The Memory Wood

A fantastic book!
Deliciously dark and very creepy! The plot was brilliantly thought out, well written, fresh and imaginative. This one had me gripped from the start and refused to let go.
The characters were superbly drawn and extremely unexpected. The heroine of the story was engaging and interesting.
A psychological thriller that went way beyond expectations and drew me in with ease. I absolutely loved it!

I liked the description of this book, hadn’t heard of the author but wow I’m glad I gave it a go!

This is brilliantly written, there isn’t a boring bit in the whole book. Here’s my quick description: a 13 year old girl is kidnapped on a really important day for her. She is very smart and savvy, but can she outwit her kidnapper in time?

This is so tense and weird! I love weird by the way! It’s going to be one of those books that I remember for a long time.

Oh my goodness, what a ride! I loved loved loved The Memory Wood; it wove it’s way into my life, my nightmares, the lot. Definitely my read of the year....

It’s a novel centred around a kidnapping. Creepy and twisty, with a good balance of police involvement - which I don’t usually especially enjoy if it’s too interlaced within a novel. It’s written from several perspectives, the kidnapped 13 year old girl, her kidnapper, a 12 year old boy who is apparently trying to help her, and the lead female police officer. Well paced and unravels largely in chronological order. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of a nearby hamlet to where I live, which really brought the ending crashing down around my ears as I know the place very well.

Definitely, absolutely a must read of 2020, and I’ll be recommending it to all my book loving buddies.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WOW! The first thing you should know is that I instantly had to write this review upon finishing the novel. The Memory Wood is a chilling story about the abduction of a 13-year-old girl, Elissa, and I don't think I have ever read anything quite like it.  Do not be deceived in thinking that this is like any other thriller you have read which involves kidnapping. It is not.

When I first started reading The Memory Wood, the prose was quite alien to me in a way that it was something I hadn't come across before, and I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about it. It's difficult to delve too much into the specifics without giving away the various twists and turns, but the further into the story I travelled, the more I realised just how clever and meticulously thought out it was. It's easy to go into this one thinking you have it all figured out but you are definitely in for an unexpected journey which leaves you feeling as lost as Elissa, deep within the woods.

The writing is simplistic and doesn't delve too much into laborious description about the mundane, and yet this is what makes it so addictive because it focuses on exactly what it needs to. Told using multiple narratives, Lloyd does an excellent job at creating characters and voices that even the darkest of writerly minds would have a hard time pulling off.  

There are some harrowing scenes throughout the novel and Lloyd makes sure not to gloss over these, hitting us hard with raw, and often graphic, moments. That being said,  it's tasteful in that these moments are absolutely necessary to really capture the sinister atmosphere that has been created. The story unfolds in ways that I did not expect, and after reaching the half way point, I wasn't sure how it was going to end. I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster in those final chapters and Lloyd manages to create reader empathy where it honestly doesn't feel like it should be possible!

Finally, there are some great themes around loss and parenthood woven throughout the novel, which play nicely into the main arc of the story. Thank you to both Netgalley and Random House UK. Transworld Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and feedback on this fantastic novel.  Watch out 2020!