I DNFed this. Although I like how the author uses different metaphors for description of details, I also find it hard to be fully immersed into the book. The mystery is interesting though because it is told in two different time frame.

I just didn't get fully immersed and I feel like I will give this book a bad and low rating because I am forcing to read it. And I don't want that to happen.

I am not saying that this is a bad book. I just think that i'm not really in the mood for this right now. But I might pick it up again in the near future.

This one was just okay for me. And I honestly am not sure why. It has all the elements I usually love in a mystery novel, but I struggled to stay interested throughout. You can't love every book, right?

“You’re in for a dark surprise”

Dark Surprise! That doesn’t even begin to describe what’s going on in this small corner of The Lake District and beyond!

Getting my thought processes into logic mode was quite difficult for this book, so you do need to read my review in its entirety, as my emotions and thoughts were so mixed.

There was a good strong beginning to this deeply disturbing book, and a rather satisfying and hopeful conclusion. However whilst the unique storyline definitely sucked me in completely, messed with my head until I had no idea which day of the week it was, then spat me out and left me to get on with picking up the broken pieces of my mind and senses, I felt that I wasn’t able to engage with it in the way I had hoped for, and anticipated. However that was totally my problem, as the plot was just so dark and twisted, as to be delving into the realms of horror/fantasy/ supernatural on occasion, making one or two scenes quite difficult to connect with, for me personally. I actually felt a little cheated that it didn’t quite achieve its full potential for me, as if it had, then I believe that the bits of me it had already left for broken, would have been totally destroyed to the point of being irreparable, such was the power and quality of the narrative and dialogue. For me personally, I think that some of the problem rested with the rather lengthy chapter headings, which left me slightly unsure and confused about where I was in the timeline at any given moment, thus making the storyline rather disjointed and not as fluid as I would have liked.

The author’s totally immersive and highly visually descriptive narrative has a terrific sense of location, which had me mesmerised, as I became drawn into this forbidding landscape, although I’m not sure that as an ‘armchair traveller’, David’s honest observations really endeared me to the area, and they certainly wouldn’t have been included in any reputable travel brochure! However they set the scene for this story, in an unimaginably powerful and atmospheric way.

This unconventional, multi-layered, intensely disquieting storyline, evoked and stirred so many emotions, all of which kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. So adroitly was I manipulated, that at times I found myself becoming unfathomably angry by certain turns of events, causing me to have to pause and remind myself that this was a work of fiction, although oftentimes fact is indeed stranger than fiction! Is this display of drink and drug fuelled, ritualistic and menacing depravity, really so far removed from the reality of 20th/21st Century life as we think we know it, albeit that we strive to hide our perverted mores and proclivities; or is there simply a sickening reality in this chain of corruption and denial amongst authority? This is definitely not a story to relax and escape into, as the rich atmosphere which David weaves around events, is not conducive to putting the reader at ease in any way, although it is far too compelling and gripping to let it slip through your fingers and close the pages on it. This is most definitely not a journey to be rushed through, but is one which needs time taken to savour all the nuances and I felt as though I was right at the heart of the action, albeit that the dots didn’t always quite join up.

David introduced me to an equally unconventional multi-faceted cast of characters, to whom applying the epithet ‘quirky’, doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. I was up close and personal with some of the strangest, most dysfunctional and often downright frightening individuals I am ever going to meet between the pages of a book. In fact they are a group which I would be running to get away from under any normal circumstances, although the story really would be nothing without them! They were drawn and defined with great complexity, then brought to life with complete confidence and total authority by an author who can obviously visualise and hear them all in full and glorious 3D, long before he commits pen to paper. This seems to be the community which time forgot, as this disparate and eclectic mix of bohemian, hippy and ‘otherworldly’ figures, trance their way through an existence which is far removed from contemporary normality. None of them are easy to connect with or invest in, with character dynamics and synergy, or coherent and intelligent conversational dialogue, being almost non-existent. Nonetheless, David has managed to really get under the skin of his cast and give them an unconventional form of life, giving them a physical appearance which you only have to shut your eyes to visualise and some ‘off the wall’ dialogue imbued with just the right level of unintentional wit and sarcasm, so as to make them stand out from the crowd, from time to time. The most forthright of the characters, is definitely disgraced journalist and would be author, Rowan. Alcohol, drugs and some ‘necessary’ violent and unscrupulous dealings, which have gone badly wrong, have seen him fall on hard times and his cynicism is clearly on display for all to see, as he is determined to make a story out of what he thinks is nothing, in order to fulfil his obligations and pay his debts.

