255 reviews for:

Wild Place

Christian White

3.75 AVERAGE

stephanie_frankcombe's review

1.5
dark mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

michellemichreads's review

3.5
mysterious medium-paced
kimswhims's profile picture

kimswhims's review

3.0

About the standard that I'm used to now after reading three of Christian White's crime fiction.
It might have been quicker to read it from the page but the narration was quite good.
As with any crime fiction it's important to me not to pick the culprit and the motivation and this one did have me guessing. It's also set in the period between Christmas and New Years 1990, so there's an element of nostalgia.

sarah12's review

4.0
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
becsbookshelf's profile picture

becsbookshelf's review

3.0

“Why do good people do bad things?”

In the quiet suburb of Camp Hill a local teen goes missing. The town leaves no stone unturned to find Tracie and slowly secrets start to be uncovered. Rumours of Satanic rituals has teacher Tom Witter convinced he knows what happened to Tracie, but the police won’t listen so he takes matters into his own hands.

Slowly they begin to piece together Tracie’s last moment and the more that’s uncovered the less people really knew her. A man hunt begins when a troubled teen who is made a person of interest also disappears. Everyone’s a suspect.

I definitely didn’t pick the ending until it was uncovered. This was a slow burn compared to White’s other novels yet still as enjoyable. The nowhere child will remain on the leader board. You can never really trust anyone or underestimate how far someone will go to protect their family.
kruu_dao's profile picture

kruu_dao's review

2.0
mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

sylviaplathfan69's review

4.0
dark emotional tense

rachaelreads92's review

3.25

** 3-3.5 stars**
I wanted so much to love this book. I had been looking forward to this book for so long!!! I was so excited.


I LOVED Christian White's first two novels [b:The Nowhere Child|38594019|The Nowhere Child|Christian White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518736125l/38594019._SY75_.jpg|60197827] and [b:The Wife and the Widow|45046798|The Wife and the Widow|Christian White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572995213l/45046798._SY75_.jpg|69749700], both were five star reads for me. I loved that Christian White sets his books in Victoria (okay, [b:The Nowhere Child|38594019|The Nowhere Child|Christian White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518736125l/38594019._SY75_.jpg|60197827] took place in the US but it did begin in Caroline Springs...), and places that I can relate to! This one just didn't hit the mark for me...

The premise of this book was pretty cool, it is set in 1989 in the height of the  Satanic Panic . In the small town of Camp Hill on the Mornington Peninsular when teenager Tracie Reed goes missing. Rumours start to spread about a Satanic Cult, demon worship, and 'devil music' and local teacher Tom Witter decides to take matters into his own hands and figure out what has happened to Tracie.


Perhaps, I have just read to many 'citizen detective' novels lately, the character of Tom just really annoyed me. Some of the things he does cross over the line of concerned neighbour/ teacher into interfering with a police investigation. Also, the way he turns the whole neighbourhood against a teenager just because of the colour of his hair and the music he listens too was awful.

I think another element of the novel that bothered me was the characterisation of metal music as satanic. Personally I don't mind me some Motley Cru...

It was written well, it just wasn't u0p to parr of his other novels. Hopefully his next one will be bigger and better!
jobseeking_gazelle's profile picture

jobseeking_gazelle's review

2.25
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
spinescens's profile picture

spinescens's review

3.5
dark mysterious fast-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes