Review--Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong

 

In #1 New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong's latest thriller, the hidden town of Rockton is about to face a challenge none of them saw coming: a baby.

Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that's what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there's always something to worry about.

While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.

A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from - and whether she's better off where she is.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong again delivers an engaging, tense thriller set in perhaps the most interesting town in all of contemporary crime fiction.

 

I finally got myself caught up in Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series with Alone in the Wild and this one was definitely yet another chilling and eerie mystery. When so many dead bodies continue to show up in the wild that aren't at all animal related, you start to wonder just what exactly is going on in these here woods...and Casey and Dalton find themselves asking that very question.

Casey and Dalton were taking a little weekend getaway, which when living in the middle of literal nowhere in Rockton, that just means camping a few hours away from town and being off duty. But while gathering firewood, Casey uncovers a dead body...again. But this time, the dead woman is holding a very much alive baby...out in the middle of the woods, just days away from the Winter solstice. Now, not only does Casey and Dalton need to find yet another murderer, they also need to try to track down the baby's family, as Casey's sister, April, and resident doctor confirmed that there's no way the dead woman is the mother.

Having to take care of an infant baby at the height of a Canadian winter is not ideal. It's why there are no children under 18 in Rockton, and while the nearby settlements don't allow for children to be born in winter...if at all. There's a very definite seriousness to this mystery, it's possible that returning the baby to her family could be signing her death warrant all over again. Not only does Casey want to try to locate the baby's family, but to also make sure they are "worthy" of being parents. It might be a somewhat negative connotation that Casey gets to be the judge of character in this situation but really, what other choice is there? Casey and Dalton did admit that if for whatever reason the baby's parents are deemed unfit, then they would keep the baby. Can you imagine? Casey and Dalton trying to take care of an infant in the nowhere town in the woods dealing with murders every few months? That's one thing you never seen on TV really and there's a reason for that.

Still, I thought the mystery was very well done. We get a little more insight to the residents outside of Rockton that live in the woods. There's definitely different ways of running a town within all these communities and the stance on equality between men and women or lack thereof. Definitely an interesting and insightful read in some respect. While some of the things that Casey learns about these "neighbors" of hers are a little disturbing, it honestly felt very realistic to their given situation being out in the middle of nowhere and literally making their own town and rules to live by.

In this one, I felt like Casey and Dalton didn't get too much together time, but considering that they were taking care of an infant it's understandable and believable. They make do with they can and it felt realistic. Though I guess I will caution that there was a bit of trigger warning in here, where Casey and Dalton's doggo gets injured by a bad person. It's not a spoiler, and I will already throw out there that their dog is totally fine in the end and she's back to kicking ass in her own way, but just wanted to throw out that caution to anyone who truly gets upset. It happens within the last 100 pages just to give further pre-warning.

The whodunit was a nice reveal too. I can't really say I saw it coming, though I suspect I should've when the person first appeared. I always make guesses but in this one...I don't think I ever really nailed down my whodunit officially. Sometimes I get too caught up in the mystery to remember to make my guess. Lol. In a way, that's a good thing because then I just make these discoveries with Casey and Dalton as they do.

Alone in the Wild was yet another entertaining read filled with a well though-out mystery. Kelley knows how to give you just enough details to try to solve the mystery and along the way we continue to learn more about the Rockton residents, which I was totally taken by surprise with one of them this go around, as well as the residents of the "others" in the woods. While this is a series and events of the past are brought up again in the current book, I wouldn't say you need to read the previous books in order to dive into this series, but as always it's highly recommended! If you're wanting to just give the series a go, dive right in, but know that there are references that just won't make a lot of sense.

Overall Rating 5/5 stars