As the author previously spent some fifteen years in journalism, many of those as a crime reporter, before wielding his pen in an entirely new direction, to forge a path for himself in fictional crime writing, he is clearly operating in an area which he knows all too well first-hand. But there is where I hope the similarities between himself and the dour Rowan end!

In my opinion, it is certainly a real understatement to say that this book might take each reader on a totally unique and individual journey, as it is more or less definitely guaranteed to do that!!

Thirty years ago, three school friends took a walk into the woods but only two girls came back. Their memories a jumble of hallucinations and twisted visions. There were chilling reasons why nobody looked for the missing girl. Now, disgraced investigator Rowan Blake will discover that in the remote and desolate Wasdale Valley, nothing stays buried forever.

This is the first book and instalment to a trilogy known as the Lakeland trilogy., This book contains everything you need for a creepy and dark storyline. It is well written and meets the genre description. Some parts are slow in places and appear to have strong detail on parts that do not seem as relevant. The storyline does keep you intrigued and guessing, I enjoyed the flashbacks to get more of an insight to help with the plot. I look forward to the next part of the trilogy.

**There are numerous spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar throughout.

This book was received as an ARC from Aria & Aries - Head of Zeus -- an Aries Book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Normally I am not a fan of these types of novels but this one had a compelling story that kept me in the novel all the way. I appreciate any type of novel that uses language that highlights the characters in a way that they are memorable and relatable and taking a classic concept (lost in the woods) and put a whole new twist that is new, exciting and will take you on quite the thrill ride. We do have a cult following for these types of books and our patrons are always asking if there are new ones upon arrival and I can't wait to tell them all about Into the Woods.

We will consider adding this title to our Mystery collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Into The Woods is a story of mystery with a touch of evil and horror. Thirty years ago, three girls went into the woods and only two came out with no memory of what happened. Now, Rowan Blake is a journalist with a critically acclaimed true crime book under his belt that didn’t sold well and another one that he still hasn’t written. With the help of his niece Snowdrop, Rowan starts investigating what happened to these girls thirty years earlier, only to find out that the story may not be over yet.

The story is told in two timelines. In the past, young Violet and Catherine meet at Silver Birch Academy in Wasdale and we read about their friendship and the events that lead them to walk into the woods with another girl and a stranger. In the present day, we follow Rowan, who is recovering from an injury, and his adorable and smart niece trying to figure out what really happened.

The narrative is not fast-paced, but there are twists and the elements of horror keep the tension high. Into The Woods is my first novel by David Mark and I must admit that I really like his writing style and I found the descriptions beautiful and detailed.

Into The Woods is a dark tale of secrets, murders, disappearances, and occultism featuring interesting and quirky characters and a chilling and creepy plot that gave me goosebumps. Highly recommended!!!

As the story begins Rowan Blake is in the Lake District, sheltering from the pitfalls of his life at the wonderfully named Bilberry Byre, supported by his hippy sister, Serendipity, who seems to be his go-to person when his life gets a little rough. That Blake is a belligerent man who is prone to moods of despair comes across from the outset and yet for all his moods he a likeable man with huge potential.

That Blake has hit rock bottom is obvious for although an accomplished writer and journalist his last two true crime books, whilst critically acclaimed, haven't brought in the sales he so desperately needs to survive. Having been badly injured due to a recent altercation, Blake finds that he relies heavily on both his sister, and his young niece, Snowdrop, herself budding journalist, which doesn't help either his irascible moods, or his peace of mind.

