Early Review--The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a postapocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood"...about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems.

It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.

Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods....

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

I was unbelievable excited for Christina Henry’s The Girl in Red! I love a good fairy tale retelling and with a post-apocalyptic setting, I was sure that this was guaranteed to be an amazing read! And while it was pretty epically amazing, it wasn’t all what I expected it to be, which in a way, is good. It’s nice when stories can surprise us like that. As you might guess, this is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood twisted into a dark and gritty story sans wolfy-wolves!

The world has been infected with the Cough. It’s not your everyday cough either, this is the kind that kills, literally. People are dying or being sent to containment camps, and Red is having none of that. She is headed to her grandmother’s house where she thinks it will be safer. She’s traveling alone, and for a woman traveling alone in this world, that’s a dangerous thing, but she’s no delicate flower. She’s been preparing a long time for this day.

In the beginning of this book, the story goes back and forth between the present and the past. We see how Red came to be traveling alone across what used to be the US. And the story isn’t without its wolves either, as the cover depicts. While it’s not the traditional wolf, there are still other dangerous predators in this world that Red will have to avoid or eliminate once engaged.

Red herself was an amazing character! She comes from mixed parentage and also has a prosthetic leg. Now this might sound like a weird thing to touch upon, but it helps to build Red’s character as she lost her leg when she was a child due to a distracted driver. I grew up wearing a brace on my leg and while it’s not the same thing at all, I did experience some of the same stares that Red did and things like running or other contact sports were different. Our struggles were the same yet at different levels. So seeing Red being all badass and walking so very far and facing multiple enemies makes me admire this young woman very, very much! I don’t think I’d be capable of that, but perhaps I could e if I had the determination like she did!

It was rather interesting having the story told both in the past and the present. Because the first thing you wonder is, how did Red get to be at the point she was at when the story starts and Christina doesn’t leave us wondering for long. For the most part the chapters alternate one after the other with past and present. Sometimes one repeats itself, but eventually we get all caught up and are aware of everything. Including the very weird mystery that seems to be going on that involves the Cough itself. That was by far one of the most intriguing parts, but I will admit to you, that it only gets touched upon here and there. By the end, there’s still some mystery to it all, but since that was merely a side event to the plot, I guess it doesn’t really need a definitive answer.

If you’re looking for romance in your stories, this might not be the one for you, because there was literally no romance. There’s still love for family and the families you create, but that’s about it.

The ending itself was most satisfying indeed. It’s a bit open-ended too, but for the nature of this book, I really don’t see it ending any other way. If taken in another direction, I don’t think the impact would’ve been the same, so I was quite happy with it!

If you’re looking for that fairy tale retelling that totally turns its origins on its head and adds a bit of spice to the tale, then The Girl in Red is definitely one you will want to check out. It’s has a richly diverse heroine who isn’t afraid to take on difficult challenges and be the hero of her own story. It was a read well worth reading! If only there could’ve been the tiniest bit more to answering the mystery of the Cough, it would’ve been perfect. But even with that imperfection, it was still pretty GREAT!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars


The Girl in Red releases June 18, 2019