The Girl in the Woods (A Waterman & Stark Thriller Book 3)

Loved this! Very mysterious and the ending was great. Will be reading others. Looking forward to this series thank you

I confess, I am a Gregg Olsen addict. I love his style, his characters, and the beauty of his complex plots. “The Girl in the Woods”, the first of the Waterman & Stark Thrillers, sets the tone for the crime solving duo in future books. I stumbled upon these two ladies in “Closer Than Blood” and immediately set my sights on this first “official” offering in the series featuring Birdy Waterman and Kendall Stark. I am not disappointed. In fact I am so delighted I have pre-ordered the next book in this series.What begins as the mysterious discovery of a foot wearing pink nail polish in the Pacific Northwest’s Banner Forest quickly escalates into so much more. As Kendall Stark, the sheriff’s detective, and Birdy Waterman, the local pathologist, begin their investigation things seem odd but not as odd as they become. It’s only when Tess Moreau, the town of Kitsap’s notorious hoarder, reports her teen daughter Darby as missing that things begin to heat up. From that point on the story roars forward as new characters are introduced and new crimes uncovered. While it is apparent the two biggest murders, that of Darby Moreau and local man Ted Roberts, are somehow related, it takes intense investigative skills to put it all together.The mystery of who killed Ted Roberts is certainly the gripping center of the story. Married to Jennifer and step father to Ruby and Micah, he appears mostly as a corpse. But what a corpse he is! His death unravels a plethora of crimes.Interwoven throughout are hints at the personal histories of both Birdy and Kendall. While they seem inconsequential they are vital to the development of these fascinating women. Thrown together as investigators due to changes within their departments they form an analytical team, each bringing their skills into play as needed.The seemingly insignificant character of Elan, Birdy’s nephew who appears early in the story, proves to be quite a pivotal addition to the cast.The unexpected twists and turns are key to Olsen’s ability to captivate his readers. Just when I thought I had the answers, knew who was doing what, I would get a surprise that made my head spin.There are some very minor editing issues in the book but they in way affected my ability to enjoy the story. As I said from the beginning, I am a Gregg Olsen addict. I have no desire to be cured as I eagerly await my next fix of Olsen fiction.

An interesting mystery, with lots of weird characters, especially the women. But it left some unanswered questions. If Jennifer threatened her husband's twin, thinking it was her husband, that she was going to kill him, and then a couple of weeks later he died, how did she kill him? I wasn't convinced that she was innocent of that murder. I can see Ruby murdering her step-father, but it seemed a bit convuluted that it wasn't at the behest of her mother. I was disappointed with the ending scene in the boat. It seemed a bit too convenient to have everyone out on the boat and all the confessions going on, rather than using good police work to solve the case. This book was a little disappointing for me.

You will enjoy the suspense. You are made to think you got it figured out but a twist comes into play and once more you don’t have it figured out. It has many surprises as well. The crime scene reveals real life situations.This book is an easy great/read. You will not want to put the book down. It’s sad in certain chapters. This book will not cause regret.

Very suspenseful. Sad story with a very surprising end. Gregg Olsen is a great author and I will continue to read his novels.

Olsen reveals the details of two separate murders bit by bit, leading the reader through an increasingly twisted tale. Only in the end does it all make sense!

I get accused of being a snob about certain things - books and movies, primarily - and I guess that's fair, to a degree; my argument about that has always been that it's less that I'm snobby and more that I've read/seen so many great things that I know how good the mediums can be, so why settle for mediocrity? So when I read something like Gregg Olsen's The Girl in the Woods, I can't help but compare it to, well, anything else and find it lacking. Good characters? Oh, lord, every character here is a flat caricature defined by a single characteristic (if they're lucky) and absolute no personality. (The absolute gall to turn this into a series, anchored by two blank voids that happened to be named.) Good dialogue? Everything here is clunky, full of unabbreviated contractions, absurdly dramatic wording, and just generally sounds that human beings don't make. Well, you ask, is it plotted well? Hell, it isn't even written well - characters lurch from motivation to motivation nonsensically (my favorite is a scene where a character asks a policewoman to vouch for her, and when she does, the character yells at her for giving away her secrets), the plotting doesn't hold up to any scrutiny, and I have to hope that the jarring scene changes are a Kindle formatting problem and not just more bad writing - but the fact that I can't tell doesn't help things. But, no, the plot is ludicrous, with the most gloriously bad segment stopping one already bad scene cold to insert a second bad scene that also doesn't make sense. I normally can find at least something good to say about any book I read, but what I mainly thought of this one is "wait, this is a bestseller...and a series? REALLY?" It's the crime thriller version of Patton Oswalt's famous Death Bed: The Bed That Eats People bit, down to my own sadness that I think I'd never write anything good enough that anyone would want to read it, but here's a man who committed to his own mediocrity and made a killing.

Sometimes things are not as they appear. That certainly applies to this Olsen thriller! True to form of weaving and clever detective work.....but wait for it....

an excellent read.birdy waterman a forensic pathologist and police woman kendall stark solve 2 murders together. if you like detail on police procedure and forensic work this is a must read. well written.

Great and reliable seller. Really good!!

I purchased "The Girl in the Woods" (Waterman and Stark, #1), by Gregg Olsen, after another member in Goodreads, recommended it. I am so glad I listened and followed through. I have never read anything by this author, and after reading this I am sure he is one whose works I will pursue. I was sitting on the edge of my chair trying to flip the pages and absorb the material with rapid speed. This is a well written serial-killer thriller, where the author has created and managed multiple plot lines at the same time.In Port Orchard, Washington, on a nature trip in Banner Forest, a sixth grader makes a gruesome discovery- a severed foot! Where is the body? Where did it come from? Sheriff's Detective Kendall Stark and Kitsap County Forensic Pathologist Birdy Waterman are assigned to work on the case. I found that Birdy Waterman, the Forensic Pathologist,took complete control of the case, and handled many other detective duties, outside her realm, to bring closure to the case. I felt that Detective Stark, was just interested in the praise and recognition, for solving the mystery. Birdy, also is the one that shows warmth and compassion, but still exhibits strength when required. She comes across as more believable and human, while Detective Stark is cold and removed.At the same time, Birdy's sixteen year old nephew asks to stay with his aunt for awhile, as he had left his dysfunctional parents. As if Birdy didn't have enough to contend with!Then another homicide. The victim, Ted Roberts dies suspiciously with the pathologist thinking his wife, Jennifer poisoned him.The novel is full of twists and turns with two unrelated murders...and a serial killer on the loose, playing a game of cat and mouse. This novel follows two different crimes, with red herrings all over the place. Took a while to connect the two crimes together, and then the big reveal happened at the very end. The author writes well and definitely provides a good solid mystery."The Girl in the Woods", is Book 1 of a three part series. The next book, "Now That She's Gone", book 2 in the Waterman and Stark series , to be released in November 2015.For anyone who enjoys a good solid mystery/crime fiction, I highly recommend this novel.

Love this series. The endings are always a surprise. Great writer, easy to read stories. Can’t wait to read the next one.

I loved this book, it kept me very interested. Love that the main characters were female. Looking for ward to reading more from this author!!!!!!!