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xabbeylongx's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Spoilers Ahead:
This book was another example of how excellent a writer Coben is. Another thrilling novel, one I would definitely recommend.
We follow Paul Copeland throughout. His wife passed away from illness, which left him alone with his daughter, Cara, and he’s an attorney. When he was younger, he had a summer romance with a girl called Lucy at a camp, and when he left his post (he as a ‘guard’) to, *ahem*, mess around with her, his sister went missing, as did three other campers. Two bodies were found as remains, but not his sister.
After years of Paul and Lucy not talking (I should point out that Lucy’s father owned the camp, and their family was put through the wringer for not having good enough security) Lucy receives a journal which has very similar events to what happened that night, except it states that they both lied. When they start to look into it further together, they are lead down a series of different, confusing paths. Everyone believes her to be dead, but Paul has a different feeling about it. There’s a body that arises, the third body that supposedly went missing that night, but he’s grown up and has only just been murdered. That give him hope, albeit, only a small amount, that his sister is still alive and out there.
Meanwhile, he is working on a TW r*pe case, and he has been getting pressure from the other side to drop whatever he’s doing, otherwise information about him will be dug up.
There is a lot of digging, and Ira, Lucy’s father, who suffers from Alzheimers, asks to speak to Paul directly. When he does, Ira pulls out a gun, and shoots him. He only stops when Lucy begs him not to, and he, instead, shoots himself.
They find remains of a skeleton just like Camille (Paul’s sister) but he doesn’t believe it’s her. After a visit to ‘Red Onion Prison’ - I love that name - to see the person who was assumed to have done the murders, he admits to it. He says that Gil Perez (the third victim) wanted to play a trick on one of the girls who was acting ‘slutty’ and ‘teasing’ him, so they wanted to play a prank on her. Too late, they realised he was actually a murderer, and he killed them. Gil and Camille managed to escape, but with them digging now, they had resurfaced. Camille is alive, and living with Paul’s Uncle. The murderer also tells him that Lucy was an accomplice. Her father was a drug addict, and the murderer threatened her father and so she pulled Paul away from his post, so the killings could be done.
Honestly, writing this review there is a lot that doesn’t make sense to me. There are a lot of twists and turns, a lot of different things and different people to remember, and almost too many plot twists - almost - that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Some of it, I didn’t really see the relevance. Like the IRA stuff, it was mentioned briefly throughout and then dropped? And the remains that were found (apparently Paul’s father strangled her, and she knew where Camille was this whole time and she found out he had sold her mum and dad to the government, and she was going to spill?) was Paul’s mother, and was she pregnant? I swear that’s what they said, and if that’s the case, don’t they have a sibling out there somewhere? But, to be fair the book is very entertaining, and I like being kept on my feet. So, whilst sometimes it’s a bit difficult to get your head around (and also some of the language is slightly misogynistic, but I don’t know if that is just me being sensitive) but I would definitely recommend!
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Violence, and Murder
avitakaur's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Woods is a page-turning thriller that makes you think you’ve figured out the puzzle, until the next clue is revealed.
What’s great about The Woods is it’s intricacy. Coben makes the effort to delve in depth in legal, criminology and forensic aspects of the novel. He did his research and knows what he’s talking about. The plot was well thought out and the mystery unexpected - one of the key features any thriller/mystery reader seeks!
However, I had to drop a couple of stars. I’ve come to accept that thrillers/mystery novels are just bound to be a tad cheesy, but the cheese-level in the stereotypical characters and dialogue was a little too high for my liking. Also, the objectification of women that popped out throughout the novel was beyond cringeworthy *shudders*.
Final Verdict: Recommended IF you’re a fan of murder mysteries
What’s great about The Woods is it’s intricacy. Coben makes the effort to delve in depth in legal, criminology and forensic aspects of the novel. He did his research and knows what he’s talking about. The plot was well thought out and the mystery unexpected - one of the key features any thriller/mystery reader seeks!
However, I had to drop a couple of stars. I’ve come to accept that thrillers/mystery novels are just bound to be a tad cheesy, but the cheese-level in the stereotypical characters and dialogue was a little too high for my liking. Also, the objectification of women that popped out throughout the novel was beyond cringeworthy *shudders*.
Final Verdict: Recommended IF you’re a fan of murder mysteries
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism
urreadtome's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Dementia
Minor: Death of parent
raireads's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This was a quick read although nothing special. I was expecting more suspense and maybe a bit more creepiness compared to court-room drama, sleuthing and inconsequential - almost random - KGB old boys. It felt a bit drawn out and slow-paced with no shock reveals to speak of. As the Goodreads ratings say "it was OK".
What irked me most was that it felt at times as if the author, through these characters, was trying to justify things like toxic masculinity, objectification of women, xenophobia and other such things. That grated on me because not only was it a bit gross, trying to rationalise objectionable behaviour (including the far-right), but also utterly unnecessary; it added nothing to the story so only seemed to be there for the author to moan about 'political correctness'. While I tried to ignore these sections and get on with the story, it has certainly put me off reading more of Coben's work in the future.
What irked me most was that it felt at times as if the author, through these characters, was trying to justify things like toxic masculinity, objectification of women, xenophobia and other such things. That grated on me because not only was it a bit gross, trying to rationalise objectionable behaviour (including the far-right), but also utterly unnecessary; it added nothing to the story so only seemed to be there for the author to moan about 'political correctness'. While I tried to ignore these sections and get on with the story, it has certainly put me off reading more of Coben's work in the future.
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Minor: Bullying, Child death, and Mental illness
Attempts to rationalise objectionable behaviours and beliefs including: toxic masculinity, objectification of women, xenophobia and far-right politics. At times feeling like the author ranting against "political correctness". Also contains description of children starving to death during the siege of Leningrad and the death of political prisoners in a gulag.
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