REVIEW⤏ THE LAST WOMAN IN THE FOREST

BY DIANE LES BESQUETS

SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣
Twenty-six-year-old Marian Engstrom has found her true calling: working with rescue dogs to help protect endangered wildlife. Her first assignment takes her to the winter landscape of northern Alberta where, amid the punishing cold of the oil sands, she falls in love with her mentor, Tate Mathias. That following summer, while apart from each other on independent assignments, Marian receives the shattering news of Tate’s tragic death. Worse still is the aftermath in which she discovers disturbing inconsistencies about Tate’s life and begins to wonder if he could have been responsible for the unsolved murders of at least four women. Hoping to clear Tate’s name, Marian reaches out to a retired forensic profiler who is still tormented by the open cases. Her exploration becomes a meditation on memory and instinct, and an all-consuming quest to not only identify a killer but to understand herself and the man she loved.
From the breathtaking Rocky Mountains in Montana, to the vast deserts of Utah, to the lush rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, THE LAST WOMAN IN THE FOREST explores the darkest and most beautiful aspects of human nature and the natural world. Capturing this duality in prose that is both vivid and atmospheric–indeed the landscape is as alive as Marian herself–Les Becquets tests our notions of what it means to trust and to love and makes us feel deep in our bones the redemptive power of the wilderness.

BOOK TAGS⇣

⤏ THE WILDERNESS
⤏ SERIAL KILLER MYSTERY 
⤏ SOME AWKWARD ROMANCE
⤏ LIMITED, GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF RAPE & MURDER
⤏ RESCUE DOGS 

BOOK DETAILS⇣

AUDIO PERFORMED BY⇢ EMILY RANKIN & ROBERT FASS, WITH CAMEO'S BY REBECCA LOWMAN, ALEX MCKENNA, MONIKA FELICE SMITH, & ERIN SPENCER

SOURCE⇢ LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)

AUDIOBOOK LENGTH⇢ 11 HOURS, 29 MINUTES

MY THOUGHTS⇣

Have you ever had someone offer a ride when you're broke down on the side of the road???  This is the story of what could happen when you ignore your gut reaction and say yes, anyway.

The overall message the author is trying to portend with this story is a necessary one, but possibly one that we already know...and truthfully the execution of it was sort of off.  I don't know exactly what it was, but I found this to be a little awkward...from the romance between these two characters to her search for answers about him once he dies.  I also thought that the dogs they worked with would be more prominent in the story...I never really quite got what their job entailed.  As far as the mystery goes, I could foresee everything before it happened...and nothing really surprised me.

The narration was decently performed by the two main narrators.  It also had short vignettes from each of the killer's victims...these were seriously brutal to listen too, but I did like that each of them was performed by a different narrator.  There is a postscript at the end of the book where the author tells the reason for writing the story and what she researched and who helped her with research for the book and it was interesting.

MY RATING⇢ 3½✰STARS✰

BREAKDOWN⇣

Plot⇢ 4/5

Characters⇢ 2.5/5

The Feels⇢ 3.5/5

Pacing⇢ 3/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4/5

Theme, Tone or Intensity⇢ 3/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 3/5

Twisty-ness/Mystery⇢ 3/5

Originality/Believability⇢ 3.5/5

Ending⇢ 3.7/5