Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Killing Woods” as Want to Read:
The Killing Woods
by
Fatal attraction, primal fear, survival in the forest: From the author of the Printz Honor Book STOLEN, the highly anticipated thriller about deadly games played in the dark.
Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd's dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl's broken body. "Gone," he says, then retreats ...more
Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd's dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl's broken body. "Gone," he says, then retreats ...more
Get A Copy
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
January 7th 2014
by Chicken House
(first published October 3rd 2013)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Killing Woods,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about The Killing Woods
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Killing Woods

I think it's pretty easy to tell if you're going to like this book fairly early on. I felt a disconnect with the writing style from the very beginning, which unfortunately never went away--and if anything, I got more and more frustrated and bored with both the story and the style.
Story: I never really understood what the Game was that these kids played in the woods. (Intial cap is not mine.) The collars and such seemed so silly to me that I couldn't really wrap my mind around what was going on. ...more
Story: I never really understood what the Game was that these kids played in the woods. (Intial cap is not mine.) The collars and such seemed so silly to me that I couldn't really wrap my mind around what was going on. ...more

Jan 04, 2013
Keertana
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arc-galley-and-first-reads
If Lucy Christopher's name hadn't been printed on the cover of this novel, I wouldn't have believed she wrote it. Granted, the prose is gorgeous, but the emotional complexity, character depth, and general plot originality I've come to expect from the author of Stolen wasn't present in this novel. Not in the least. Admittedly, I didn't expect The Killing Woods to be another Stolen, but I didn't expect to feel so apathetic to it as a whole either.
Told in alternating points of view, Christopher's l ...more
Told in alternating points of view, Christopher's l ...more

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
My feelings are pretty mixed on this book. I have had a copy of this book in my review pile for a very long time so I am thrilled to be able to scratch it from my to be read list but I do wish it had worked a little better for me. I felt like this book was really slow at times and I found it rather easy to set aside. There were parts of the book that I did enjoy but I had quite a few issues with it as well.
I did think that the book s ...more
My feelings are pretty mixed on this book. I have had a copy of this book in my review pile for a very long time so I am thrilled to be able to scratch it from my to be read list but I do wish it had worked a little better for me. I felt like this book was really slow at times and I found it rather easy to set aside. There were parts of the book that I did enjoy but I had quite a few issues with it as well.
I did think that the book s ...more

Nov 03, 2013
Melanie
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
aussie,
could-have-been-so-much-better,
death,
young-adult,
arc,
books-i-own,
contemporary,
mystery,
me-likes-you
See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
2.5 stars
Thank you Scholastic Australia for sending me this copy. No compensation was given or taken to alter this review.
I feel somewhat conflicted with The Killing Woods. I have heard the ongoing praise for Stolen: A Letter To My Captor so I simply assumed that Lucy Christopher's latest had to be an exceptional read. Unfortunately ...more
2.5 stars
Thank you Scholastic Australia for sending me this copy. No compensation was given or taken to alter this review.
If you go down in the woods today,
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down in the woods today,
You'd better go in disguise.
I feel somewhat conflicted with The Killing Woods. I have heard the ongoing praise for Stolen: A Letter To My Captor so I simply assumed that Lucy Christopher's latest had to be an exceptional read. Unfortunately ...more

Oh, where to begin.
The Killing Woods sounded creepy, mysterious, interesting. It ended up being none of those.
Emily's father has brought home the body of a dead girl named Ashlee. The man has no recollection of having killed her. Add to this, he has severe PTSD. He's arrested, takes a plea bargain, and heads on off to be incarcerated. Um, WHAT?! The man has a mental disorder and because he confesses (since he cannot remember anything), the police, his lawyer, and even his wife allow this t ...more

The Killing Woods sounded creepy, mysterious, interesting. It ended up being none of those.
Emily's father has brought home the body of a dead girl named Ashlee. The man has no recollection of having killed her. Add to this, he has severe PTSD. He's arrested, takes a plea bargain, and heads on off to be incarcerated. Um, WHAT?! The man has a mental disorder and because he confesses (since he cannot remember anything), the police, his lawyer, and even his wife allow this t ...more

