Great atmosphere, creepy setting with the forest of missing girls and the supposedly legendary creature that dwells within, taking those who disrespect or harm the forest! Add in a hide and seek counting game and a little boy who may hold the secret to his sister's disappearance but unable to remember and I was hooked in reading this to find out the truth!

The author did a great job with all the red herrings of suspects, while also touching on the possibility of something supernatural getting involved with the dead birds and previous missing girls, plus the awful story of the Magdalene Laundry and what happened there. I really felt for Jack who was obviously torn up about Saoirse going missing and being the last person to see her, especially when we got to see things from his perspective. It is rounded out nicely with the view of Freya, the psychotherapist brought in to help Jack work through his issues but also an outsider which really helped show how the community that this happened in was very suspicious of outsiders, especially ones asking uncomfortable questions. I did have to keep going to look back at the chapter headings though because it does jump around in time, from before their mother's death, to the days after Saoirse went missing. It did tie things up very well by the end though and I was on the edge of my seat to see if Saoirse could be found in time or if it was already too late. I do like how it never really was proven that it was did not have a supernatural element and it gave the ending a nice touch.

I really enjoyed reading this book and many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to get lost in the story!