Then out of the blue, Blake's interest in piqued by a thirty year old local story involving three young girls who disappeared for a time into the woods with a stranger but only two of them ever returned. Blake sets out to find out just what happened to the missing girl with dangerous consequences. There is much to learn as the investigation is far from straightforward and the assorted characters who flit into and out of the story each bring their own particular skill to the story. The complexity of what is being uncovered takes some concentration and the dark and brooding northern background only adds to the dark and disturbing feel of the story.

After something of a slow start the book picks up pace as the story progresses, and the dark and sinister edge continues throughout. As Into the Woods is the first book in a proposed trilogy, it will be interesting to see where this talented writer takes the story to next time.

The Wasdale Valley is the beautiful setting for this unusual crime novel from David Marks, the first in a trilogy set in the Lakes. It is unusual, mainly in its use of language and the mix of crime, social commentary and a touch of the supernatural. My first impression as I started to read was that it reminded me of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad novels. The opening is almost hallucinatory as a young girl comes to consciousness:

‘There had been a drink. A cold, brown soup slopped from an earthen bowl. It had plants in. Some wormy tuber had touched her lip as she lapped at the brew like a cat with a saucer. Memory again. Music. A guitar on a strap.’

I had an almost visceral reaction to this first passage, a feeling of disgust. The girl comes to realise her consciousness is inside this meat body described as a ‘pig-fat candle’. The sentences are stilted, growing longer as she wakes more. It sets the reader on edge because it’s synaesthesic - she can taste and feel the heavy air, see her thoughts, and experiences her body through pain and unpleasant sensations. I had to read this opening a few times to fully understand what was happening, but the horror of the earthy face rushing towards her smelling of bad meat definitely stayed with me.

This is a story of a thirty year old mystery as three girls followed a stranger into the woods and only two returned. There were local whispers of drugs, cults and strange rituals but no one really knows what happened and the two who returned remembered nothing. Their memories are shattered into pieces and thy still suffer traumatic flashbacks and hallucinations. This is just the type of story that investigative journalist Rowan Blake needs to revive his career. At the moment, both his career and his body are in tatters. He has retreated to the Lake District in order to write. Whatever he unearths in the woods will have stayed buried for thirty years, but when he chooses this mystery is he prepared for the evil that awaits him? Rowan is our narrator in the present day timeline and he starts his investigations by using his local contacts, his sister Serendipity and her daughter Snowdrop. All three girls were at the same private school, the Silver Birch Academy, and there are local stories about the school’s unorthodox teaching methods. The girls are rumoured to have followed a stranger into the woods to visit a Shaman, which could explain the strange hallucinatory drink and amnesia.

Our narrator in the past is Violet, explaining her experiences in such detail with layers and layers of disturbing description. Despite Rowan being our protagonist I did find myself waiting for Violet’s chapters. I was both disgusted and fascinated in equal measure and I felt compelled to keep reading to find out what happened. Violet isn’t the easiest person to empathise with; she’s an angry, tempestuous teenager with a tendency to bully others. The fact that she’s not in the present day narrative, due to being away travelling, is a clever choice. It concentrates the reader on her teenage self, but also reinforces the tension as the reader becomes even more determined to find out her fate. Violet has reportedly been trying to come to terms with her experience of late, whereas best friend Catherine is more reticent. I didn’t feel a bond with Rowan either and he has faults too. He’s quite selfish, and isn’t really grateful for the help of his sister, even though she’s bailed him out before. It’s a brave thing to have two narrators without any sympathetic qualities, because it could easily turn the reader off, but here it works. As Rowan uncovers more he starts to worry about Violet. Is she really travelling or has she gone missing again?

This is not the sort of thriller you bolt your way through in an afternoon. It needs a longer time, so you can actually savour the language and the horror of what has happened here. It’s complex and black as night. It’s a reading experience that bears a second or third glance; like viewing a large painting, at first we only see the main subject, but as we look closer there is so much more to take in. Here there are quirky secondary characters to enjoy, a wonderful sense of place and very ominous weather that foreshadows Rowan’s findings. Nothing good happened here.

