The Woman in the Wood

I love Lesley Pearse's books .She's a great writer ,always a good story to tell and also keeps your interest .I have just one more of her books to read and will have read every one of her books .Loved them all .

Reading a novel by Lesley Pearse is like visiting an old friend. She uses quaint English, the likes of which hasn’t appeared in books since the 1960’s. However, this novel, a mystery and the story of a cold, unfeeling family, covers grim material. 17-year-old twins, Maisy and Duncan Mitcham, start as the protagonists. Through the book, we sometimes hear from their remote father and hard grandmother, Mrs. Mitcham, sometimes from Janice – their nanny of sorts – and towards the end, from the antagonist.

Their mother has been mentally absent from their lives since they were 6 years old. Their cold and unfeeling father is at work all day, making ends meet for them. They are soon sent to a rural area where their paternal grandmother lives. Her manner is the cause of their father’s lack of emotionality.

There is soon a disappearance, and it seems no one is as they seem. Thrown as suspects are the so-called witch of the town and the woman who lives alone in the woods. The outcome of the mystery is a nasty set of crimes, as we follow lay sleuths, Maisy and Grace Deville, uncoverthe criminal and the resulting circumstances when he escapes.

I found the crime unsettling and gruesome, and the reading discomfiting. The crimes seemed to be repeated over and over, quite unnecessarily.

This review is for the kindle edition. Great thriller by a well known author. Easy to read and very enjoyable plot. Lots of wonderful, memorable characters and plenty of drama! Enjoy!