I am a huge fan of Christina Henry and I was extremely excited for this book, so when I say I am a little disappointed that does not mean this book is bad. This is her first book I've read not based on a fairytale/historical story and I was eager to see what she could do. Sadly this has got a completely different tone from her other work which threw me.
Ghost Tree is the story of Lauren, a fifteen year old girl who lives in a town called Smiths Hollow. Her dad was brutally killed the year before and ever since then, things have been going wrong. When two girls are found dead in a neighbour's yard, Lauren starts to uncover a dark mystery surrounding the town involving a monster and a whole lot of dead girls.
I will be brief with my criticism because I really wanted to adore this book. Firstly, it felt like it skewed a lot younger than her other works. I've seen it shelved as both YA and Adult, but the style reads on the young side of YA for me with the content being less suitable for younger readers. This left me feeling confused as to how to judge it. As an adult book it is way too repetitive, especially for its length. Nothing much happens for the majority of it and I found the writing a little simplistic to even say that character development was happening during that time. I would be far more forgiving of this if I knew for certain it was for younger readers, although then I have to question the more graphic content. The story itself is relatively formulaic, with nothing that happened surprising me at all.
If you're wondering why my rating is 4 stars after that quite large complaint, the main saving grace of this book is the end. The climax is fantastically paced and written, and this is where Henry really got to shine. I was genuinely very gripped and it was such a breath of fresh air after the rest of the book dragging a bit. I would 100% be interested in a sequel to this story because I feel like the characters really came into their own at the end and I think there is potential for an engaging plot to come after it. Even though I knew what would happen, it was so well-written that I didn't mind.
Overall, I am saddened that I wasn't blown away by The Ghost Tree. I have read all of Christina Henry's standalone books and this one just felt so different, both in tone and audience. Ultimately this was shelved as an adult fiction book specifically on NetGalley, and for that audience it definitely misses the mark.
Overall Rating:
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