The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

Summary:

Lauren and Miranda have been best friends forever. Every day one would say: “Meet me by the old ghost-tree” and they would go and have adventures. But now Miranda only likes boys and Lauren’s father was found in the woods with his heart torn out, and no one was ever caught. A year later, the bodies of two girls are discovered. Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging human remains through the woods, and she knows she can’t keep doing nothing. Not like the rest of her town.

The foundation of her seemingly normal home is rotten to the centre. And if nobody else stands for the missing, she will.

About the Author:

Christina Henry is the pseudonym of Tina Raffaele (born 1974), who is an American horror and dark fantasy author. She has written retellings of well known works such as The Chronicles of Alice (based on Alice in Wonderland) and Lost Boy (based on Peter Pan). The Ghost Tree was published in 2020. 

Rating:

3 stars - ★★★☆☆

Review:

The Ghost Tree was a Christmas present. I didn’t realise how many horror books I had on my TBR list, but I think this comes from the books inspired by myths that I’ve got on there. I definitely found The Ghost Tree easy to read as I read most of it in one afternoon, and I finished the last 30 or so pages after work the next day. So I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. However I was distracted by the parts that I didn’t enjoy.

There were too many different points of view in the story. For the first (what seemed like) half of the book, each chapter was from the point of view of a different person. There could have been way more intrigue if this was reduced down, and some things were kept a secret, or observed through one of the other (already established) narrator’s eyes.

My favourite character was Alex because he seemed to be the only one who had any sense. I was disappointed by Lauren’s grandmother, she was introduced as a character with so much potential and I was so ready to love her but she didn’t seem to fulfil that potential for me. Then because the narration kept flitting from one character’s POV to another, I don’t think I got a proper chance to really know any of the characters deeply.  

Also the tone of The Ghost Tree seemed quite basic and even childish. For a book that is classed as horror, the style of writing was too simple for me to truly get that feeling of horror. Although I can fully admit, I’m not speaking from experience here, I’ve never read anything else that’s classed as horror. But I haven’t read anything classed as horror because I’m easily scared. And this didn’t scare me.

I did want to know how The Ghost Tree ended. Although I had guessed the main elements of the ending pretty early on. And the parts of the ending that I didn’t guess were so far-fetched that I don’t think anyone could have guessed them. There were plenty of parts that seemed shoe-horned in and that had no explanation or other basis. The part where (spoiler alert) they defeat the monster, was lacking any logical explanation of how they knew what to do and why it worked. There were a few parts as well as the ending, that were preceded by ‘she just knew deep down that…’ or something similar. It feels super sloppy when books use this as an explanation of quite important plot lines. Why did she know deep down? What previous clue or experience is this knowledge based on? Don’t just add some random detail, or in this case, the whole ending of the book, and explain it with ‘she just knew’.

I think The Ghost Tree could have done with some more atmospheric descriptions, to really set the scene and create a super misty, creepy, deep dark wood vibe. The people stand out more than the places and we know now that I like a good atmospheric read.

Also, and this I’m definitely nit-picking now but… There’s one part where some guys are in the car, listening to music and the author said something like ‘they banged their heads along with the music’. I’m sorry, did they hit their heads together or should that be ‘they [headbanged] along with the music’?!?! 

I did enjoy the part where Lauren’s grandmother tells her an old story about witches and a curse. Maybe this could have been expanded on, or discovered bit by bit? Obviously I’d like my favourite part to be dragged out a bit more! And I felt more sorry for the witches than I should have I think…

I didn’t find The Ghost Tree boring by any means, I was invested and interested in the story and the outcome. I wanted my guesses to be proven wrong and there be a proper twist, unfortunately The Ghost Tree just didn’t do that for me. 

Having now researched Christina Henry, I’m intrigued by the rewritings of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. However I’m slightly worried that the idea is great but the execution may not be. Although I know what to expect in terms of writing style now so I may be pleasantly surprised… I don’t know, I’m not putting them on my TBR yet but I’m open to being convinced otherwise.

I’d put The Ghost Tree down as an easy read, probably perfect for a quick, no-brainer, holiday book. If you like YA dark fantasy, the TV series Wednesday and you’re looking for a quick and easy ending, then give The Ghost Tree a try.