After having had numerous recommendations for her other novel, Stolen, my first thought upon receiving this novel - in a genre that is incredibly up my alley - was that it was going to rock my socks off. And although my feet are still warm and snugly, I had a great time reading this novel that holds an awesome setting with a creeptastic premise.
The first thing I immediately noticed upon reading this book was how it was very much a show rather than tell type of writing - which I happen to prefer ...more
The first thing I immediately noticed upon reading this book was how it was very much a show rather than tell type of writing - which I happen to prefer ...more

Wow. Well, I went into this book expecting a “meh” read after seeing a lot of reviews that called The Killing Woods “just okay”. I am so glad that I still read the book, as I was completely immersed into the creepy tale. And while I know that The Killing Woods won’t work for everybody, I absolutely loved the book.
Lucy Christopher’s writing style was what initially drew me into the book. It’s gritty and compelling in a way that had me gobbling up the words. I am also glad that Emily and Damon, wh ...more
Lucy Christopher’s writing style was what initially drew me into the book. It’s gritty and compelling in a way that had me gobbling up the words. I am also glad that Emily and Damon, wh ...more

Absolutely and incredibly disappointed in this new novel that Christopher has written. After successfully and completely engrossing me in her bestseller, Stolen––I was hoping that this would be another gripping page turner by all of the hype inside the the book. Then, I looked on goodreads and skimmed the reviews which hardly had any 5 star ratings or positive feedback and that made me a little annoyed as Stolen was so praised. But then, I finally got around to reading the book just a few days a
...more

3.5 stars. This book has the misfortune of following
Dangerous Girls
in my reading list, and I don't think I gelled with the way the whole mystery was laid out/narrated. Plus I guessed what happened pretty early in. It might be a it's-me-not-you scenario. I'm sure others will enjoy it more than I did, I just grew bored about halfway in.
May have to think about this some more... not that I have time to! Ngl, would still recommend Stolen over this. ...more
May have to think about this some more... not that I have time to! Ngl, would still recommend Stolen over this. ...more

3.5! I was a little disappointed with this because Stolen is one of my favorite books, so I expected the same level of greatness from The Killing Woods. I liked the story line, the characters were...different. I wish I got to know Emily a little better, I just felt like I didn't really know her mind set. What I did like was how PTSD was described and how it showed the impact this disorder can have on someone and their family. I liked the mystery, too, but I felt like the end was pretty predictab
...more

Aug 13, 2013
Hannah (The Curiouser & Curiouser)
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
i-own
Wait . . . Wait a second . . .
HOW DID I NOT HEAR ABOUT THIS BOOK SOONER??!!!
I've read the two other books by Lucy Christopher and . . . well . . . when I finished Stolen . . .

If anyone needs me, I shall be celebrating the next Christopher novel. By fangirling.

I WANT THIS NOW.

I NEED THIS NOW.

That is all.
Please check out my blog, where I also fangirl: http://obsessivereads.wordpress.com/ ...more
HOW DID I NOT HEAR ABOUT THIS BOOK SOONER??!!!
I've read the two other books by Lucy Christopher and . . . well . . . when I finished Stolen . . .

If anyone needs me, I shall be celebrating the next Christopher novel. By fangirling.

I WANT THIS NOW.

I NEED THIS NOW.

