Challenge Corner discussion

A shocking murder in the New Zealand bush—and the witness who looks all too familiar—draws a woman back to the very place she swore she’d never return to in this breakneck debut thriller.

A child who ran from the forest.
A woman who must return to it

Growing up with her younger siblings in the unforgiving New Zealand bush, Effie believed their parents had cut them off from civilization because they loved Nature. She never suspected that their reasons might be more menacing. After witnessing a terrifying episode of violence, she escaped the wilderness to forge a life for herself halfway across the globe.

Now, when she learns the only witness to a murder is a little girl who looks just like her, Effie is compelled to return to the scene of her troubled childhood, where the secrets of her upbringing and the terrors of her past come rushing back to the surface. In order to find out once and for all what became of her family—and possibly help this mysterious girl who could be her younger self—Effie must face her greatest fears once more.

Still planning to get to this this month!

ooh it's a quick start and a story that's really sucking me in!
no chapter numbers, though, so hopefully you have the e-copy? or do you have audio?

26%

(view spoiler)[ wow! I wonder who Anya is? Could it be the child of her brother, Four? Or Tia?

and what happened to her dad? Did Lewis do something or are they nervous about everyone finding out about something else?

and why does everyone think Effie is either missing or dead?

these past stories are a bit scary but it seems that June is okay since she went back to her and she came to help them so much! but I wonder why - who was she? and who was she to the dad? or the mom?

and who's in the photo Effie found? (hide spoiler)]

so many questions!!

Trisha wrote: "ooh it's a quick start and a story that's really sucking me in!
no chapter numbers, though, so hopefully you have the e-copy? ..."

I do have an ecopy!

YAY!! so this will hopefully line up % wise and be easy to know where each of us are stopping!

50%

wow, at first this was just sort of . . .wild and interesting
it just got real dark

(view spoiler)[
so her little sister and little brother? Yikes.
is anya really theirs?

and now we know Asher visited them, must have helped convince Effie to leave. I wonder why her dad allowed him to stay so near in the tent. he had to know that a boy that age shouldn't be hanging around his kids, right? Yikes

the cage, the tying up, the "being dirty" - what was going on in this hut and what did her dad teach them? (hide spoiler)]

76%

wow so now (view spoiler)[ we know what happened to Asher
her dad murdered him. OMG.
shocking and terrible that he's probably still alive, out there in the Bush

is Dinah her dad's sister? was he Adam? was he raised out here?
and how did he meet her mom? and move out there?

and where is Tia?? We know Aiden died - that was terrible
but we know so little still

so glad June was able to steal her birth certificate (hide spoiler)]

and done

wow, that was a lot at the end
(view spoiler)[
Anya - I didn't like her in the end. she was so untrustworthy
I never would have trusted her and was surprised when she gave the key. she creeped me out

and wow, Tia was alive and being held. we finally found out about Dinah and wow, her being her mom! and her dad was Cameron.

it made sense, then, that he was beating them for finding them but her dad also took them into the same bush Peter had hidden Dinah in. I think it was just a matter of time before they eventually overlapped.

Adam/Aster - what a terrible guy. knew it was bad that her dad was allowing a grown man to play with his kids all day 😬

I was really glad she was with Lewis and still with june in the end. June did so much for her and her family (hide spoiler)]

Glad to see you enjoyed this one! It's still on my neverending list! LOL