Nerd Girl Loves Books

I’m so happy to be a part of @rararesources book tour of Death in Bacton Wood by Ross Greenwood @rossg555 and published by Boldwood Books @bookandttonic

The book hits the ground running with a man buried alive in a shallow grave struggling to free himself. DS Ashley Knight happens to be at the police station on her day off to catch up on work, but finds herself called to the scene. As a result, her team are assigned to investigate the incident, which expands when another victim is found buried in the same woods. Soon thereafter, they discover that even more men are found – and the victims are all tied to an organized criminal organization.

This is a good mystery told in two different timelines and multiple POVs. The story focuses on three women that formed a sister bond while in the same foster care at Wild Meadows estate run by Miss Fairchild. On the surface the girls are “lucky” to be in such a wonderful placement, but scratch the surface and you’ll find Miss Fairchild is unpredictable, vengeful, and is not to be crossed. When they are young teenagers they are able to break away from her and go on to grow up and be successful. But, each women still carries deep scars from their life at Wild Meadows, and the last thing they want to do is return to the place of their nightmares. But, when a body is found under the house, they are forced to return to speak with detectives. The question is, are they witnesses or suspects?

This is my first book by this author but I will definitely check out her other books. The book was a wild ride with plenty of twists and I found myself changing opinions several times about who did what. That’s what I’m looking for in a thriller – I want to be surprised.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This is a solid debut thriller than held my attention and was a quick and easy read. The book is told in present day and nine years prior while the MC, Charlie, was in an elite journalism graduate school. She was a witness to a terrible incident at her school dubbed “Scarlet Christmas”, and has spent the intervening years rebuilding her life and reputation. Now one of her former schoolmates plans to release a buzzy film about the events and she’s determined to stop it so it doesn’t derail her life again.

This is the second book in this fast paced mystery/thriller that can be read as a stand alone. I haven’t read the first book, and while I probably would have enjoyed the book even more had I read it first, I don’t feel like I missed out on anything or had trouble following the story. There was plenty of backstory in the book to fill me in on what happened in book 1.