A lost child. A broken marriage. A ticking time bomb.
 
Karen will do anything for her eight-year-old daughter, Scarlett. Even holding together a marriage that is way past broken.
 
So when Scarlett disappears from their rural home, Karen is one hundred percent focused on a single goal – finding her little girl as soon as possible.

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And time is of the essence. Because Scarlett is profoundly deaf and would live in utter silence if it wasn’t for her high-tech hearing aids. Karen knows that within hours their batteries will run out, leaving her daughter even more isolated and vulnerable.

As the search for Scarlett intensifies, shocking secrets are revealed and Karen realises she may have to look for answers closer to home.

When the reason for Scarlett’s disappearance finally becomes clear, Karen finds she is living her own worst nightmare – her daughter is in deadly danger and time is running out.

My Review

A short, sharp book, so scary and atmospheric – at times I was almost too nervous to read on. Not helped by the fact that I have an eight-year-old granddaughter named Scarlett. Should I peek at the end to see what happens? I admit I’ve done this when there is a dog in the story, just to make sure it survives. Did I peek? I’m not saying.

Into The Woods is written from the point of view of three different characters, including Karen, Scarlett’s mum and her husband Paddy. Karen is not always likeable, but naturally we have sympathy for her situation.

Husband Paddy is a prat. I’m sorry but there’s not really much else I can say about him. In fact both Karen and Paddy are too obsessed with work. Paddy is never at home – he’s always away in London – and Karen is always on her phone, organising her next venture and living out her life on social media. Paddy never goes online. I wonder why.

A year ago, Karen spoke publicly about her early thoughts on motherhood. She admitted that she didn’t really want children, and talked about the depression she suffered as a result of everything that had happened to her, including Scarlett being born prematurely at 26 weeks and being profoundly deaf. And because of something she said, the backlash was enormous and venomous and she claims she was ‘cancelled’.

When Scarlett disappeared, Karen was so busy on the phone that she hadn’t realised her daughter was missing for over an hour. Paddy, of course, wasn’t there, and he hadn’t seen Scarlett since he left for London that morning. A perfect excuse to blame each other.

There is so much tension in their marriage, you wonder how they are still together. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife, something which is not lost on the police officers who are there to search for Scarlett. And it’s a race against time, as once the batteries in Scarlett’s cochlear implants run out, she will no longer hear anything and she will be terrified.

This was such a brilliant book. Full of tension and malice. Parts were almost unbearable to read. Just let it be said that no dogs were hurt in the making of this story. I can’t say any more…

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

Lorraine Murphy takes everyday situations and twists them into terrifying tales. She is the author of Into the Woods and numerous published, and winning, flash fiction stories. A software engineer by profession, she’s had many careers including slimming club leader, adult educator, charity co-founder, chairperson, activist and entrepreneur. As a teenager, she adored Stephen King and later found herself on the jury of an infamous murder trial.

When she’s not writing, Lorraine is always into something, whether it be competing in/for her local Toastmasters club or jumping out of a fully functional airplane. She lives in Westmeath, Ireland with her husband Brendan and three taller children.

Into The Woods is her first psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.

Follow her at:
Twitter : https://twitter.com/MurphyLorr
Website : http://www.lorraineamurphy.com/

Buy Link – https://geni.us/VqrvU