If you go into the woods, you’re in for a dark surprise....

This is appearing as part of the blog tour this week.

Thirty years ago, three young girls followed a stranger into the woods. Only two of them returned ... but without any memory of where they've been or what happened to them. Lots of conspiracy theories were tossed around, but nothing concrete was ever developed.

Rowan Blake used to be a fine journalist, but times have been hard. He's in debt, has no job, and is recovering from having skin grafts on his hands. He's moved in with his sister and her daughter to recuperate.

When he hears that one of the returned girls lives right where he is, he starts thinking about a story. Maybe something that will turn his luck around.

But Rowan isn't prepared for the truth ... the secrets that have been buried in the woods for thirty years .....

This is a rather slow-paced plot, complex, but having some really unique characters ..mostly Rowan's daughter and the sometimes quirky residents. There are some twists and turns that might challenge credibility ... and the ending lacked the excitement I was looking for. I have read this author before .. this one is not his best.

Many thanks to the author / Aria & Aria / Netgalley for the digital copy of this mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This is a wonderfully descriptive slow burner.

You are drawn in instantly with the description of a girl who seems to be being tortured. Then, we see that a short Tweet from a journalist named Rowan Blake has had a reply from a neo-Nazi telling him that he was "going to burn". Very intriguing.

In present day, we follow Rowan whose life has basically gone to pot. He went from being journalist to author to TV presenter and then right back down again. He had one decent book about a real-life serial killer but despite being told that he has a knack of getting into people's heads, he didn't get many sales and he is desperate to make some money with another.

We also have flashbacks from the late 1980s to early 1990s at a school called Silver Birch. It is not your typical school, a bit "hippy" and they focus on reiki and shamanic healing. This is a recurrent theme running throughout the book. Here, we follow Violet and Catherine then their new friend Freya. The three of them go missing but only Violet and Catherine return.

Back in present day, Rowan is currently living in his sister's land with injured hands that he has had a skin graft on. With publishers asking for pages for his new book, he needs to find something worth writing about. His pre-teen neice Snowdrop makes a portfolio of all of the articles he's written, in a way to boost his spirits, and he comes across the story of the Three Girls. He then vows to find out what happened to the third one who was never found. Rowan enlists Snowdrop to help with the writing.

Rowan's sister, and Snowdrop's mother, Serendipity is acquaintances with one of the girls who was abducted - Violet. He then uses his journalistic background to dig deeper and get in contact with anyone who may have information, from neighbours to police officers and staff from the school. He is definitely looking at this from a "How much money can it make me?" point of view, rather than actually trying to find justice.

This book is so descriptive. The jumble of the women's memories really makes you as the reader feel confused. It has been a long time since I've read a book that is as descriptive as this. Not only does it put you in the scene but you can imagine smells and tastes too. I genuinely felt queasy at some scenes. It keeps you guessing right up until the very end.

The story revolves around three school friends who took a walk into the woods but only two girls came back. This incident happens 30 events prior. I would say that i really liked the story but I figured out wayyy any spelling and grammatical errors.

It’s my day for the Aries Fiction blog tour for Into the Woods by David Mark! This was my first mystery/ psychological thriller of the year, and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

This was not a fast-paced novel by any means for me. However, this is a book to savour, to get slowly drawn into. The flashbacks and the snippets of information Rowan Blake uncovers using his journalistic skills help to keep the pace slow, but the suspense high.

This wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and I am glad! It was not predictable, in a way some psychological thrillers can be, with the final twist at the end creating this ‘a ha!’ moment that rounded off this book. I had my suspicions and had drawn my own conclusions throughout the story that David Mark writes, but I don’t think I was quite prepared for the answers that presented themselves.

The writing was by far the best part of this book. From page 1, my skin was set on edge. The description really sets your hair and teeth on end. The writing is truly brilliant, so utterly gruesome and skin crawling, it almost makes you feel as if you are too close to the action. You can feel everything the characters do.

