4.5/5

For fans of: mystery, alternative lifestyles, haunting forests, getting lost in the woods, secret lives

The Big Questions:

• What genre is this in? Mystery, fiction, thriller

• Are there any swoon-worthy characters? Characters aren’t descriptively detailed, but their actions are very human and very memorable

• Is it spicy? No

• Is it violent or gory? There are descriptions of fighting, but nothing gory

• Should I buy, borrow, or pass on this book? Buy it.

Synopsis: Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called "Pastoral," this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it… he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms.

Hauntingly beautiful, hypnotic, and bewitching, A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

Review: Shea Ernshaw has done it again! Another small town, this time hidden deep in the woods. A mystery among the locals that someone is desperately trying to hide. A surrounding forest that is both terrifying and hypnotic. Characters that are so wonderfully human just trying to live their lives in peace after being given a second chance. The twists and turns in this story really took you places. You don’t know what is real and what is imagined, sometimes questioning of any of it is real or if all of it is imagined. Not once did I feel settled when reading this and I loved every moment of it. With every one of her books, I try to guess the big reveal and she really pulls you through the ringer questioning yourself with every new small hint or reveal. I am always close, but never fully right and I enjoy being kept on my toes. If you are looking for an unsettling thriller with amazing atmosphere, this is the one for you.