This was by far the best thriller I have read this year. Following an abducted child and the boy that finds her in the woods this is a twisted tale of terror and resilience.
This read will well and truly keep you on your toes. The storyline will keep you guessing and the multiple POVs will keep you interested.

Brilliant read.

In this debut psychological Thriller, we meet Elissa, a chess player who is snatched in clear daylight by her abductor. She wakes in a cellar beneath a cottage, surrounded by trees. She has two visitors, a person she names The Ghoul and a boy who attempts to befriend her.

This debut was incredibly gripping. It's a page Turner with such chilling details of Elissas abduction. At times, though, I found it to be slightly predictable, and guessed correctly what one of the twists was well before it happened. But it was still enjoyable and I will look forward to reading more work from this author.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading THE MEMORY WOOD, but when it came down to it, it really wasn't anything all that exciting...not in my opinion anyway. But maybe I gave up before it did get exciting. Still, for me, if a book doesn't have you hooked from the first few pages or so then it's just not for me. Am I impatient? Maybe. But for me, life is too short to waste time on books that take too long to get interesting. And I have so many other books awaiting my attention.

I can't even tell you much about the book because I tossed it after about 10% when Elissa was abducted. I felt disconnected from both children in the story. Elijah was just so standoffish and Elissa was just too wrapped up in her own world that even getting dressed required too many brain cells. I didn't like either of them and therefore I just couldn't continue following their story.

I see I am in the minority here, as so many others loved this debut thriller from Sam Lloyd, but slow burners just don't do it for me. And there seem to be so many slow burners coming out just now. But if it's too slow and I get the feeling that I'm not going to enjoy it, I give up. I may have missed out on a great read, but like I said, if a book takes too long to get my attention then for me it isn't worth it.

But don't take my word for it...give it a go yourself. You might love it, or you may be like me and think it is taking too long to get anywhere.

I would like to thank #SamLloyd, #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for an ARC of #TheMemoryWood in exchange for an honest review.

OMG! I haven't read a psychological thriller like this for some time. This is on a totally different level to The Family Upstairs, and so much better.

What can I say without giving the story away. It's about 13 year old Elissa who is a bright young girl, living with her mother. They go away for a weekend chess tournament that Elissa is playing in and whilst Elissa goes to return something to the car she is abducted. When she comes around she is in the cellar of "The Gingerbread House', chained up and in the dark. Her captor visits her but so does Elijah, a 12 year old boy who doesn't want Elissa to leave. He sees her as his new friend. Elissa realises that she isn't the first girl who has been brought here and the story follows the time after Elissa's disappearance.

The story is brilliantly written, even when you think you've sussed it out, there's a twist and a turn in the story. I thought I knew who the abductor was, I changed my mind three times, I thought I knew what the end result for Elissa was, I was wrong there too. Until the very end of this book, there are just so many things where you think you know what's happening and then you realise you've got it completely wrong.

The characters are brilliantly written, to the point that you feel sorry for Elijah, and you soon discover that his story is just as big a part of the story as Elissa's. Elissa, her mum, even the detective in charge of the case are all really good likeable characters and you feel for all of them. The descriptions of The Memory Wood and the gingerbread house as Elijah calls it, are amazing, you could be there seeing it with your own eyes, it was mesmerising and yet chilling at the same time.

There is some gore, some parts that make you feel little uneasy, nothing hideous but very descriptive but it all adds to the story and the effect.

I couldn't put it down.

A really, really good read. My first Sam Lloyd book, his first book but I'll definitely be reading anything else he writes.

5 stars from me on Goodreads.

Brilliant!

A rollercoaster of a read told from the perspectives of different characters, The Memory Wood is one of those books that become impossible to put down once you get going. It’s shocking and sinister yet emotive.

Elissa has been kidnapped and finds herself trapped in an underground room. Terrified but determined to survive she has to use all her wits. She thinks shes found a possibly ally in Elijah but what is his real story. Mairead has been called in to find her but can she rescue Elissa in time especially as shes not the first missing child.

Wow what a ride this story was. The story starts off dramatically and it only eases slightly before picking up again. It twists as it develops. One minute you think you know what's going on then bang another twist is thrown at you. Some I predicted but others took me completely by surprise which is always good. I found Mairead's personal story a hard undercurrent that I wanted to have a happy ending. The ending was so well written and finished the story brilliantly. A touch of sadness but with hope too. A brilliant, thrilling read.

Thank you for providing this book for review - I've now reviewed it over on Pretty Books and Goodreads!

Not a fan of this one I'm afraid, I got so bored that I stopped reading and didn't go back. I have seen people say amazing things about Memory but it wasn't for me.

This is one of around 50 books I read during an imposed 3 month quarantine. It stands out for its creepy premise and ability to make me feel uncomfortable at the thought of walking through my local woods again. Clever use of chess to shape the narrative. If you like reading into the night and jumping at the sound of the wind, this is one for you. Good twist at the end.

A strange story, very disturbing in places, but well-written with a couple of unexpected twists towards the end. Elissa, a thirteen year old chess genius is taken by her mother to a chess tournament in Bournemouth, and whilst there she is abducted. As soon as her mother realises she has vanished she call the police, and as someone saw a young girl being pulled into a battered old van they start investigating immediately.

Elijah, aged twelve, lives in a cottage close to a place he calls the Memory Wood, in which is a tumbledown cottage he calls the Gingerbread House. Here he finds Elissa, manacled to the wall in a sound-proofed, damp cellar. He visits her often, to talk, in the dark. Elissa is sometimes disturbed by a man who wants her to speak to camera, saying that she has a bad mother, giving examples of how bad she is, and how glad she is to now be at ‘home’. She is an extremely bright girl, and gives clues so that her mother gets clues as to where she might be. She also manages to persuade Elijah into an action that eventually tells her chess tutor exactly where she is. Will the police get there in time?

Not everything is how it seems, there are many twists to this story. It is well-crafted, horrifying and exciting in equal measure. The health problems of Detective Superintendent Mairéad MacCullagh are entwined into the story, she should really go to the hospital but needs to find this child first.

An absorbing read, well worth your time.

So creepy

I don't like horror books but I do like to read something that makes me jump. This was perfect

This book just captivated me from the start and kept me interested from the first page to the last. I read it in one go, finishing in the small hours of the morning and reeling from the story. Absolutely recommended.

I received a free ebook version of this book through Netgalley. Thankyou to both the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this! My review is still honest.

The Memory Wood is a very original thriller about a young girl who is abducted and the young boy who befriends her in her captivity. That's pretty much all you need to know going in, because wuite frankly, you'll probably be confused anyway!
There are definitely some very good aspects to this book. For one thing, it's the most original thriller I've read in a while, the premise is a very different twist to a child abduction story. It has 3 equally interesting POVs, which is a rarity in itself-I nearly always favour one over the others. The prose is good and easy to read, and I adored Elissa as a character. She's so intelligent and brave and resourceful. I also really appreciated Mairead's character.
But where this book sort of failed for me is that this book is confusing, and not in an edge of your seat I need to find out what happens way, but in an annoying I have no idea what's going on and I'm finding it difficult to read way. I didn't enjoy the plot twists because it was so frustrating to actually get to that point. This is probably an individual reader's preference issue, and others may enjoy this aspect of the book, but I just found it difficult to follow.

TW: Child abuses, psychotic breaks, child abduction

The Memory Wood was nothing like I was expecting. I enjoyed this book. It was gripping, intense and generally bizarre. I loved the characters, the premise and the way events unfurled. The Memory Wood was a very dark book and touched on so many disturbing themes such as child abduction, psychosis and stockholm syndrome, to name a few.

I found the split personality of the main antagonist to be more heartbreaking than scary. Finding out the background behind him, and the reasons he acts the way he does, made me want to reach into the pages of this book and protect him from his abusers.

Elissa was a little harder to connect with at the beginning. Mainly because I don't have an interest in chess, but I could see its uses here, in the way it helped her organise her thoughts and feelings about the situation she, unfortunately, found herself to be.

The pace in which events occurred took some time before the author revealed the truth about The Memory Wood, Elijah and the truth behind Elissa's abduction. Once this happened, the plot quickened, building the suspense right up to its conclusion.

As far as debuts go, this was brilliant. I will be on the lookout for further books by this author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to have an ARC of this mystery/thriller, in exchange for my honest review.

Prepare to have your mind blown! This is an incredible book which will turn you upside down and inside out and literally have you screaming at events and characters in horror, fear and shock! It is a dark, dark tale with some slightly gruesome bits ( but I am the world's biggest wuss, so it really is not a bloodbath or at all gratuitous).
Elissa is a 13 year old chess champion. There is a white van. There is an abduction. And there are dreadful things to come both for Elissa and 12 year old Elijah who visits Elissa in her underground prison.
As I read I was holding my breath, heart thumping and mind spinning as I raced through this book, amazed at what humans are capable of, both good and bad.
Extremely tense, this will question everything you believe and put your emotions through an endurance test.
Sam Lloyd has written an astounding book that I guarantee EVERYONE will be talking about.
If you don't think this book is for you, PLEASE think again! I wasn't going to read this initially but I am so glad I changed my mind! Powerful and cleverly written and plotted, this book will stay with you for a very long time (once you've had a chance to get your breath back!)

A psychological thriller with more than an echo of Room. A young girl, Elissa, a bit of a loner and a formidable chess-player, is kidnapped and finds herself in a dark, underground cell. Elijah is twelve and lives a lonely life on the edge of Memory Wood and discovers where Elissa is being held. But instead of letting her go free he befriends her – afraid of the consequences of thwarting her captor, perhaps – and she must use all her tactical skills to convince him that he must help her to escape. But will his loneliness override his urge to do the right thing?

This was a really gripping read and I didn’t see the twist (for twist there is!) coming for ages. I particularly enjoyed the fact that is was a very British setting (for some reason when I started it I assumed it was set in the States so that was a pleasant surprise…). Give this a try if you want something suspenseful but really can’t face anything apocalyptic.

Thanks To Netgalley And Publishers For Granting My Request To Review This Book.
This Really Wasn’t What I Expected - A Book That Took Many Turns.
Definitely A Book That Held My Interest Until The Last Page And One I Will Be Recommending

thank you for the opportunity to read this book and I really enjoyed, was tense and gripping throughout, didn't guess what was gonna happen. Great read

A dark and disturbing story about the abduction of thirteen year old chess protege, Elissa. Taken by force, drugged and put in a van, she wakes up in the dark, manacled and terrified. She is unable to see her captor, but it is clear that she is going to need to play a game of strategy like no other. As her cell door is opened, she realises there are at least two people involved. One is simply known as the ghoul. The other is Elijah or Hansel. She tries to engage with Hansel by making him believe they are playing a game, and that they are brother and sister. She is injured and knows that her life is in peril every second that she remains captive. The story twists and turns with revelations a-plenty and the ending builds to a stunning crescendo.

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and Netgalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for a unbiased review of these works.

Absolutley gripping this book left me shook! 5 stars all the way!