That is all.
Please check out my blog, where I also fangirl: http://obsessivereads.wordpress.com/ ...more

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
Emily’s dad is a war veteran with PTSD and when he brings a dead body home after a night in the woods, he is accused for murder. Emily knows her father didn’t do it, but it seems like no one believes her. Damon Hillary was Ashlee Parker’s boyfriend and he can’t remember what happened the night Ashlee died. The games he and his friends played in the woods are not the only games he starts playing when he starts talking to Emily. I consider myself to be
...more
3.5 stars
This review can also be found at http://fortheloveofbooksreviews.blogs...
Emily's father is accused of killing a teenage girl when he comes home with her dead body one night. Emily's "friends" turn on her, and Damon, the boyfriend of the girl who was killed, is angry at Emily and Emily's father for what happened.
A war veteran with PTSD, her father's lawyers say that he might have had a flashback, killing the girl not on purpose, but in a horrible accident. But Emily is determined to find ...more
This review can also be found at http://fortheloveofbooksreviews.blogs...
Emily's father is accused of killing a teenage girl when he comes home with her dead body one night. Emily's "friends" turn on her, and Damon, the boyfriend of the girl who was killed, is angry at Emily and Emily's father for what happened.
A war veteran with PTSD, her father's lawyers say that he might have had a flashback, killing the girl not on purpose, but in a horrible accident. But Emily is determined to find ...more

0 to 80 in seconds! I have rarely read a novel so well crafted that pumps up the suspense from the first page and keeps you riveted as the tale unfolds.
Who killed Ashlee in the woods? Was it Emily’s post traumatic stressed
dad, who had accidentally killed a teenager in war? Or could it have been someone else? Emily’s dad, caught in a flashback, thinks it might have been him and confesses to manslaughter.
But Emily’s not convinced, and as we hear her point of view, and the point of view of dead Ash ...more
Who killed Ashlee in the woods? Was it Emily’s post traumatic stressed
dad, who had accidentally killed a teenager in war? Or could it have been someone else? Emily’s dad, caught in a flashback, thinks it might have been him and confesses to manslaughter.
But Emily’s not convinced, and as we hear her point of view, and the point of view of dead Ash ...more

The Killing Woods was better than the authors other book, Stolen: A Letter to My Captor, but it wasn't great.
I felt really sorry for Emily in the beginning.
Everybody was taking her dad's arrest out on her, and it wasn't fair. Even if what everybody was saying was true, and her dad was stalking Ashlee prior to killing her, she still didn't deserve the backlash from it.
This started out okay, but after a couple of chapters it started to go a bit slow.
In the middle, it really started to drag, so i ...more
I felt really sorry for Emily in the beginning.
Everybody was taking her dad's arrest out on her, and it wasn't fair. Even if what everybody was saying was true, and her dad was stalking Ashlee prior to killing her, she still didn't deserve the backlash from it.
This started out okay, but after a couple of chapters it started to go a bit slow.
In the middle, it really started to drag, so i ...more


"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."-Robert Frost
Setting:Darkwood, England; 2014. It took me forever to figure out that this book was set in England.
Coverly Love?:Yes! It's super shiny, and the image of the girl running through the woods is incredibly haunting.
Plot:Since coming back from the war, Emily Shepard's father has never been the same. Suffering from a severe case of post traumatic stress d ...more

I had been really excited about this book for quite awhile. It's been on my shelf for ages. And I'd just finished another amazing YA thriller so my personal hype was high. Sadly this book was just a big bag of disappointment. Here's the breakdown.
CHARACTERS: I hated both of them. Daemon was obnoxious. He punished/bullied Emily for not believing her dad commited the murder of his girlfriend. When he wasting raging about that he was wondering whether he slept with Ashlee on the night she died. He ...more
CHARACTERS: I hated both of them. Daemon was obnoxious. He punished/bullied Emily for not believing her dad commited the murder of his girlfriend. When he wasting raging about that he was wondering whether he slept with Ashlee on the night she died. He ...more

Nov 11, 2013
rubywednesday
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ya-contemporary,
thriller-mystery
When I saw this in the book shop I was all OMG NEW BOOK BY THE WRITER OF Stolen: A Letter to My Captor MUST PURCHASE IMMEDIATELY.
And that was a mistake. Maybe I should have listened to my gut when the gimmicky thing on the back cover bugged me. This was nowhere as intriguing and delicately executed as Stolen. It was clunky and unrealistic and generally disappointing.
The general tone and concept (ie main characters not really remembering/acknowledging major, sad things) reminded me a little of Hu ...more
And that was a mistake. Maybe I should have listened to my gut when the gimmicky thing on the back cover bugged me. This was nowhere as intriguing and delicately executed as Stolen. It was clunky and unrealistic and generally disappointing.
The general tone and concept (ie main characters not really remembering/acknowledging major, sad things) reminded me a little of Hu ...more


The funny thing in this situation is that I extremely have held off of writing this review. It's honestly been more than two weeks since I finished this, and I've found that I keep on moving it, haha. It's not that I'm speechless or wordless, it's just that this was so different and stranger than what I expected.
If I saw that I was going to read this book before Stolen one year ago, I wouldn't have believed it. I've heard so many positive things on Stolen, and I've been dying to pick it up eve ...more

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!
This review, and others like it, can be found at The Starry-Eyed Revue.
I had some seriously high expectations for my second Lucy Christopher novel after the gut-punch that was Stolen . From other reader reactions, though, I knew to lower expectations a bit, that this would not hit me right in the feels like her previous novel. And while that may be true, I still really enjoyed this novel, and I attribute t ...more
This review, and others like it, can be found at The Starry-Eyed Revue.
I had some seriously high expectations for my second Lucy Christopher novel after the gut-punch that was Stolen . From other reader reactions, though, I knew to lower expectations a bit, that this would not hit me right in the feels like her previous novel. And while that may be true, I still really enjoyed this novel, and I attribute t ...more

2.5 stars
What a waste of a perfectly good story. The first 50 pages or so are very engrossing, but then the mystery, the characters and the story itself fall through the cracks that being overly ambitious left in this book. The book should've settled in just one of the two POVs. There was no need for both of them, and the shifting between the two hurt the suspense in the novel for no purpose whatsoever. I understand the allure of both characters for both of them were interesting enough to warran ...more
What a waste of a perfectly good story. The first 50 pages or so are very engrossing, but then the mystery, the characters and the story itself fall through the cracks that being overly ambitious left in this book. The book should've settled in just one of the two POVs. There was no need for both of them, and the shifting between the two hurt the suspense in the novel for no purpose whatsoever. I understand the allure of both characters for both of them were interesting enough to warran ...more

This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!
Creepy, dark stories are certainly ones that I enjoy, for the way they can scare you from a few well written passages. The Killing Woods is written around a deep, dark forest where a dangerous game is played within it which leads to an unexpected murder of a popular girl, Ashlee.
The suspect of the murder is a war veteran who walks into his home carrying the dead body. He suffers from hallucinations and PTSD (yes, my 3rd PTSD ...more
Creepy, dark stories are certainly ones that I enjoy, for the way they can scare you from a few well written passages. The Killing Woods is written around a deep, dark forest where a dangerous game is played within it which leads to an unexpected murder of a popular girl, Ashlee.
The suspect of the murder is a war veteran who walks into his home carrying the dead body. He suffers from hallucinations and PTSD (yes, my 3rd PTSD ...more

The similarities between these novels is that they are YA Mystery/Thriller. Unlike Fracture, I was very much more hesitant to read this. It was recommended me to me several times and I read some highly appraised reviews. This one had hype written all over it. So I didn't read it straight away, I read it when I felt comfortable and wasn't forced too because of the hype and the release date. I knew what I was getting into and for me that lowers my overall rating of this book.
When Emily Shepard's ...more
When Emily Shepard's ...more

I received this book as a first-reads. Thank you!
4/5 stars
The Skinny:
Emily’s dad suffers from PTSD and is prone to intense flashbacks, which makes the fact that he carried a dead girl’s body out of the woods near their house seem even more suspicious. Emily, convinced of her dad’s innocence, sets out to discover the truth. Along the way her path continually crosses that of Damon Hillary, the murdered girl’s boyfriend. Emily furiously tries unraveling what happened, but everyone has their secret ...more
4/5 stars
The Skinny:
Emily’s dad suffers from PTSD and is prone to intense flashbacks, which makes the fact that he carried a dead girl’s body out of the woods near their house seem even more suspicious. Emily, convinced of her dad’s innocence, sets out to discover the truth. Along the way her path continually crosses that of Damon Hillary, the murdered girl’s boyfriend. Emily furiously tries unraveling what happened, but everyone has their secret ...more

I really wanted to love this book. The synopsis sounded SO GOOD. I also really liked Stolen, so I was looking forward to reading this. Something went wrong for me in this book, though not terribly so. It was just a little . . . rushed? Not in-depth enough?
The thoughts of the characters were strong, but not their relationships to each other. I always sort of dread alternating viewpoints, and it wasn't very exciting here. Although I did find the thoughts of both characters interesting, I kind of w ...more
The thoughts of the characters were strong, but not their relationships to each other. I always sort of dread alternating viewpoints, and it wasn't very exciting here. Although I did find the thoughts of both characters interesting, I kind of w ...more

A really compelling read which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The Killing Woods is the latest offering from Lucy Christopher, an author whose debut novel Stolen I loved, and quite honestly I have been desperate to get my hands on a copy for a while now. I'm glad to report it lived up my increasingly high expectations.
I won't say too much as the story because I don't want to spoil it at all but I will say it kept me guessing throughout and I loved how the story twisted and turned as it progressed. I love ...more
The Killing Woods is the latest offering from Lucy Christopher, an author whose debut novel Stolen I loved, and quite honestly I have been desperate to get my hands on a copy for a while now. I'm glad to report it lived up my increasingly high expectations.
I won't say too much as the story because I don't want to spoil it at all but I will say it kept me guessing throughout and I loved how the story twisted and turned as it progressed. I love ...more

Following a storm, Emily's father emerges from the woods behind their house with the dead body of teenage girl named Ashlee in his arms. Emily recognizes her straight away because they go to the same school. She has been strangled and Emily's Dad, a war veteran suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been accused of her murder.
Despite the fact that her Dad won't deny killing this girl, Emily is convinced he is innocent and starts to investigate what happened that night. And very quickly we ...more
Despite the fact that her Dad won't deny killing this girl, Emily is convinced he is innocent and starts to investigate what happened that night. And very quickly we ...more

This was an okay story, but I did lose interest.
Emily and Damon were both okay characters although I couldn’t really say that I liked either of them that much. I did feel a bit sorry for Emily in the way her friends at school treated her, but I was convinced that Damon has something to do with what happened to Ashley.
The storyline in this was okay, but it wasn’t really exciting enough to keep me interested. I wanted to know what had happened, and who the murderer was, but I didn’t enjoy the stor ...more
Emily and Damon were both okay characters although I couldn’t really say that I liked either of them that much. I did feel a bit sorry for Emily in the way her friends at school treated her, but I was convinced that Damon has something to do with what happened to Ashley.
The storyline in this was okay, but it wasn’t really exciting enough to keep me interested. I wanted to know what had happened, and who the murderer was, but I didn’t enjoy the stor ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
YA Buddy Readers'...: The Killing Woods By Lucy Christopher - Starting July 24th 2014 | 19 | 35 | Jul 24, 2014 08:20AM |
Lucy Christopher was born in Wales but grew up in Australia. She obtained an Undergraduate degree at Melbourne University. She moved to the UK to earn a distinction in a Creative Writing MA from Bath Spa University. The novel she wrote for this class, The Long Flight, was picked up by a publisher under a new name of FLYAWAY.
Lucy’s debut novel, Stolen, was written as part for her PhD degree. Stolen ...more
Lucy’s debut novel, Stolen, was written as part for her PhD degree. Stolen ...more
News & Interviews
As dedicated readers already know, some of the best and most innovative stories on the shelves come from the constantly evolving realm of...
16 likes · 5 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“I guess whoever built and buried that IED out there in the desert will never know how far that blast traveled. But all things ripple out, cause shrapnel.”
—
3 likes
“Despues de todo, soy yo y es el”
—
1 likes
More quotes…