Review of THE GIRL IN THE WOODS

The Girl in the Woods

by Marguerite Mooers

Published April 1st, 2017 by Create Space

Paperback 208 pages

Drew Morgan goes for a walk in the woods and becomes lost. For days she wanders around, starving and suffering from an infected wound. In that time, she sees the ghost of a young woman. When she is finally rescued, she and some friends with search dogs, find the murdered girl. Now, against the advice of her forest-ranger lover, Drew sets out to find the murderer, who is still willing to kill to keep his secret safe.

REVIEW

Are you a city person who is afraid of the woods? Well, here is a cozy mystery to possibly creep you out. Just think a small summer tourist town, Saranac Lake, tucked deep into the northern Adirondacks. Obviously, it consists of all the concepts a mystery needs such as missing individuals, ghosts, and of course your killer leaving that feeling of suspense hanging over you. Furthermore, the characters were well developed as much as need be for the length and swiftness of the book. I found the story to be more of a who done it type of mystery.  I did find the writing style acceptable, though at times I felt it to be a tad predictable. Moreover, the plot had potential but a couple of characters fell through the cracks such as one played a large role then was forgotten about until “found” later while another was mentioned multiple times, yet as I was searching for clues I felt like the author went “whoops, almost completely overlooked that one”. Consequently, the oversight made a sizable impact on how I felt regarding the story as did the need for further editing. For example, a romance starts to bloom and this is when he is picking her up for dinner:

“Ready?” I nodded. He walked me around to the driver’s side of the car, held open the door and I got in.

  

So I am assuming he is sitting on her lap to drive. Though the book contains some imperfections it's still a decent read of spine-chilling proportions. Hence, having enough electrifying who’s killing people in the woods to keep me in the city for awhile. Certainly one of the most interesting aspects of the story for me was the search and rescue dogs getting to learn a little bit how they train and work out in the woods.