Joe Ruff

A boy goes missing after being out in the woods with his friends, and the community gathers together to support his grieving mother. An elder in the community hints that the boy has been taken by "what lives in the woods..."

I was drawn to the illustrations in this book (no pun intended) and since it would be a short read, I decided to give it a try. I had a bit of trepidation that it would be a horror graphic novel and horror isn't really my genre, but it was more of an eerie suspense story show more than anything else. I was intrigued by the mysterious circumstances in the plot, although as a fair warning, they aren't fully explained in great detail. I was okay with the vagueness of the others situation and thought it fit well with giving an air of the unexplained sinister, but if you like neat and tidy endings, you won't get that here. The illustrations were indeed quite lovely -- of the more realistic style that I prefer and the black-and-white shading works well to convey the uncanny atmosphere.

The book is indeed a very quick read, although it does provide some fodder for later speculation. I recommend if you enjoy books with an element of mystery and appreciate detailed, artistic illustrations.

Full disclosure, my coworker's boyfriend is the author of this title, but I only met the fellow once, so I don't think that influenced me a great deal. show less