Review: After the Woods by Kim Savage

Monday, January 16, 2017


After the Woods by Kim Savage
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Publication Date: February 23rd, 2016
Rating:
Source: Author
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304

Summary (from Goodreads):

Would you risk your life to save your best friend? 

Julia did. When a paroled predator attacked Liv in the woods, Julia fought back and got caught. Liv ran, leaving Julia in the woods for a terrifying 48 hours that she remembers only in flashbacks. One year later, Liv seems bent on self-destruction, starving herself, doing drugs, and hooking up with a violent new boyfriend. A dead girl turns up in those same woods, and Julia’s memories resurface alongside clues unearthed by an ambitious reporter that link the girl to Julia’s abductor. As the devastating truth becomes clear, Julia realizes that after the woods was just the beginning.

The summary of After the Woods reads like an episode of a crime drama tv show, such as Criminal Minds. The actual book does not so much read that way. That's not to say that this is a bad book because it's not. It's just not as exciting as I was expecting it to be. I thought it would be more about the actual event than the aftermath of it.

It has been almost a year since the "Shiverton Abduction", when Julia was kidnapped by a parolee in the woods after risking her life to save her best friend, Liv. She spent two days in the woods running from her captor and doesn't really remember what happened to her. Now, near the anniversary of her ordeal, the body of a young woman, believed to be connected to the same man who kidnapped her, has been found in the woods.

Julia has been seeing her therapist to try to heal from her ordeal and she has been trying to figure out Liv and why she has been so different lately. Liv and Julia have been best friends since sixth grade, but ever since the woods, Liv has been different. She's been trying her hardest to get Julia to forget about what happened to her in the woods.

It seems like everytime Julia brings up the woods, Liv basically acts like she doesn't have time for that and just wants Julia to get over what happened to her there. She doesn't even act grateful for what Julia did for her. It drove me crazy and made me lose all sympathy for her. Liv has a really rough home life. Her mom is pretty much the worst. She's really self centered and is entirely too concerned with looks. I really wish that I could say that I liked Liv. I tried to. She just has been dealt a really rough hand, but she's so unlikable. She's got her own problems, but it just really bothered me that she couldn't be bothered to help her friend deal with her problems after she risked her life for her.

Julia is trying her best to heal after the woods. She writes down statistics about kidnappings and things she learns about her situations in a notebook and that seems to be therapeutic for her. She has a really dark sense of humor and is rather sarcastic and witty. She's really smart and she's obviously brave for what she did. I really liked her.

There is a little bit of romance in this book which is cute and seems to be a good thing for Julia, but it really isn't anything big to the story. It's just a good thing for Julia amidst all the ugliness in her life.

Overall, this book wasn't really what I was expecting it to be, but I definitely enjoyed it. Toward the end of the book, things started to get a little bit confusing for me, like they were happening too fast for me or something, but I got the jist of it. I really can't complain too much about this book. It was interesting and a lovely debut.

4 comments:

  1. Your review made me really curious about this book, though it might still be a bit too scary or creepy for a scaredy-cat such as myself XD I'm glad you did end up enjoying this book :) Wonderful review! :D

    Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles

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    1. I really thought that this book was going to be creepier than it actually ended up being. I think if it had been about the actual event, that would be a different story, but I think that you've enjoyed far creepier books than this. :)

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  2. I am pretty that this is not my thing, but I thank you for sharing your thoughts so I know it. Ha ha! XD

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    1. You are welcome! Haha! I just noticed that I never filled out my rating. Oooops!

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