A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

"Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James-a well-known author of dark, macabre children's books-he's led to a place many believed to be only a legend. Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn't exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it...he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James. Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis's abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there's a risk of bringing a disease-rot-into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn't as safe as they believed-and that darkness takes many forms"--

GRRR. This book was so frustrating to me, because for the first two-thirds, it was unquestionably a five-star read. The way it all concluded, though - WHY. WHY WHY WHY. Especially in a world in which it's immediately established on that magic exists - one character gets flashes of sentiment and stories whenever he touches an item someone else has touched first, another can hear and interpret heartbeats - why wouldn't you take a creative, compelling approach to resolution over a ‘grounded' ending that defies belief?!

Normally, I tolerate just-OK plots so long as the writing is good. The writing here is gorgeous, if occasionally overwrought - dark, moody, dreamlike, building a sense of dread that reminded me of Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind. But the plot felt like such an afterthought, I just couldn't get past it. Without getting too specific (but stop reading if you want to be 100% unspoiled!), the control mechanism the plot rests on was not compelling (and frankly borderline cliche), and the epilogue section glazed over a key plot point (like, OK, everyone in the entire community just accepted this world-shattering information and unconcernedly went on with their lives? no questions, pushback, anger? it's just...all good?). I felt like the author knew in broad strokes where she wanted to go but didn't think deeply enough about how to get there.

The beautiful and off the grid location which is amplified by great visual writing is what hooked me to this book. I could sometimes hear the birds and feel the summer breeze.

Although the „power“ of the first main character that we meet at the beginning feels kind of gimmicky, the mystery that unfolded was interesting enough. That is until around 30% in, where there are so many obvious „hints“ that I instantly knew one of the major twists. I don't know if the author wanted to be sneaky or not, but come on.

From that point on the writing and location were the only things that kept me going. Unfortunately it also got worse towards the end. One twist I correctly guessed and the other was incredibly ridiculous.

This was such a good book! I loved the shifting POVs and the slow reveals. This is a book about a hidden community - and the dangers it faces when it is threatened by outsiders.

I only wished that we got more of a why for how certain things happened and the more immediate history of Pastoral.

This book has a lot going for it. It was well written and the audiobook was excellent. I liked the setting, the differences of the characters and the slow burn mystery. There was a small bit of the supernatural but it wasn't the main point of the story. Definitely worth a read or better yet listen to the audiobook which was very well done.