“Hunted” by Darcy Coates: *Spoiler-Free* Book Review

“Something watched her. It was tall and covered in thick black fur, its head tilted to regard her. Eileen’s mind froze, refusing to accept what her eyes were showing her. The face looked like it might have once been human, but it wasn’t anymore. It was like something out of her worst nightmares. The scraping repeated. It was moving closer. Eileen pressed the camera’s button again, and as light flooded the scene, she screamed.”

This week’s review is of Hunted by Darcy Coates, a book I found while randomly scrolling through Audible looking for a good thriller. Published in 2018, this one had little bits of horror sprinkled throughout, which I love. Color me a Coates fan because when I say this was one of the best ones I’ve read in a while, I 100% mean it!! Ready for my Thriller Thoughts? Let’s dive right in!

We first meet Carla Delago as an overworked, grumpy, and standoffish investigator who spends her evenings drinking alone in the home she still shares with her soon-to-be ex-husband. Having lost all enthusiasm and passion that she had for her job when she first started out as a young detective, her work load is about to become even heavier as the case of a missing hiker lands on her desk. 22-year-old Eileen Hershberger is a lively young woman who ventured alone into Ashlough Forest on a day hike, never to return. Carla chalks it up to another of the many other college-aged missing persons who usually show up after a bender. She ignores the case file, focusing on her other work and looking forward to the bottle she knows is waiting for her at home. She figures if she waits long enough, the case will resolve itself.

An avid photographer, Eileen took a distinct vintage camera with her to capture her journey, but when the camera washes ashore from a creek in the forest days after she’s gone missing, it’s now a case that Carla can no longer ignore. She dismissively regards the rescue mission as now a recovery mission, assuming all that’s left of Eileen to find is a body at this point. With a haphazard apology to the grieving family, she puts the case file back on her desk to wait until the body is recovered.

However, what she doesn’t expect is the insistence of Eileen’s brother and friends—Chris, his buddy Flint, Flint’s girlfriend Hailey, and her friend Anna. Convinced they’ve found a mysterious being in the last photos taken from Eileen’s camera, they demand action be taken by the police department handling her case. An annoyed and frustrated Carla must keep her cool and send them on their way—the last thing she needs is grieving family and friends up her ass when she has enough to deal with. Unfortunately, they refuse to go home, and prepare themselves for their own rescue mission as they too venture into Ashlough Forest to find Eileen.

What follows is a dark, sinuous, and dangerous chase as the group of friends follow Eileen’s path through the forest—while unbeknownst to them, the same monster she encountered follows them.

Impressions:

• Kept me on my toes
• Endearing characters
• From Carla hater to Carla fan
• Satisfying and conclusive ending

Kept me on my toes

Like I said above, this is one of the best books I’ve come across in a long while! I was hooked from the start and it never once slowed down from there. Every time I opened Audible, the anticipation of where the author was taking the story was palpable. Usually getting through a book on Audible takes me a while, but this one only took me a few days despite it being 10.5 hours long. I got a point where I just couldn’t turn it off—I HAD to keep listening to find out what happened! Before I knew it the book was over and I’d sat there for over 4 hours finishing the book. It takes a VERY good story to keep me hooked for that amount of time. Every chapter had me audibly gasping and internally screaming with and at the characters! There was not a single boring chapter, as the author did a fantastic job of keeping the story so engaging that you don’t want to miss a single thing.

Endearing characters

Because I listened on Audible rather than physically reading the book, I figured it might take some time to get used to the characters and figure out their dynamic. This is where I must applaud Angela Dawe for her narration and storytelling, because she breathed life into each character to the point where I had distinct feelings about every one of them. As much as I love the freedom of using my imagination while reading a physical copy, sometimes it’s just as fun to listen to the audiobook to see how the characters are depicted. Specifically, the group of friends who embarked on their rescue mission had very individual and unique personalities and it became so easy for me as the reader to come to love and care for them! I was not too far into the book before I was cheering them on, afraid for them, and mourning them (oops! Spoiler maybe?).

From Carla hater to Carla fan

I am not afraid to say that I hated Carla from the beginning. Not just hate—I was absolutely irate with this character!! I wanted her to suffer so badly, I hoped she would die at some point. Why? Because of her ignorance and negligence in her handling of Eileen’s disappearance. I was screaming at her when she purposely ignored the case file, hoping it would resolve itself. When the grieving family came to the police station and gave her hell, I was cheering! She needed to see the pain that her negligence had caused for this family who deserved none of it. At this point, I figured Eileen was as good as dead because so much time was lost as a result of Carla mishandling the case and assuming she was just passed out somewhere after a night of drinking. When she finally began to take the case seriously but was then met with resistance from the station chief, I was cheering on the inside because karma is a damn bitch, isn’t she? Sometimes it’s just so tasty. What I didn’t expect, however, was to be Carla’s #1 fan by the end of the book! I didn’t think anything she did would make up for neglecting Eileen when she needed help the most, but I must applaud the author here because the character development was incredible! Carla went from being an angry, depressed, and lonely investigator who couldn’t care less about the cases in front of her, to being the ONLY person determined to bring these kids home alive and well as she threw herself into the case and even risked her own life to find them. Careless Carla? Not a fan. But Vigilante Carla? YES!! Go, bestie, go!

Satisfying and conclusive ending

One thing I hate the most is an author who gets me all excited and takes me on a wild ride, only to let me down at the end. Not the case here—the end was just as exciting as the ride! As you know, I try my best to figure out “whodunnit” before the end but I was truly shocked at the final twist! As far as I could tell, the author left no loose ends, and we are left with all the answers to who, what, when, where, and why. Some readers may not be a fan of Carla’s actions in the end, but personally I felt justice was truly served. I was thoroughly satisfied with how the author concluded the story and I felt like I had no remaining unanswered questions.

Rating: ★★★★★

Yep, that’s 5 well deserved stars. Hunted turned out to be an exhilarating thriller, and I enjoyed every minute. I was even a little breathless at the end as I whispered to myself, “That. Was. SO. GOOD.” Do I recommend this one? YES YES YES!!! I was hooked from the beginning, came to care for every character (even Carla!), and for the life of me I could find nothing wrong with the ending. Every twist and turn was so worth it! A standing ovation for the author, friends—this was a hit for me!

Buy Hunted by Darcy Coates below: