The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd is a unique thriller regarding the disappearance of a Elissa a budding Chess Champion from a car park at a local Chess tournament. Although she is not the first child abducted by her abductor, she is the most cleverish. She makes a friend of twelve-year-old Elijah, who promised to help her escape. But not all as it seems with Elijah and Elissa doesn’t know if she can trust him or not. And, a female police officer who when she finds out that she is another victim to the You tube Killer, there is a race against time to find her.
Thank you, Random House, and NetGalley for a copy of The Memory Wood. Quoted a must-read novel of 2020. I found this book to have a unique story line so different to other books in this subject I read. For me personally though I found the start slow and the middle of this story cleverly written especially the way Elissa made references to her memory on moves on a chess board. But I thought the ending was a bit stretched out too much and I didn’t think it was going to end. 3 stars from me.

The Memory Wood follows Elissa, a girl who's been kidnapped, while she's chained in a celler she meets Elijah, a boy who wants to be her friend. Elissa is smart and tries everything she can to get help and escape, but will it be enough?
This fast paced, thriller is an excellent read, it's creepy, realistic and all together a great read. I love Ellissa, she's a fab character and so brave in the circumstances. I don't want to give away spoilers, but I think the character of Elijah is amazingly written.
5*

I think I’m still in shock from having read The Memory Wood!!
This is the kind of book that sucks you in from the start and in my humble opinion deserves to be described as utterly gripping (many thrillers and I read a lot of them do not truly deserve such a title).
I read this book in one day, finding it highly addictive despite the subject matter. The Memory Wood is not for the faint hearted as I imagine some would find it too upsetting to read;it is intensely dark, evil, menacing,scary and every page is imbued with the fear that for Elissa is now suddenly with her every moment. For she has been abducted from a normal life as a thirteen year old chess geek, snatched outside a hotel in Bournemouth where a chess competition is taking place. Immediately my heart was with this young girl, desperate for her horrific ordeal to be over. Reading this was like watching a scary movie peeping through your hands, since the writing is so compelling yet the subject matter almost too disturbing for words. I don’t like woods anyway and the setting for this novel is perfect,creepy and chilling. Elissa’s character shows amazing resourcefulness, resilience and clear sightedness when dealing with her time in captivity and from the moment of her capture I found myself willing there to be a happy outcome. Without divulging the plot, Elissa befriends Elijah, a frequent visitor to her makeshift home in the memory wood but can he be her saviour??
Adopting the names of Hansel and Gretel, what follows for these two is definitely no fairy tale and will have your heart racing with every turn of the page.
Unfortunately there is no light and shade to this novel, it is very dark with little respite even when the narrative briefly switches to the police investigation. Mairead, the senior investigating officer is dealing with her own personal tragedies whilst determined to find Elissa’s abductor and most of the narrative is focused on Elissa.
Presumably influenced by a few true life crimes that have come to the media’s attention over the years, this will shock you to the core, especially in the second half of the book. I was on tenterhooks as I rapidly turned the pages although I’m still undecided what I feel about the ending but understand why the author has chosen a certain path for Elissa and Elijah.
I think this novel will receive a great deal of hype as a ‘must read’ of 2020 and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to fellow readers. Just be prepared for some graphic and gruesome writing and maybe don’t read late at night! I had to sleep with the light on after I’d turned the last page. In terms of grabbing my attention this undoubtedly deserves ten stars but I’m giving a well deserved four since the ending didn’t feel quite right for me.
My thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book so much - the story was different and although there was a police involvement I felt it was written more from the points of view of the victim & the perpetrator. Gripping story that I read in a couple of days. Highly recommended.

Wow -Wow and Wow again !
This is now my official favourite novel of 2019
The story grips you from the beginning . Elissa -a 12 year old budding chess champion -is abducted from the car park of a hotel where she is taking part in a chess tournament . There follows the race to find her .
This such a well written book - the characters came to life -and you feel every emotion with them- I just couldn't put it down .
I cannot praise this highly enough -5 stars from me !

Thank-you NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

Well this book hit the ground running, kept my attention nicely throughout and spat me out wholly satisfied at its conclusion. Oh and I ran the gamut of emotions along the way...
Elijah lives in the Memory Wood with his family - parents and older brother. He finds Elissa who is being held captive in a cabin in the woods but instead of trying to help her, he tries to befriend her. Well, he's a bit lonely and now he has found a friend, he's reluctant to lose her, like he has lost others before her...!
There's really not much else I can say about this book story-wise without the fear of injecting spoilers into the mix and I am definitely NOT going there. What I can say is that my jaw dropped several times along the way, I held my breath on multiple occasions and I think I even applauded the author at one point! I also spent a wee while confused but held onto that feeling and it wasn't long before it all became clear once again - see jaw dropping moment!
Characterisation is excellent but sadly, for spoiler reasons, I can't really go into any depth in this review. Suffice to say that each character behaved exactly as you would expect from a character put in certain situations and so, for me anyway, they always felt real. Not so easy to connect with on occasion, especially initially but, as the book progressed and more was learned about who and what and all that, I started to really feel for what was happening to them.
Pacing was perfect, especially the parts where I was completely flummoxed. It's hard to maintain interest when a reader spends quite a chunk of the book confused (as I was here) but the author did a cracking job keeping me in the zone.
And the ending... well, disturbing as it was, it really fitted with what had gone before. The whole was really way much more than the sum of its parts and each individual facet that made up this gem of a book was excellent in its own right. And it's a debut book so I have no back catalogue to catch up with so I will just have to be patient and wait to see what the author has in store for next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow - what a page turner. Fear and tension throughout in this exceptionally well conceived book. A young teenage girl is abducted at a chess tournament in Bournemouth. Amid a massive police hunt she is held in the cellar of a disused cottage in a dark wood; The Memory Wood. As a survival instinct kicks in she attempts to befriend one of her captors. Can she trust him? Does he even understand what is happening? The story alternates between her story, that of her captor and the policewoman leading the investigation. With strong characters and few clues to the reality of the situation or the ultimate outcome, this book delivers throughout. At one point I thought it had become a little far fetched and bizarre but as the full story emerges it all becomes clear. An excellent read and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I know that there is often a lot of hype around a new publication but to be honest it deserves praise for all the promises that it makes. This is a real heart in your mouth read from just a few pages in, to the last sentence in the book.
When chess champion Elissa is abducted just outside an event that her single mother had taken her to, it is the start of a horrific ordeal that feels like it only has one ending. At only thirteen years old Elissa has a quick-thinking mind and uses the skills that she knows best to both keep her mind active and make the few supplies that she has been left, last as long as she can. She has been chained in an underground room in darkness.
Her first visitor is the vile man that abducted her, the second a voice of a young boy called Elijah who tells her he is twelve and always lived in the woods where she is.
The story darts between Elissa and the investigation into her disappearance by the police. Oh boy, it was like playing the game hot and cold as at times they are getting so close to what has happened only to drift away again. It made me very verbal! The one-sided friendship that develops between Elissa and Elijah is both heartbreaking and vital. The characters are vividly real and the memory wood very unforgettable but wow, the conclusion is one almighty gold rush. A stunning story. Highly recommended!
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book, which I have reviewed honestly.

I’m not sure what my thoughts are on this book...
It was gripping though I couldn’t particularly take to the characters.
Also the ending seemed somewhat drawn out.
Not a favourite of mine I’m afraid.

A chilling story that stays with you for quite some time!! Thank you netgalley. I still have goosebumps.

Sadly I couldn't 'get' into this book. I found the premise unconvincing, and the characters two-dimensional. Would have like to be more positive, but this book is not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity of reading and reviewing the novel.

If you’re after a novel that is thrilling, chilling and has plenty of twists and turns, the I can highly recommend The Memory Wood.

Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. Elissa has only just arrived, yet she will do anything she can to escape. This book takes you on a rollercoaster with each chapter: deception, betrayal and abduction all lend to a fantastic read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and the author for the chance to review.

Wow, what a debut novel, if you like your reads with a good pace, where the tension gradually builds the more you read, then don’t miss this book, which I think is going to be a huge success in 2020.

The story is told mainly through the points of view of Elijah, and DS Mairead MacCullagh,with alternating chapters, or timelines, the time frame with Elijah begins with day six, but then goes down to day one, Elissa plays chess and is on her way to a Bournemouth hotel for a tournament, she plays throughout the morning, but decides to sit in the car and eat her lunch, her mum stays in the hotel. But 15 minutes later she is missing, a guest sees her bundled into a white van.

DS Mairead MacCullagh is assigned as SIO on the case, something she really could do without at this moment, as she is not feeling well. But she is determined to try and find Elissa, it turns out that it looks like she is not the first girl to go missing in a similar way, the last girl was Bryony Taylor from Yeovil, who had disappeared a year earlier.

The Memory Wood is what Elijah likes to name an area on the estate they live on, its owned by Leon Meunier, Elijah and his family live in a tied cottage on the estate. Elijah has found Elissa in an underground room, in a cottage, which is an exact replica to the one he lives in. Elissa is in pitch black and manacled to the wall by one of her wrists, she had found 8 candles but knows they won’t last long. Being good at chess she memorises the room as if it is a chess board.

This is a story which is absolutely gripping, addictive, engrossing. I very highly recommend this if you like a good thriller and a bit of police procedural thrown in. This is an author I will definitely be watching out for after reading this book.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #Transdigital for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest fair and unbiased review.

A dark and frightening debut novel by Sam Lloyd. It scared the dickens out of me. Well written, I found I was there with them, in the dark, in the memory wood.

I read a free advance review copy of the book thanks to Net Galley and the publishers. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

This has me hooked from the beginning. The story has many twists and keeps you guessing right till the end. Thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommended

On the face of it, this appears to be just another abductor/abductee story, but actually, it comes with a terrific twist, in this debut novel from Sam Lloyd.

The storyline revolves around 12 year old Elijah who has lived in Memory Wood for a very long time and 13 year old chess champion Elissa. Elissa has just arrived at Memory Wood, she’s been abducted and is being held in a cellar beneath the surrounding woods. Elijah visits her and wants to be her friend, so Elissa asks if he’ll help her to return to her mum, but he can’t promise that - he wouldn’t dare, however, he does promise to come back and see her.

The police officer in charge of the missing person investigation, Mairead, has personal problems of her own, but these have to be put aside in order to discover Elissa’s whereabouts and bring this abduction to a safe and satisfactory conclusion.

Well written with some very scary characters, terrific twists, and a fresh spin on the usual abduction stories, The Memory Wood is not one to be quickly forgotten!

A solid crime novel with plenty of twists and turns that kept me entertained until the very very end. I do enjoy a crime/thriller novel and it’s been a while since I have read one in almost a single sitting as I did with this one! 4/5

"The Memory Wood" is inventive, chilling and a compulsive read. The plot plays on our worst fears. The characters are extremely well-constructed. It's one of the best thrillers I've ever read and I don't think I'll ever forget it. By the end, my heart was hammering and I held my breath through the final chapters. Brilliantly written and incredibly tense throughout.

A true cat and mouse story about the true lengths someone will go to in order to survive. When Elissa is kidnapped and meets Elijah, there are more questions than answers; who is he? Will he help? Truly amazingly written and the twist is unexpected but shocking. Haunting tale that stays with you!

This was a very weird book that unfortunately missed the mark for me.

I really struggled to get into the book at the start. The characters are odd and the writing was weird.

But then we are introduced to two new characters and I liked those perspectives so I started to enjoy the book a lot more.

But the ending was weird and odd. It just was a bit too out there. It's hard to explain without giving spoilers but I wasn't a fan

I felt the whole book was too long. I got bored in quite a few parts because it felt like it was dragging on and on.

The ending also seemed to drag on for a while, probably longer than it needed to.

There was elements of this, I quite enjoyed like the focus on chess.

Its definitely a different thriller, if that's your kind of thing but it just wasn't for me unfortunately but it certainly was not a bad book at all.

TW: miscarriage