The Killing Woods

by Lucy Christopher

Overview

“[A] tense and nimbly crafted psychological thriller,” about a father accused of murder, the daughter defending him, and the victim’s alluring boyfriend (Publishers Weekly).

Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd’s dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl’s broken body. “Gone,” he says, then retreats into silence. What really happened that wild night? Emily knows in her bones that her father is innocent—isn’t he? Before he’s convicted, she’s got to find out the truth. Does Damon Hilary, Ashlee’s charismatic boyfriend, have the answers? Or is he only playing games with her—the kinds of games that can kill?

“A gripping, heartbreaking, emotionally substantial look at war wounds and the allure of danger.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545576710
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/17/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	389
Sales rank:	333,217
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lucy Christopher's novel STOLEN was named a Printz Honor Book by the ALA and received England's Branford Boase award and Australia's Gold Inky for best debut. In a starred review, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called it "an emotionally raw thriller...a haunting account of captivity and the power of relationships." She is also the author of FLYAWAY, a novel for younger readers, and THE KILLING WOODS, a novel for young adults. Lucy lives in Monmouth, Wales. Visit her at www.lucychristopher.com and follow her on Twitter @LucyCAuthor.

Read an Excerpt

From THE KILLING WOODSSomething was draped across Dad's outstretched arms. A deer? A fawn that was injured? It was sprawled and long-legged, something that had been caught in a poacher's trap, maybe. A mistake. So this is where Dad had been: in the woods, cutting this creature free . . . I tried to make out the shape of the deer's body, but it was all wrong. The legs weren't long enough, neither was its neck. I took a step toward them. And that's when it made sense . . .It wasn't a deer Dad was carrying. It was a girl.

Editorial Reviews

03/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—Emily Shepherd looks out the window in the early morning and sees her father carrying something through the woods. A deer? No, it's the body of a teenage girl. And Emily knows her: it's Ashlee Parker, a classmate, and girlfriend of football star Damon Hilary. Emily's dad, who suffers from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder, is accused of the murder, and it is up to her to find out what really happened in the woods that horrible night. The first two-thirds of the story is taut, suspenseful, and very intense: characters are revealed in complex layers, and the woods take on an eerie personality of their own. Teens will read voraciously, seeking out answers and the truth, instantly recognizing Emily and Damon as unreliable narrators. However, the novel gets bogged down with repetitious dialogue and descriptions. In the early chapters, Christopher dribbles out details in deliciously tantalizing ways, but at the story's midpoint, the author withholds too much, and the plot begins to move at a snail's pace. At the peak of the action, intensely exciting moments are broken up by mundane details that kill the lightning-fast pace. Ultimately, though, like Chris Lynch's Inexcusable (S & S, 2005), this is a fascinating discussion of teen violence, self-denial, and conspiracies of silence. And even though readers will likely guess the culprit before the protagonists do, they'll still be hanging on to every word until the end.—Laura Lutz, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City

School Library Journal

12/16/2013
Printz honoree Christopher (Stolen) returns with another tense and nimbly crafted psychological thriller. Last summer, Emily Shepherd's father, a veteran suffering from paralyzing PTSD, returned home carrying the corpse of Emily's high school acquaintance Ashlee Parker. Now he's on trial for Ashlee's murder. Though Emily believes in her father's innocence, few others do, and Emily's association with her father leads to her ostracism. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Emily and Damon, Ashlee's boyfriend, who awoke the morning after her death hungover and with little memory of the previous night. Embittered by the death of his own father in the war, Damon blames Emily for the added pain of losing Ashlee. Christopher gracefully explores the agony of combat-related PTSD, its effects on its sufferers and their families, and the capacity for violence, while refraining from making the novel feel issue-driven. Despite the growing attraction between Damon and Emily, they keep their secrets and memories to themselves, investigating Ashlee's death separately, which maintains an intriguing duality. Two meticulously constructed voices assemble a dark and unnerving puzzle in this immersive mystery. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for THE KILLING WOODS:*"A gripping, heartbreaking, emotionally substantial look at war wounds and the allure of danger."—KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review"[A] tense and nimbly crafted psychological thriller."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Praise for STOLEN:"Complicated and beautiful — it left me doubting my emotions and missing a place I'd never been." —Maggie Stiefvater"All the tension of lightning, all the terror of thunder. A stunning, scary, and beautiful book." —John Marsden*"An emotionally raw thriller...a haunting account of captivity and the power of relationships." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred reviewMichael L. Printz Honor BookALA Best Fiction for Young AdultsUSBBY Outstanding International Book

From the Publisher

An Afghanistan veteran with PTSD arrives home one dark and stormy night carrying the body of a teenage girl. The events of that night are revealed through the accounts of his daughter, narrated by Fiona Hardingham, and the girl's boyfriend, narrated by Shaun Grindell. Hardingham is totally convincing as the bewildered and distraught Emily, who believes her father to be innocent. But Grindell, though impassioned and youthful in voice, sounds more Australian than English, and he gives Emily a voice that sounds more vintage than contemporary. If the listener can get past this, the story is compelling and atmospheric, and the authorial voice strong. C.A.T. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2014 - AudioFile

★ 2013-11-20
This taut, psychologically realistic murder mystery knits trauma, danger, tragedy and hope into one cohesive tale. In a horrifying opening scene, Emily watches her father return from the forest carrying what looks like an injured deer but turns out to be a girl--dead. Dad's having a flashback to the military event that gave him PTSD. As a soldier, he'd accidentally killed a civilian; did he kill this girl, Ashlee, as well? Ashlee's boyfriend, Damon, awakens hung over the next morning, confused that Ashlee's not in his bed. They'd been in Darkwood the night before with his mates, playing the Game. Ashlee gave Damon hallucinogenic drugs, and he can't remember how the night--or the Game--ended. Damon and Emily alternate chapters in distinct first-person voices. Damon's traumatized by Ashlee's murder and his father's military death; Emily's devastated that her sometimes-violent yet "scared of everything" father--possibly innocent--is pleading guilty to manslaughter. Darkwood's thick forest, high peak and leftover war bunker make a vivid setting. Readers will be riveted by slow, potent reveals about the rough nature of the Game, Ashlee's insistence on danger and adrenaline, and what happened that night. The answers hurt, but they feel right and they make sense. A sprout of hope at the end is fragile and unforced. A gripping, heartbreaking, emotionally substantial look at war wounds and the allure of danger. (Mystery. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews