Review of In The Woods

Synopsis:

A relaxing camping break for Iraqi war vet Harper Jennings and her husband takes an unpleasant turn when Harper stumbles across a dead body”

Harper Jennings mother, Iraqi war vet and archaeology graduate knows she should be counting her blessings that she s able to enjoy a child-free camping trip with husband Hank. Hank s recovery from a brain injury after falling from their roof is nothing short of miraculous. But . . . Harper misses baby Chloe. And she worries that, in being so wrapped up in her toddler, she s lost her own identity.

But her worries pale into insignificance when she stumbles across a body in the woods. Accident? Harper doesn’ t think so, and nor does Ranger Daniels, who seems to blame local militia known as the Hunt Club who will do anything, it seems, to protect the land they see as their birthright.

Harper wonders what exactly she s doing, in some dark state forest, tripping over corpses, when she could be at home with her little girl but when a fellow camper s husband goes missing, she finds herself reluctantly sucked into the hunt, and into a waking nightmare . . .  (Goodreads)

   Review:

Harper Jennings and her husband are all set to have fun relaxing camping trip.  They deserve it after all they have been through.  Her husband survived a horrific accident, she has survived her tour of duty in Iraq, and they are able to get some time alone without their young daughter.  But things do not go as planned because she misses Chloe more than she thought she would.  She also  did not expect to find a dead body or learn that another camper is missing.  It does not look like this is going to be the relaxing vacation that she envisioned, what with have a murder to solve and a missing person to find..

This is the first book I have read by this author and I thought it was a pretty good read.  There were humorous parts that had me smiling and there were suspenseful parts that had me afraid to turn the page.  I thought there was a lot of different things going on and at times I felt like there was maybe a little too much.  At times I wanted to focus on just one problem, not a multitude of them.  But that is just my opinion and other readers may enjoy the variety of issue to deal with.

The writing style flows smoothly and I think the author is very talented in descriptive writing.  There were many times that I felt like I was right there watching the action first hand.  I enjoyed the characters and the relationship between Harper and her husband.  I thought that the mysteries were carried out well throughout the book and there were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.  In my opinion, the author is also very talented when it comes to writing mysteries.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted mystery suspense.  I plan on starting the series from the beginning so I will be able to know the characters even better.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.  I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for the opportunity to read and review this book.