The Stone Forest

by Karen Harper

Reviewed by Coral

Sixteen years ago Jenna and her sister Mandi were kidnapped right in front of their house. Jenna was found a few days later, with only vague memories of what had happened to her and her sister. Mandi was never found.

Coming back to a small town, where everyone had been viewed as a suspect, is not easy for Jenna. She is determined to begin again, claim back independence she feels she lost in the aftermath of her sister’s disappearance.

Also coming back to town are Jenna’s best friend Cassie and Cassie’s brother Mace . Not only was Mace Mandi’s boyfriend and the number one suspect at the time, but he was also Jenna’s secret crush.

But there is someone who won’t let the past stay buried. Jenna soon finds herself a target of ‘pranks’ designed to terrify her. Have her kidnappers returned after all these years?

I found the writing in this book really clunky. Sometimes when I read a sentence I would think to myself that a real person wouldn’t say something like that. Something like “You want me to look for my sister’s body” rather than “You want me to look for my sister’s remains”. The first sounds more like what I could believe someone would say.

I know that books with a central mystery always have to plant suspicion for more than one character, but at one point I think a couple of characters (later shown to be innocent) suffered for it in terms of characterization.

Well, in the case of Mace’s ex best friend Frank, I didn’t really care that he was shown to be a creep, but after he almost attacks Jenna, I don’t think it should have been brushed off. And then to have Mace thinking that ending the friendship was the worst mistake he made was just odd and insulting given Frank’s actions.

I don’t think that Jenna and Mace are a healthy couple. Ignoring the fact that he used to date her sister, the way he acted when we were supposed to suspect him raised a lot of red flags. Lying to someone and pushing her to face her fears (to the point where he doesn’t mention how tight a passage underground is to someone who is claustrophobic) when she is not ready to face them are not parts of a healthy relationship.

The main issue I have with the book is that I don’t understand what the kidnappers were trying to accomplish, both in kidnapping Mandi and Jenna and then in terrorizing Jenna. The reason given for the kidnapping was ridiculous. And if they wanted Jenna to forget the past and leave the mystery of Mandi buried, then why did they go out of their way to bring it up? All of their actions in scaring her were Mandi focused, playing songs that Mandi loved, leaving Mandi’s favourite book around, dropping off presents of things Mandi loved, why did they do any of that? Before they took this course of action, Jenna was leaving the past behind her and wasn’t looking into her sister’s disappearance. It was when she was targeted that she started trying to remember more and looked deeper into her sister’s past.

I did like that the cat Jenna found was a seal point Siamese, because I have one too. Although how they describe her, beige with chocolate paws and ears, only really described her as a kitten. As she got older my cat’s coat darkened. As opposed to the characters in the book who couldn’t imagine a Siamese cat being dumped or given away, that’s how I got my cat, given to me by a friend of a friend’s brother.

Grade: D (and only because of the Siamese cat mention)