Review Detail

Templeman’s The little woods is slow in action but lovely to read. I mean, it is cataloged as a thriller but there is more of Cally going on that the actual mystery. However, the suspense was good enough to keep me reading every single page until the end (because you too skip pages sometimes, don’t you?).

Ten years ago, Cally’s sister disappeared in St. Bede’s Academy. Ten years later, Cally gets a scholarship to attend said Academy. Why? Well, the why is not important but what’s going on on-campus. A murder has just turned up and the love life of the student body is amiss.

Cally sets out to find out what happened to Iris (the disappeared girl) and a puzzle box, drugs, cheating and a condom are involved (but not in that order). Pretty much what border schools is said to be about but not overtly so.

By the middle of the book, I kind of had an idea what had happened to Cally sister but didn’t know it was going to turn out that way. Also, I was hoping that something really sinister had happened but nope, the book is contemporary.

As per Cally, she seems to be very confused (and so is Jack) although I don’t totally get why if she is pretty, has a scholarship, the guy she first liked when she came to school…. Why the uncertainty, then?

Templeman does many references to things-I-don’t-know-what-they-are but if you get them, hurrah! I didn't but that didn't stop me from enjoying the book. I guess I could’ve Googled it but was lazy.

What I didn’t like: the lack of normal or ugly people in the school. Did everybody need to be beautiful Templeman? I also didn't like Cally insistence in being different. Come on, are you going to tell me that you live surrounded by rich kids and you purposely enjoy standing out? Whatever. I liked Helen better.

Templeman is already working on her next mystery, The glass casket set to be out in 2014. I’m keeping my eyes open.