak about anything!  Another thing that I felt was off was the total disconnect that Emily's mother had.  So I guess that I really didn't have a huge connection with any of the characters.  I found myself to be in more of a state of confusion than enjoyment while listening.  I was also quite confused with Emily's dad's drawings and where what was in the drawings came from!  Without the confusion, the book did have great potential.

The narrators did a wonderful job of reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated having both a male and female narrator to distinguish the characters of different genders!  As I mentioned before, I have had a hard time listening to an English accent in the past, but both narrators, Fiona Hardingham and Shaun Grindell, did a great job of keeping it clean and crisp and easy to listen to!

Even with struggling with the confusion, I didn't seem to have a hard time finding the drive to finish the book, as I have with other books that I didn't care for.  I easily finished it in two sittings, I do believe, and listened with ease both times.   I originally rated this book 3 stars, however, reconsidered and would technically give it 2.5 stars if I could, so I left it at 2 stars, because I did feel as if it was okay!  I didn't hate it and I didn't love it but I also didn't find myself dreading reading/listening to it!

I think that Lucy Christopher did do a good job of writing (story development and character development), and possibly people from that area would have a better time reading/listening to this story because perhaps they would have a better understanding of what was going on and what certain things meant, more so than I did.  I struggled a bit with the continental divide (differences between the two countries and how they each do things!), which is exactly why I don't typically read these types of books!  Confusion aside, the story was interesting and suspenseful, and Christopher did a great job at keeping the reader at bay when it came to who Ashley's killer was!

Overall, I didn't mind listening to this book at all, however it didn't leave me with enough excitement for me to scream from the mountain tops how much I loved this book!  Now, I do have to disclose that YA/Juvenile Fiction is not my typical genre, so that could have been where some of the love was lost.  Even though this wasn't my favorite book, I wouldn't mind trying something else from Lucy Christopher!

Disclaimer:  This book was provided to me by Blackstone Audio, courtesy of Audiobook Jukebox in return for an honest, unbiased review!

Stand Alone or Part of a Series?
Stand Alone


My Rating:  2 of 5 Bookworms