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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a solid mystery thriller and I will continue to give Christian White points for keeping me hooked and rocketing the story a long. Unfortunately this one just felt a little uninspired. I could see the affair coming a mile off which was a shame and the murderer then seemed like a natural progression of things. Definitely better than a lot of the shitty thrillers I have read in my life. It was written well and the cast of characters felt believable but it just didn't get over the line for me in terms of resolution.
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.5 stars. Book club read! I don’t read a lot of thrillers/mysteries so they’re all pretty entertaining to me. I enjoy that this author’s books are set in Australia. The story was pretty good, definitely didn’t see the ending coming but was disappointed about some things.
I can't say I enjoyed this book, as the characters were not particularly likable. But I did read it quite quickly which could imply that it was enjoyable enough to not be eager to put down and read something else. Some of the plot points I found frustrating and I didn't particularly find the fear of devil worship that's touched upon in the book particularly believable, but maybe this is due to the book being set in the late 80s.
medium-paced
I liked this way more than I thought I would.
The twists and revelations had me guessing right up to the end.
It made me examine myself and I wonder, in the midst of a missing teenager, would I be swept up by neighbourhood watch conspiracies? Or would my commonsense prevail and not jump to conclusions? I don’t know. It’s easy to be swayed by mass hysteria.
I was 9 in 1989 Australia. And the scene setting reminded me of parts of my youth. I didn’t have a “Wild Place” but there were secret places I’d ride my bike to in the school holidays.
Such a great read.
Thanks NetGalley
The twists and revelations had me guessing right up to the end.
It made me examine myself and I wonder, in the midst of a missing teenager, would I be swept up by neighbourhood watch conspiracies? Or would my commonsense prevail and not jump to conclusions? I don’t know. It’s easy to be swayed by mass hysteria.
I was 9 in 1989 Australia. And the scene setting reminded me of parts of my youth. I didn’t have a “Wild Place” but there were secret places I’d ride my bike to in the school holidays.
Such a great read.
Thanks NetGalley
Fast paced economical prose mystery. White drives you forward - the unexpected keeps you guessing.
Christian White, author of The Nowhere Child, The Wife and the Widow, and co-creator of the Netflix series, Clickbait, has done it again. Wild Place – my third five-star read by him – was another twisty, twisted, domestic noir extravaganza, which I read in one day.
The year is 1989, and Tom Witter is living the perfect suburban life in Camp Hill with his wife, Connie, and two teenage boys – Marty and Keiran. On summer break from his high school teaching job, Tom is kept busy doing odd jobs around the house, attending neighborhood watch meetings, and, most importantly, looking out for his sons. But everything changes when local teenager, Tracie Reed, goes missing. The only thing separating Tom's street from Tracie's is Wild Place – a dense community forest – once welcoming and safe now feels threatening and sinister. Tom is convinced that whatever happened to Tracie is connected to Wild Place, and determined to protect his sons from a similar fate, Tom starts his own investigation, an investigation that will lead him to some very dark places.
Wild Place most definitely kept me immersed and guessing, as well as turning the pages at a frantic pace. In the 80's and 90's with the rise of heavy metal music, dark and explicit lyrics, and the Gothic lifestyle, parents – heavily influenced by the media – stupidly feared their kids were being controlled and seduced by the occult, and Satanic Rituals, and, as you will see, Christian White used these themes to create paranoia, hysteria, suspicion and judgement in his characters in a shocking and nail-biting way.
In terms of setting and atmosphere, Wild Place was reminiscent of a favourite read of mine from 2019, The Neighbour – Fiona Cummins. Both were psychological thrillers where the mystery centred on a Suburban Street which backed onto a forest, and of course the neighbourhood held many secrets.
The publication date is 26th October, 2021, and Wild Place would be the perfect spooky, ominous choice for Halloween.
I’d like to thank, Netgalley, Affirm Press, and Christian White for the e-ARC.
The year is 1989, and Tom Witter is living the perfect suburban life in Camp Hill with his wife, Connie, and two teenage boys – Marty and Keiran. On summer break from his high school teaching job, Tom is kept busy doing odd jobs around the house, attending neighborhood watch meetings, and, most importantly, looking out for his sons. But everything changes when local teenager, Tracie Reed, goes missing. The only thing separating Tom's street from Tracie's is Wild Place – a dense community forest – once welcoming and safe now feels threatening and sinister. Tom is convinced that whatever happened to Tracie is connected to Wild Place, and determined to protect his sons from a similar fate, Tom starts his own investigation, an investigation that will lead him to some very dark places.
Wild Place most definitely kept me immersed and guessing, as well as turning the pages at a frantic pace. In the 80's and 90's with the rise of heavy metal music, dark and explicit lyrics, and the Gothic lifestyle, parents – heavily influenced by the media – stupidly feared their kids were being controlled and seduced by the occult, and Satanic Rituals, and, as you will see, Christian White used these themes to create paranoia, hysteria, suspicion and judgement in his characters in a shocking and nail-biting way.
In terms of setting and atmosphere, Wild Place was reminiscent of a favourite read of mine from 2019, The Neighbour – Fiona Cummins. Both were psychological thrillers where the mystery centred on a Suburban Street which backed onto a forest, and of course the neighbourhood held many secrets.
The publication date is 26th October, 2021, and Wild Place would be the perfect spooky, ominous choice for Halloween.
I’d like to thank, Netgalley, Affirm Press, and Christian White for the e-ARC.
What a doozy! I could not put this down. Read in under 24 hours. I loved Christian White’s first 2 books - full of twists and turns and they just keep you turning pages quicker and quicker to find out what happened, and this one was no different. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour towards the end.
.
It wasn’t the ending I wanted - but I think that makes it even better. And I loved the epilogue. Set in suburbia in 1989 (loving the 80’s for my last 2 reads!), and in a creepy coincidence this one also had some cult and satanic references going on, this is the story of a young girl who goes missing one night. It is too easy to give spoilers and I think any slip could give this one away, so I’m not saying any more.
.
It wasn’t the ending I wanted - but I think that makes it even better. And I loved the epilogue. Set in suburbia in 1989 (loving the 80’s for my last 2 reads!), and in a creepy coincidence this one also had some cult and satanic references going on, this is the story of a young girl who goes missing one night. It is too easy to give spoilers and I think any slip could give this one away, so I’m not saying any more.
Again I find I loved this authors writing style, and found myself invested in the story from the beginning.
This story took a real twist away from where I thought it was going at the halfway mark and then continued to keep me rethinking everything until the end.
The reader follows a range of characters that were all well written and had you constantly thinking about their lives and wondering if they will be ok.
A fascinating mystery that will keep the reader captivated throughout the whole book.
4 1/2 ⭐
Thank you to Affirm Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this and give my honest views and opinions about it.
This story took a real twist away from where I thought it was going at the halfway mark and then continued to keep me rethinking everything until the end.
The reader follows a range of characters that were all well written and had you constantly thinking about their lives and wondering if they will be ok.
A fascinating mystery that will keep the reader captivated throughout the whole book.
4 1/2 ⭐
Thank you to Affirm Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this and give my honest views and opinions about it.