A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw is an intense psychological thriller. It is about lies and how far one person in power will go to preserve that power. This thriller story will keep you both unsettled and gripped until the very end. This is such a unique novel and I absolutely enjoyed reading it.
The story of this novel is about a female writer (Maggie St. James) who goes missing and a man (Travis Wren) with an uncommon ability who set out to find her. Maggie was a dark story book writer for kids however she vanished without a trace five years prior after the death of one of her young readers. Travis Wren’s ability is to see memories from things and uses this to track down missing people. On his chase after Maggie, Travis stumbled on a mysterious community called Pastoral.
The remainder of the book is set in the near future about members from Pastoral as they find out the hidden secrets related to Travis and Maggie. Calla, her better half Theo, and her sister Bee share the POV as they each find the hidden secrets the others and their community are keeping.
The story was full of descriptions with nature as a subject running all through the story. There was additionally the vibe of an old, dark fantasy to it with a feeling prompting the overall sense that literally nothing is the thing that it appears and you can trust nobody. The characters were very much evolved and while this certainly had character driven viewpoints, the plot was fascinating and kept the book pacing from getting excessively lethargic. Readers will like twist after twist as the secret of the missing people and the community is gradually uncovered.
Overall, I would Definitely recommend A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw to someone looking for a twisting and captivating story. If you enjoyed reading the twists in The Village kind of story then I am sure you should pick up this book.
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