I’m a sucker for stories about the unknown, be they real or fictional, delivered through a medium like gaming, TV, film or the written word. This has always been something that has attracted, intrigued and entertained me, and is part of the reason why I grew up loving things like The X-Files, Unsolved Mysteries and horror. It’s also why The Woods: A Novel by Jessica Hamilton caught my eye and became a must read when I saw it in Simon & Schuster Canada’s recent catalogue.
Born in Australia, but having grown up here in Canada, author Jessica Hamilton has written other books before this. Now, she’s released The Woods — a story that is compared to a mix between We Used to Live Here and The Amityville Horror on its back cover. When you list those two, you have my attention. The former is one of the best books I’ve read, and the latter’s film remake gave me nightmares when I was younger. I don’t feel that this novel is as good as Marcus Kliewer’s phenomenal debut novel, but I ended up enjoying it (for the most part), and am glad that I requested it.
The Woods: A Novel by Jessica Hamilton begins as a middle-aged woman named Alice finds herself lost en route to work. Her circumstances aren’t awful, though, because losing her way has led to her discovering an intriguing house and property for sale. Unlike her crowded home in a busy American city, this rural property is large, and is surrounded by woods. In fact, there’s so much property and woodland that it’s hard to get a look at the house, meaning that she has to resort to looking its listing up and perusing pictures, which then leads to booking a secret appointment with its realtor.
After falling in love with the house — which was once a log style cabin, but was added onto over the years and even includes two outbuildings — Alice talks her husband into making an offer and moving their family to the country. It’s a chance for a new start, because this family has been through a lot. Approximately a year prior, their athletic, intelligent, caring and responsible daughter, Lucy, passed away due to an automobile accident. Her twin sister, Polly, was also in the car, but was lucky to survive after undergoing surgery to reduce swelling in her brain. All of the surviving members of the family have secrets, guilt and shame over the event, for different reasons. This includes Alice, her husband, Geoff, whom she fights with often, and her two remaining children: 19 year-old Polly and 15 year-old Quinn. Her mother, Beverly, who’s the artistic type, also has her own guilt over that night. She’s important to mention, because she’s lost everything in a real estate investment that went belly up, is facing homelessness, and gets invited to live in the small cottage out back. Geoff takes the other outbuilding as his writing studio, although he’s struggling with alcoholism and hasn’t been successful at authoring the written word.
Like any older property, this one has a history. It’s not like most, though, because it’s received notoriety as the local Murder House. You see, a couple years ago, a woman named Justine Gordon murdered her family over the course of days, and said that the woods caused her to do it. The same, large, dark, tree filled and mysterious woods that fascinate, scare and make the home’s new owners question things.
Soon after moving in and looking forward to a fresh start, the new occupants of the rural Murder House begin to notice strange happenings. First, they find dead and mutilated animals in their backyard and pool. Then, they notice other things. However, they try to forget about those happenings and look forward, opting to have a party to dispel the home’s bad image.
This story starts off very well, but doesn’t exactly nail the landing, and has some questionable reveals. I enjoyed it overall, but found that the last half was weaker than the first. It was bothersome that the main character’s issues kept getting blamed on menopause, which I found silly, and one of the big reveals was predictable. I also wanted more lore about the woods, as opposed to it just ending, after an unbelievable twist.
Jessica Hamilton’s latest work is an easy to read and occasionally hard to put down novel, which mixes family drama, characters who have depth, horror and the unknown together to create something that I somewhat enjoyed. The Woods: A Novel kept me wanting to read and discover more, until near the end, and is a pretty good horror/thriller. It’s a well written, but accessible, and intriguing work. Furthermore, it’s not as layered or confusing as We Used to Live Here (which is fine, because I do like to understand what’s going on and have concrete endings most of the time), nor is it as dark or disturbing as some other horror books. Yes, there is some dark imagery and content, but those who don’t like extreme horror will be fine with this one. It can be tense and unsettling, but it’s not super graphic or nightmarish. That said, Marcus Kliewer’s book was notably better, much creepier, and a lot more memorable.
Those who are looking for another decent read, especially one from the horror genre, may want to check out The Woods: A Novel by Jessica Hamilton. I’m glad that I read it. It got a bit beaten up, though, which generally doesn’t happen with my books. However, it did this time, because I took it to the casino when my grandpa asked me to drive him there, and also took it with me to read en route to and in-between sets of a Spiritbox and Evanescence concert. It was an enjoyable way to spend my downtime, but I wish that the second half had been as strong as the first.
I received this book quite early, started it immediately, and got about halfway quickly. After about the 70% mark, I put it down and got sidetracked with other books. I meant to pick it back up and finish it, but kept forgetting. As such, I didn’t actually finish this one until release, despite thinking I’d have it finished months prior. That’s likely because the first half was so good, but the second half had some silly moments.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided with.