When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won’t find the killer. After all, the year before her father’s body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids. Set in a small idyllic Midwestern town, The Ghost Tree reveals the darkness that lies underneath the town’s peaceful, prosperous surface. So, if you’re looking for an eery, atmospheric, fast-paced novel, try The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry. Combining real-world issues with well-written folklore, Henry is bound to capture the hearts of fantasy readers as she explores what it is to be human in a town that has made a deal with the devil.

When people go missing in the sleepy town of Smith's Hollow, the only clue to their fate comes when a teenager starts having terrifying visions, in a chilling horror novel from national bestselling author Christina Henry.

Browse reviews by Genre

Thoughts: Creepy Town with a Stepford Wives vibe, Smith Hollows is the star of this book as the town itself becomes a pulsating, breathing character. It holds alllll the secrets and the older residents know was’sup. 😏 This plot and the kids are the best part of the book because as I’ve said before - creepy kids? ✅ Off to a great start in “things that freak me out in books.” Visit the nearby Velen Place of Power, and boost your Igni Sign. Follow the ledge and climb into the cave beneath the hill. Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. Twenty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play “Sleepy Hollow boys,” reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. It was fun, I'm glad I read it. I love how Christina Henry's mind works, but this isn't my favorite of her books.

She is the High Priestess of YA Horror, the Goddess of fairy-tales gone dark, and the Villainous Hero of atmospheric tales of all that is sinister and poetic. If this all sounds a little far-fetched, you have to read this book to see how this amazing author puts it all together in a very believable story centered around Lauren, an extremely likeable and adventurous young teen who is not afraid to go into the woods to the Ghost Tree. In fact, for some reason, she finds this a refuge. The more we get to know about the town history and the secrets that everyone seems to have forgotten, the creepier and more disturbing the story becomes. And yes, there’s gore and bloodshed, but for me anyway, the scariest parts have to do with the mind control that the town seems to be under, and how inescapable its dark secrets seem to be.There was one particular tree...with branches that curled like sharp claws looking for skin to scrape. All the townsfolk had avoided that tree, for it wasn’t right that a tree seemed to whisper and stare and reach out when a person passed by.” Happy new year! I know 2020 was a tough one for everyone but we made it through. Unfortunately the pandemic stopped all appearances after March so I wasn’t able to see as many of you as I would have liked. I’m particularly sorry that my UK tour didn’t go off as planned but I hope to try again when it’s safe for everyone to gather and travel. I was a fan of the author’s ‘The Gower Street Detective’ series and enjoyed the first book in his new series featuring Inspector Betty Church (Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire) when I read it in 2018. I have the second book in the series, The Room of the Dead, in my TBR pile and although The Ghost Tree makes reference to events in the previous book, I believe it can still be enjoyed as a standalone or read out of sequence, as I did.

Overall, this is a solid story. I would recommend it to Readers who enjoy a dark atmosphere with some gruesome deaths steeped in mystery. Once in 1940, the plot hots up even further as the skeleton is found, providing numerous twists and turns, as well as the opportunity for Betty to show her ingenuity and that the very dotty police constable ‘Dodo’ Chivers may not be as daft as she appears. The lower portion of the Giant Cove Tree consists of many massive roots, dropping down into the surrounding brine pool.If you chose to free the spirit, the town of Downwarren will be destroyed when you return later. Later, you will not be able to save the Baron’s wife, Anna. The Baron will not survive either. Kill the spirit The Ghost Tree is so creepy and SO GOOD. The author does such a great job of letting us into Lauren’s mind, showing the uncertainties that a girl her age feels about all the changes in her life, but also showing her taking a stand and starting to own her opinions and take a stand. Perhaps best of all is that it is a great mystery story and I didn’t see where it was going even though all the clues were there. The ending is good – completing this story satisfactorily but leaving us wondering about Betty’s future health and relationships. I am so looking forward to the next one! Thank you Martin. Keep up the good work! The Ghost Tree a creepy story with some magical elements, but I think this was more a coming of age story than a scary one. It felt like a Brothers Grimm sort of scary fairy tale with a curse, witches, and several gory murders. The town of Smiths Hollow doesn’t seem to register these murders for longer than a day or two. Ghost Trees gets its name from the white and gnarly Monterey Cypress trees in the area which call to mind ghosts. [1]

You don’t have any more choices, so just navigate through the conversations to the end of “Ladies of the Wood.”I really enjoyed how uncomplicated this was. There's a small town. There's a curse. There's something brutally murdering people. It's a solid, clean plot. But Lauren was about as interested in her mother’s opinion as her mother was in Lauren’s—that is to say, not at all. Mom never loved Dad as much as Lauren did. Her mom didn’t understand that when Lauren was in the woods it meant she was in the place he was last alive. This book started out dark, then went darker…then even darker. This is not a light read. This is the book that you read when you want all the witches, curses, ghosts, and monsters. The only thing that I didn’t love is the many different points-of-view. I felt that the main characters weren’t completely fleshed out. I did love all the characters, I just wanted the focus on some more than others. I love Alex and his family. It broke my heart to see the aggressive racism that they are exposed to on a daily basis. I think it is important to show that racism no matter how big or small. It shows how it hurts a person and how it is a disease in our society. Davidia involucrata is native to South Central and Southeast China. It grows in montane mixed forests. [6] History [ edit ] Welcome to Smith Hollows. A secluded town with the people suffer from short term memory loss about the murders occur there. They look like daytime sleepwalkers when somebody opens his mouth to ask questions what is going on there.