The third book in the Detective Alyssa Wyatt series was ‘Alone in the Woods’ and well, it was something else. I love a good crime book, but I have to say that it is somewhat becoming predictable and that lessens the fun a bit for me. Example, somewhere before or halfway through you’ll know who the culprit is while the detectives are still figuring it out, it gets a bit boring, I guess.

I am currently reading the fourth book but I am asking myself if I want to complete the series or not; depends on this book, I guess.

Let’s begin reviewing this book, because the predictability aside the story itself is a good one.

Addis and her friend Emmerson are just picking up some things from Addis’ house because after a fight with her mom and a bit of a cooling of period; Addis asked her father if she could stay at Emmerson’s for a couple of nights. But when she steps inside her house, she knows something is wrong, that smell… The first body she sees lying on the ground is that of her mother Lydia; she looks as if she’s just sleeping so Addis starts CPR just as Emmerson sees the body of Addis’ father and signals Addis. Shocked, she keeps doing CPR on her mother even if she saw the bullet wound between her eyes. That’s when they hear a sound; footsteps and they are from within the house; in a panic they decide to hide in the office underneath a bureau and call Addis’ aunt Grace, not that they can relay a lot of information since when the call connects the perpetrator finds the girls and decides to kidnap them.

The kidnapper named Adam knows his accomplice won’t take light knowing he f*cked up, going back to the house was a mistake and taking the girls; what was he thinking? He knows his accomplice Alex would want to rid them of the problem; meaning taking care of the girls. Adam doesn’t want that to happen so he’s hiding them in a crawl space of a desolate place somewhere secluded.

Alyssa can’t wrap her head around the violence that is displayed in front of her, talking about overkill. In this book; again, they find next to nothing to go on from the scene, which is a problem because how can you find the perp? Cord and Sara are expecting twins, Sara’s health isn’t great so he’ll be in and out of the investigation, Tony is taking personal leave and the team doesn’t know why. In the end Tony is on the suspect list, like what?! There is a new police officer that has weaseled her way into the investigation named Sandra and is quite good in her job; seems like.

The investigation is all over the place, finding out why the Kensington’s were targeted in the first place will leave you baffled but you’ll understand in the end. There are these puzzle pieces that take a hefty amount of time to fall into place but once they do, the case will be clear. They suspect Tony because someone has been threatening Alyssa’s daughter Holly with crime scene photos of the last big case that you’ll know as ‘The Toybox’. Those photos are taken by police and none have seen the light of day in form of publicity so, I get how they can link it to Tony.

I’m giving this book a ⭐⭐⭐.5 star.