Autumn has arrived here in Yorkshire and the evenings are drawing in earlier now we are in September. This is the perfect time to turn to thrilling reads, and with the title The Woman in the Wood and intriguing blurb, M.K Hill’s latest novel promised to be just that. Scroll down to see if it fulfilled my expectations.
Book Review: The Woman in the Woods by M.K Hill
Title: The Woman in the Wood
Author: M.K Hill
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: 4th March 2021
Blurb
A reality TV star becomes a suspect in an Essex murder case in the sharp, funny and moving new thriller from M.K. Hill.
Three years ago, Danny ‘Abs’ Cruikshank, star of reality show Laid in Essex!, was living the dream. And then, on the night of the party, everything changed. It was supposed to be an intimate weekend gathering. Just a few close friends in a remote cottage in Wales. But after a night of heavy drinking in the village pub, a local girl was reported missing,
presumed dead. Abs and his friends had been the last to see her alive.
No-one was ever charged, but the controversy destroyed Abs’s career. So now, three years later, the celebrity who once captured the heart of millions is opening Southend’s new branch of Quidstore. And then one of Abs’s mates is murdered. Does someone know what really happened that night in Wales?
DI Sasha Dawson and her team must race against the clock to find the killer before they strike again –
but first she must discover what happened to Rhiannon Jenkins on the night she vanished. Will the
truth set Abs free? Or bury him?
My Thoughts
The premise of this novel surrounds an ex-reality T.V star Abs, who is famous for his appearance on Laid in Essex, which is similar to a series we all know with a similar name, and what someone will do to make sure the secrets of the night a woman disappeared are never revealed. A murder of his friend triggers an investigation led by Sasha Dawson. As a central protagonist, I found her character intriguing and wanted to know more which is always good in a crime series because it meant not only did I keep turning the page to follow this investigation, I’ve added the previous book to my TBR and intend to keep an eye out for the next to see how the dynamics of her team and family relations develop with time. Abs was not an easy character to warm to, but I found it fascinating to see how he coped with his downfall from being a star and at times felt pity for him with his constant belief he could return to stardom. It is through his eyes we discover what happened in the past with his friends in the woods; the deeper I got into the mystery, the more I needed to know who did it and what exactly they did. I didn’t get much sleep when the pace picked up, events turned darker and I headed to the conclusion which I would never have guessed.
Would I recommend?
Yes, this is a strong, dark crime novel with many twists, well-developed characters and personalities throughout using the desire for fame as a backdrop. Sasha Dawson is a detective to follow and I could easily see this adapted to television.
Author Biography
Mark Hill was a journalist and an award-winning music radio producer before becoming a full-time writer.
The first novel in the Sasha Dawson series, The Bad Place, was described as ‘everything a police procedural should be’ by The Times, who also named it as their Crime Book of the Month. He lives in London.
Thank you Random Thing Tours for inviting me to this tour and providing an advanced copy for me to review and give my honest and unbiased opinion.
Love
From Under the Duvet 