With an enticing title, the award-winning author Stephanie Ellis, is back with another story that involves, as usual, unusual elements to bring terror to you. This time, we have a wood cabin, dark woods, a weird town with weird people, an absurd request and a looming promise of blood.
If you love suspenseful books, then you should burn the name Stephanie Ellis on your list of writers to check out, because she knows how to make you bite your nails, and The Woodcutter, along with her last book “Paused” are the proof of that, (read the review of Paused here).
Picture this: It’s a brand new day, and you hear an insistent knock on your door. You open the door, and there’s someone that looks exactly like you. To add to the creepy factor the person doesn’t talk much and stares at you the whole time. How alarming would that be? Yeah…. Welcome to The Woodcutter by Stephanie Ellis.
By the 5th page, you will be enraptured in this book, and you won’t be able to quit it. I bet you on that.
Stephanie Ellis throws little crumbs for you to follow, but never in a straight line. You will have several unconnected angles on things. First, there’s the mother, and her obsession about keep running away from where the main character was born, and telling him to never return. After you lose yourself with the questions, Stephanie Ellis will bring you another set of questions, and little to no answers. Nothing is what it seems in this novel, keep that in mind, mwhahahah.
If this was a regular novel, the answer to the question: “What is a priest doing in a haunted forest?” would be simple, but The Woodcutter is no regular novel. If you pay close attention, you will start to notice that these priests motives are darker than their attire.
As Stephanie Ellis tells this story, she uses the elements of the scenery to twist things and paint intentions. This is so well done, that after a certain point you realize that the environment is one of the main characters.
The woods are alive, whispering and longing the pulse and blood of people. You can feel it as you read, and at times, you can even imagine them closing in around you when you lose yourself in the narrative of Stephanie Ellis.
“Nature speaks to us in so many languages. Humans however refuse to listen unless it is in their tongue. So much is lost in translation.”
The technique of Stephanie Ellis is so remarkable that she is able to make this book claustrophobic! This is world class narrative! Masterful! Beautiful!
“A distant memory hovered briefly and then vanished before he could grasp it. He sipped at his wine and continued to look down at the wood, tried to superimpose the illustration over the landscape, imagine the screams of the villagers, the protestations of the priest. The despair of the mother. An old fairy tale? Perhaps. Perhaps not. When you dug deep you would often find strange things buried and forgotten … and true.”
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The element of superstition is a big factor to the story. Stephanie Ellis brings a folkloric taste into the mix with allures to it and the traditions of this weird and small community. Without them, dark secrets will be revealed, and an enormous price will be paid to restore peace. It’s something super twisted and it takes a while for us to start to adjust, yet Stephanie Ellis never allows us to be comfortable, not even for a second.
“Easier to wash your guilt away by blaming the unseen Devil, rather than the one looking back at you in the mirror.”
In the first pages, you get to see or get an idea of who or what is The Woodcutter, but , as the book progresses, you ask yourself why there’s not an explanation, at least at first, about “Grandma”? Who is she? Why is she so feared?
The secrets between families are as tight as the family bonds themselves, and it seems like the whole town is in the conspiracy of keeping these secrets, lies and truths with them, hidden inside the village that is slowly dying. There’s a force that is trying to revive the town, but not to bring more life, to it, but to keep on the secrets, the rituals and the sacrifices to the “Old One”.
The more you read, the more you get the feeling that this tale is based on a very familiar story (I won’t say which) and Stephanie Ellis, twisted it and added so many elements and creepiness to it that you cannot recognize it any further, unless… you pay very close attention. We say this as if there was a chance of you getting distracted from this book in the first place.
This book, although fascinating has a note to it that will having you want to slap some characters, and that is the disbelief in what their own eyes, bodies, and minds are telling them, until, the moment they get killed. The cope is hard on these ones, or… is it?
Stephanie Ellis once again proved why she is an award-winning author, with a plot twist so far-out, but so far out that nobody will see it coming. Don’t try to predict it, it’s useless, believe me, I tried. And not only that, but there’s one secret that she will keep on the back of EVERYBODY, that will silently reveal itself, as the mastermind of this entire story hides in plain sight. Once you find out who he/she is, you will say: “WHAT?! No freaking way that this person would plan all of these events at once”. That person played everybody and made everybody a fool, in order to make things right. OK, sure, the author hints that, but still, there’s no way to connect the dots, it’s impossible.
The Woodcutter is a thriller/horror folk novel that is wrapped in mystery and a heck of a read that will grip you, and you will find yourself hugging it back and searching for the answers in the pages. Yet, allow us to warn you once again: Nothing is what it seems, and you cannot undo the wrongs of your fathers. So, if you love thrillers, folktales, the macabre, the twisted retelling of a story that is so original but so original that you do not recognize it, then click here to get your copy of The Woodcutter by Stephanie Ellis. This is serious writing right here.
Pros:
- World-class narrative!
- Excellent description and manipulation of scenery
- Excellent character building and development
- Excellent suspense and mystery, seriously addictive
- Goosebumps-creepy
- Incredible plot-twists all around
- Unpredictable plot and story
- A super original retelling of a very known story to the point you won’t even recognize it
- Insightful and full of philosophic challenges and dilemmas
- Dark from start to finish.
Cons:
- At times people were too dismissive of what they saw, even when they grew up in a … unusual town, yet, it’s understandable if you factor in other things and contexts throughout the book
Favoritism Character: Reverend Chadwick
Lesson of the book: Tend and respect the woods
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