I love an unreliable narrator. If they are well done, they make you question everything you think you know. And by setting up the story using an unreliable narrator, through the drugs taken and the experience itself, the reader does not really understand what is actually happening until the flashbacks and modern-day occurrences help fill the gaps in. The unreliable narrator creates an immense level of intrigue and makes this book so compelling.

If you love psychological thrillers, or mysteries that have you right at the centre of the plot, this book is definitely one for you to read!

Thank you to Aries Fiction and David Mark for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

Boy, I just couldn’t get into this book. I had the worst time not finding every little mistake which had to have gone into the triple digits. It really took me out of the story which each obvious mistake. I hope this is corrected before the book is released.

Now, the story was way too out there (and I watched Supernatural!!!). The suspense was fine but the paranormal part of the story was just too phony.

I picked this up from Goodreads because the synopsis says that the author, David Mark, is having a series made for TV but I am glad it is not this series.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a fan of David Mark’s writing. His brain never fails to come up with an intriguing plot, some fascinating and often dark characters and usually a good helping of dark and gruesome. He is good at levelling this style with dark humour and a bit of the ordinary in life which brings it all together in a believable way.

Our protagonist is Rowan Blake, a journalist with a bit of a moral vacuum. With one moderately successful true crime book behind him (critics liked it, didn’t make mass sales) he is now bereft of ideas and his publisher is biting his ear off for the book whose advance has long since been spent on drink and other necessities of life.

When we meet him, he is nursing badly injured hands as a result of an encounter with someone who really didn’t like his last book and Rowan has retreated to his sister’s cottage in the Lake District, the biliously named Bilberry Byre, ostensibly to write his next, now very late, book, but in fact to lie low and hope no-one finds him.

It doesn’t hurt that he can live rent free, either. Having left journalism to write books, he has no source of income to fall back on. Just as well his sister, Serendipity (Dippy) is a decent woman who though she despairs of her brother, still doesn’t have the heart to see him on his uppers without helping.

Dippy’s 12 year old daughter, Snowdrop is entranced by her uncle. She dreams of becoming a journalist and is determined to help him with whatever his next project is. In fact, she has an idea that he might want to explore.

Dippy has a friend, Violet Sheehan, who is a member of the local library book club. Three decades ago, she was a pupil at the Silver Birch Academy, an alternative, slightly hippy school in Wasdale with new age ideas and a holistic approach where the teaching was relaxed and pupils were encouraged to express themselves and to explore alternative cultures.

Violet had two friends then: Catherine Marlish, the local vicar’s daughter and Freya, a new girl at the school whose father was away on business so much of the time that she really just lived at the school.

Mr Sixpence, was the school healer; something of a shaman, he worked with the unhappy and troubled pupils sent there by harassed and troubled parents who didn’t have any ideas about how else to find help for their children. Mr Sixpence was a gentle, friendly soul whose treatments may have been unorthodox, but who listened and seemed to get results.

It all came adrift after one night when these three friends went into the woods with a stranger and though no-one can remember exactly what happened, only two came out again and Mr Sixpence was never seen again.

Now Violet has been trying to piece together bits of her fragmented memory and to write it down, hoping to make sense of it. But Violet, who was never the most likeable of children, prone to selfishness and bouts of rebellion, has suddenly gone off on her travels to ‘find herself’.

Still, Rowan sees the kernel of a story here. At the very least, it is something he can sell to his publisher to keep him off Rowan’s back; at best it will turn out to be a story worth pursuing. With Snowdrop ready at his side to push him when he loses heart, Rowan begins to investigate.

David Mark writes a slow burn of a novel that creeps into your soul and slowly wraps its evil tentacles round your heart squeezing roughly as it finds the weak spots and starts to exert its horrific hold on you. The dank weather and the bleak, sparse woods with their old mine workings hold horrors that you wish you hadn’t discovered.

There is real malevolence here; a madness in the air and as Rowan looks more deeply he finds a trail of menace, violence, evil and corruption that some have worked hard for years to keep buried.

Mark’s characterisation is spot on. Rowan Blake is a fascinating character – a mix of rascal and intrepid journalist. Blake is a charming rogue and a man with no moral compass and no hesitation when it comes to getting a story.

