Review: Suicide Forest

Suicide Forest by Jeremy Bates

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




I received a copy of Suicide Forest from the author through a giveaway on Goodreads. The author was giving away 10 copies to members who had the book on their to-read shelf, I was fortunate to be one of the lucky ten.

Suicide Forest caught my attention initially because it's set in Aokigahara forest in Japan, better known to most as Suicide Forest. The blurb really intrigued me and on reading further it mentioned that the spirits of those many suicides were still roaming and haunting deep in the ancient woods. Sold!

"Shadows emerged from their daytime sanctuaries, perverting the trees more than they already were, turning them into looming monsters out of a sadistic fairytale. Grays became charcoals and charcoals, blacks. Then night was upon us like a thief, swiftly and silently."

This was a very descriptive and well written book. The descriptions and atmosphere of the forest made it very easy to visualise the creepiness and how dangerous the forest was on it's own, even before the author got to the more sinister side of the plot. The characters are well developed and each have their own individuality to bring to the story, making it all the more enjoyable. I have read and watched many different stories and programmes about Aokigahara forest and it's clear that the author has done his research well before writing the book.

The pace to start with was a little slow but still enjoyable. The tension builds slowly and then really picks up, grabs your attention and has you quickly turning the pages. The ending was a pleasant surprise, I wasn't expecting that at all. I'm not going to give spoilers, so you're going to have to read for yourself if you want to know what the twist in the end was!

Reviews also posted to my blog: Scarlet's Web
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