The body in the woods by April Henry

While helping the Portland County Sheriff's Search and Rescue to seek a missing autistic man, teens Alexis, Nick, and Ruby find, instead, a body and join forces to find the girl's murderer, forming an unlikely friendship, as well.

While helping the Portland County's Search and Rescue find a missing autistic man, teens Alexis, Nick, and Ruby instead find a body and join forces to find the girl's murderer. The plot contains violence. Book #1

The Body in the Woods has been on my reading list since it published in mid 2014. I've heard some good things about April Henry's writing, from some trusted book friends. Plus, I can't deny that I enjoy a well written mystery! Especially if it's a well written YA mystery. If an author can keep me guessing, and avoid the ever present love triangle? My name is written all over that book. So yes, I had some pretty high hopes for this book. It's been a while since a mystery book has found its way into my currently reading list.

Anyway, and apologies for the rambling, I can definitely say that April Henry gave this mystery a massive effort. She crafted three very different characters to tell the story from their own points of view, and I very much appreciated their various personalities. There's Ruby, the girl obsessed with facts, organization and true crime. Alexis, a girl whose home life doesn't match at all the facade she puts on every day. Finally, there's Nick. Our lone male protagonist, he has a hero mentality. All Nick wants, more than anything, is to save a life. It might seem like these three wouldn't mesh, but they do! Having all of their viewpoints didn't always feel necessary, but at times it was nice.

I'll fully admit that this book is addictive once you start to really get into it. Even though I figured out the killer towards the middle, the story was well written enough that it kept me reading. The pace was good, and the plot was too (even if it was a slight bit predictable). The real problem with The Body in the Woods is that it fairly forgettable. It follows the rails that you'd anticipate a book like this would, even though I desperately hoped for a twist. This is the first book in a series though, so I'd be willing to give the next a shot!

From the literal title and literal cover image, I should have seen this coming, but...meh. The mystery is obvious, the characters are flat, and there was some weird victim blaming happening too. And don't even get me started on its depiction of mental illness.

The only reason I'm bumping it up to a 2 is because I liked that the kids screw up multiple times on who they think the killer is, so they're at the very least not infallible geniuses. The lead detective chastises them by saying they keep "seeing one and one and adding it them up to eleven," and I love that. Of course, they end up being closer to the truth than he does, so.

Overall, it might benefit from some marketing changes and have it aimed toward a different audience, but it was definitely a 1.5/5 read for me.