With this book you want to give yourself time to soak in the atmosphere and consider the complexity of all the characters. Mark’s writing drips with atmosphere and the sense of menace and real evil is palpable even leavened as it is by some fantastic darkly humorous moments.

I’ve become a huge David Mark fan over the course of several of his books and I loved this one for its atmosphere, characters and the way in which he magically captures the intensity of the story.

Verdict: Utterly compelling reading, it held me in its grasp and squeezed ‘til I was breathless.

"You can weave the most extraordinary tapestry out of lies but one loose thread and it all comes apart."

This is a story of decades-old secrets, missing teenagers, corruption, shamans, and maybe even murder...

Thirty years ago, three girls followed a stranger into the woods. Only two returned. And they can’t remember what happened, only that everyone seems to want them to forget. Now pieces are coming back and one of them decides to search for the truth.

It’s just the story that down on his luck journalist Rowan Blake needs to reverse his fortune. But he is unprepared for the dark secrets he is about to unearth in the woods. Or what others will do to keep them there.

Dark, chilling, sinister and hauntingly atmospheric, this sent shivers down my spine from the start. It has a strangeness that I found fascinating, even if it did get a little too bizarre at times towards the end. The author’s eerie prose and vivid imagery drew me deeper into the story and compelled me to keep reading as I waited on tenterhooks to learn the truth about what happened in the woods thirty years ago.

The story is told in dual timelines: Rowan is our main narrator in the present, while Violet is the main voice we hear in flashbacks that tell the story leading up to the girls’ disappearance. I found both narrators intriguing, but Violet was the one who’s chapters I enjoyed most of all. I thought the author captured the voice of an antagonistic, troubled and angry teenage girl to perfection. We don’t meet Violet in the present day as more than an off-screen character for most of the book which gives her an air of mystery and allows us to really connect with teenage Violet. Rowan is equally unlikable but compelling; a man at his lowest ebb when we meet him. I enjoyed that the author was brave enough to make both main characters quite unlikable. It’s a risk as that can make it hard to enjoy the book, but he did it so well that it made it a more interesting read.

Absorbing, eerie, twisty and suspenseful, this is a gripping thriller that I would recommend.

Rating: ✮✮✮.5

Sadly, this just wasn't for me. It was very slow-paced, which had a stultifying effect on any tension. Honestly, it just felt like it got longer as I was reading it.

Something dark is waiting in the woods...

When crime journalist and author Rowan Blake suffers a horrific injury to both hands, he is forced to move into a holiday home on his older sister's property. His young niece Snowdrop is responsible for checking up on him, bringing him meals and helping him with anything he needs. Snowdrop is fascinated by her Uncle Rowan and wants to learn everything there is to know about being a journalist, solving mysteries and being the first one to report them. Since Rowan has a deadline in six weeks, he decides two heads are better than one and allows Snowdrop to help him research and find a story. When they uncover a chilling secret from their own hometown's past, they work together to solve a mystery that has haunted the town for 30 years. Will they uncover the secrets, lies and mistakes of the past, or will they come back to haunt them too?
I really enjoyed this book but I did find some of the descriptions a bit long and wordy. I found the storyline in this book fascinating, especially as this was a dual-perspective and dual-timeline book. I loved reading bits of the past and present and was really anxious to have all of my questions answered. There were a few twists along the way and bits and pieces of information that all came together in the end. I also found the main character, Rowan, very likable. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a dark thriller.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book!

Into the Woods is a decent enough read, but I do not think it is a book I will reread, as I so often do with stories I love.

I struggled with the characters and at times was very close to just put the book away and forget about it. While I am glad I finished it, I do not think I will pick it up again.

Fantastic read. I have been completely unable to put this one down. I cannot wait to read more by this author.
Full review to follow on publication.

This was dark, creepy, disturbing I love the way David was able to really describe scenes throughout the book. That mace this book so amazing!
The book is a slow burning read to me. But that didn't stop me from wanting more.
This was such a well written book and I'm more excited to read more from David