Patricia J. MacDonald

Patricia MacDonald's "The Girl in the Woods" takes place in Yorkville, a small town in the Poconos. In the prologue, we meet thirteen-year-old Blair Butler, whose close friend, Molly Sinclair, is a good-hearted girl who frequently invites the lonely Blair to her home. Unfortunately, Blair and her sister, Celeste, are orphans who live with their uncle, Ellis Dietz, an irascible and verbally abusive racist. Ellis's house is a wreck (it "looked as if it was going to implode on itself"). This show more elderly and cantankerous man is a hostile and irresponsible guardian who is even nastier to the kids after he downs a few beers.

One evening, when Molly is at Blair's house, an argument erupts between Blair and her uncle. Molly decides to walk home but, tragically, never makes it. A jury convicts an African-American man, Adrian Jones (who converted to Islam and has a new name, Yusef Muhammed), of bludgeoning Molly to death. Muhammed has already spent fifteen years in jail. Blair, who is now in her mid-twenties, has a graduate degree in computer science and runs a successful business in Philadelphia. When she discovers new information that may exonerate Muhammed, she puts aside her own concerns and boldly fights for the prisoner's release. Blair even hires a private investigator, Tom Olson, to help track down the perpetrator who took Molly's life.

This engrossing and suspenseful thriller is a multi-faceted page-turner. The novel's descriptive writing and dialogue are lively and fast-paced, and the characters are believable and well-defined. Blair is bright, intuitive, and strong-willed. Ellis is obnoxious, but shows a softer side when a do-gooder named Darlene Reed takes an interest in him. Tom is brusque and ill-mannered, but relentless when it comes to chasing down information. The story is surprising, developed with subtlety and skill, and culminates with a chilling and intense finale. The author demonstrates that justice can be elusive; villains lurk in the most unexpected places; and one should never underestimate a resolute woman who sets out to right a terrible wrong. show less

The book is advertised as a gripping psychological thriller. While the mystery of the whodunnit was compelling, I wouldn't say that the story was gripping in any sense of the word. I felt more affinity with the potential perps than I did with our main character Tess or any of her family members. Tess was a little dull and her accusations against this person and that person based on nothing realistic was annoying. She was an excitable character that I did not like. What kept me reading? I show more really wanted to know who killed Phoebe.

Most of the twists and turns came near the end of the story and I felt that they were almost on top of each other. I had to concentrate hard on catching them as they came quickly. Also, some of the twists seemed far-fetched but maybe that is just a result of them coming all at the same time. It would have been better to have them equally placed throughout the plot.

The whodunnit drives this story although the whydunnit was surprising. For this reason I am rating the book at 3 out of 5 stars. show less

From Fantastic Fiction Book Description:
Eleven years ago, Anna Lange's life was shattered when her young son, Paul, disappeared -- though she never gave up hope that he might be alive. Now, her son has been returned. The joyful family reunion is short-lived, however, as the nervous, withdrawn Paul begins to behave strangely. Anna's husband and daughter grow fearful living in the same house with him. But Anna believes that Paul is still recovering from the extreme psychological trauma he show more experienced the night he disappeared -- though he claims he has no memory of that time. Does he or doesn't he? Someone remembers -- and will stop at nothing to keep the truth a secret.

My Thoughts:
I liked the book from the very first page. It has enough suspense to really hold your interest and I was very surprised that the culprit was not who I thought it was. Patricia MacDonald tried to give each member of the Lange family their own voice and personalities which she succeeded very well in doing. Those personalities did at times grate on my nerves. Thomas, Anna's husband, presented a very impersonal attitude toward their son, and Tracy, their daughter continuously whined and made fun of her brother. But it did make the reader stop and try to look at how they would feel if they were in this character's shoes...a 13 years old girl whose brother she couldn't even remember was to show up on her doorstep 11 years later. Or a father who had accepted that his son was gone forever now was suddenly presented with this child that was so changed from the one that disappeared. A very well presented story that should satisfy any mystery and suspense fan. show less

Terrific! I knew nothing about this mystery writer but the story was fun and completely confusing. I had several suspects in mind, but each of them was described as a suspect so I wasn't the only one. It's great when you can't figure out who did what, completely, until right at the end. Or is that just me?