Book Review: Hunted by Darcy Coates

 

Goodreads Summary: 22-year-old Eileen goes missing while hiking in the remote Ashlough Forest. Five days later, her camera is discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken after her disappearance.

Chris wants to believe Eileen is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends create their own search party to scour the mountain range. As they stray further from the hiking trails and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to believe they’re not alone in the forest… and that Eileen’s disappearance wasn’t an accident.

By that point, it’s too late to escape.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.08 stars with over 8,000 reviews

Genre Listing: Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Crime, Survival

Goodreads Challenge: 18/36

2022 Reading Challenge: #33 Read a book that does not have a person (or people) on the cover (Find the entire challenge here)

 

Book Review:

Hello, Readers! As I write this, Reading Challenge Co-Conspirator is at the airport and preparing to make her way to Minnesota. It has been several years since we have seen each other, but I am so excited that she is spending our birthday week in Minnesota. We have some plans, including an Alice in Wonderland-themed escape room and tickets to  Wicked. We mostly plan to sit on my couch, binge a lot of TV, and read books. There will most definitely be snacks. Stay tuned; we have some fun Birthday blog fun coming.

 

So, on to Hunted by Darcy Coates. This book was a bit of a different read for me as I do not typically gravitate towards the survival suspense genres. Lately, I have wanted to read something that had the potential to be scary. I do not know that I found this scary. Some parts made me think, "oh, that is creepy," but that was about it. 

 

The book follows Chris and four of his friends as they form a search party to find Chris's missing sister, Eileen. The challenges they face are primarily psychological, which I found interesting. I thought Darcy Coates did a great job explaining how disorienting this forest would be, especially if there are additional threats to consider. The story also alternates between a few friends, their different perspectives, and the lead investigator on the disappearance case. I thought Delgado was the more interesting of the characters and had an interesting back story. With the book ending, I would read a crime thriller series where she is the main character.

 

I enjoyed the book, but I think the last 20-30% fell flat for me. I wanted to read about what was happening to Chris and his friends and see if they survived the forest. I also wanted to see if Delgado pieced the evidence together, but I figured out who was behind the disappearance early in the book. I think it was supposed to be a big reveal, but I was not all that surprised. Once the book got closer to the end, the story felt more tell than show, and it seemed like a packaged ending. I would still recommend it to anyone who wants a shorter survival thriller.