BOOK NOOK; The Woman in the Wood by Lesley Pearse

The Woman in the Woods by Lesley Pearse is a very dark book.  It is a crime novel and not the kind of thing that I usually read, but I did find it interesting.  Set in the 1960's it tells the story of twins Maisy and Duncan who are packed off to live with their crotchety grandmother at Nightingales House on the edge of the New Forest. 

Their mother has recently been committed to an asylum and their father is a workaholic who shows them very little affection, so they find comfort in the local woodland that surrounds their new home. 

There they manage to befriend a strange woman who lives in a little croft, despite her attempts to see them off!  

Grace is a woman who knows enough about people to want nothing to do with them! She keeps herself to herself and lives a quiet life in the forest with her faithful collie dog.  But the twins need a friend and they are determined to find out if the village gossip of her being crazy or a witch are actually true.  What they find is a gentle soul with a troubled past, who finds safety in solitude and peace in the woods.

When Duncan goes missing, it is left to Maisy and her new friend Grace to find him and when she discovers that several boys have gone missing from the local area in recent months, she is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and find out who is responsible. 

At this point the novel takes a much darker turn.  It is a novel with a theme of pedophilia that makes for harrowing reading at times, but as a crime novel it is well constructed, with plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing.   I was surprised when I found out whodunit - which is exactly what you want in a crime novel. It has a satisfying story arc and denouement, with a fairly happy ending to finish.   

It does have some graphic descriptions of child abuse so it is not a book for the faint-hearted. In parts, it is told through the eyes of a psychopathic killer and as a psychotherapist I found this quite fascinating.  There is a scene outside a school playground where the pedophile is picking his next victim which is particularly disturbing.  The author had clearly done her research in to how the mind of such a person works, but again, it's not for the faint-hearted and could act as a trigger for some, so bear that in mind if you decide to read it. 

I have mixed feelings about this book. One the one hand the author is writing about a pedophile and she has a duty to all such victims to tell it like it is.  On the other hand, she is writing a novel for entertainment purposes, so do readers really need graphic descriptions of what a pedophile does to a 13 year old boy?  I'm not convinced that they do and maybe it would have been better to leave out the graphic paragraphs.  Having said that, I do admire the fearlessness of the author in tackling such a subject - but I will think twice before I read any of her other novels!

The Woman in the Woods is available from Amazon here for those of you who like to read gritty realism.  As for me, I'm going to read something a little more light-hearted and magical now because on reflection, I don't think crime novels are my cup of tea! 
BB, Marie x