Hunted
When Eileen goes missing in the impenetrable Ashlough Forest, the police eventually call off the search. But Chris knows she’s still out there. Compelled by the discovery of Eileen’s camera—and the impossible photos it holds—he and his friends head back into the wild to finish what the authorities wouldn’t. But the Ashlough isn’t a sanctuary; it’s a trap. As their search party is picked apart by the forest’s secrets, they come to a chilling realization: they aren’t searching for Eileen, and they are definitely not alone.
- Eileen - Chris’s sister
- Chris - Eileen’s brother, Todd’s friend
- Todd - Chris’s friend
- Carla - Police officer
- Decker - Police superintendent
- Anna - Eileen’s friend
- Hailey - Eileen’s friend, Flint’s girlfriend
- Flint - Chris’s friend
- Sam Gabon - Alleged killer
- Eileen goes missing in Ashleigh Forest.
- Someone finds Eileen’s camera and gives it to the police.
- Todd hikes into the forest to look for Eileen.
- Chris decides to go to Helmer to search for Eileen and his friends agree to join him.
- Todd hears a scraping sound and sees a seven-foot-tall creature with clumped fur, an inhuman face and a claw-like appendage extending from its arm.
- Todd runs from the creature and becomes increasingly lost.
- Chris, Anna, Flint and Hailey arrive in Helmer and head into the forest to look for Eileen.
- They reach a pool they recognize from Eileen’s photos and follow a closed trail they think she would have taken.
- Anna ties red twine at the start of the closed trail for them to follow in case they get lost.
- Todd climbs ten feet up a tree to escape the monster and sleep for the night.
- He hears a noise and falls out of the tree.
- Carla adjusts the lighting on Eileen’s photos and more clearly sees a figure following her through the forest.
- Carla maps out all the missing hikers in Ashleigh Forest over the last five years and realizes they all disappeared on only three trails, all of which loop into the same section of the forest.
- Carla shares her findings with Decker who says they will establish a task force.
- Chris and his friends find Todd’s corpse.
- Chris decides they should return Todd to his family, so they make a stretcher, place Todd’s remains on it and begin following the red twine out of the forest.
- A blade drops from above and impales Anna through the throat.
- Hailey clamps Anna’s artery and stops the bleeding.
- Chris makes a new stretcher and they leave Todd in the forest to carry Anna instead.
- Flint sees the creature, chases it and falls into a hole.
- Chris and Hailey rescue Flint.
- They are now stranded because Flint is in no condition to help carry Anna’s stretcher and Hailey is not strong enough to help Chris carry it.
- Hailey decides to run out of the forest to get help.
- After following the red twine for hours, Hailey realizes someone moved it to create a new path leading deeper into the woods.
- She tries to return to her friends but the red twine had been cut.
- Carla realizes Chris and his friends entered the forest looking for Eileen and organizes a rescue mission.
- The police receive an anonymous tip claiming Sam is the killer.
- They raid Sam’s house and, when he sees the police, he shoots himself dead.
- They find a list of names in his kitchen and a costume matching the figure in Eileen’s photos.
- Anna succumbs to her injuries and dies.
- Hailey stumbles upon a cabin in the woods.
- Hailey takes the motorcycle from the cabin and flees.
- She makes it to a road and is rescued.
- A helicopter locates Chris and Flint, and they are rescued.
- Carla hikes into the forest and finds Eileen dehydrated, emaciated and alive.
- Carla confronts Decker about being the killer.
- Decker insists he never killed anyone, only tormented them until they became scared and lost, allowing the forest to kill them.
- Knowing there is not enough evidence against Decker, Carla shoots and kills him, staging it as a suicide.
- Hailey loses a leg below the knee.
- The case is closed with Sam blamed as the killer and Decker believed to have taken his own life.
Darcy Coates delivers a heavy dose of suspense and mystery in Hunted, focusing on atmosphere and a creeping sense of what lies in wait in the woods. The narrative shifts between three distinct perspectives; Carla who is the police officer officially investigating the case, Chris who is leading a search party of his friends to find Eileen and Todd who took off into the forest on his own hoping to be Eileen's hero.
While the book has short chapters, the overall pacing here is a slow burn. The constant perspective switching between the official investigation and the isolated searchers, combined with a methodical build-up, made the story drag at times.
Rather than relying on sudden, shocking twists to keep the reader hooked, the narrative leans into prolonged tension and the eerie environment of the search. This book is great for anyone who likes a slow burn with lots of mounting tension and the trope of being lost in the woods with no hope of being found.
- Todd - Dead - Fell from a tree
- Anna - Dead - Stabbed by a trap set up by Decker
- Decker - Dead - Shot by Carla
- Eileen - Alive - Slowly healing
- Chris - Alive - Ready to move on from the events in the forest
- Hailey - Alive - Planning to attend medical school
- Flint - Alive - Slowly healing
- Carla - Alive - Moving away from Helmer
- Loss of a child
- Suicide
- Murder
ISBN: 9781728220178
Publication Date: May 5, 2020
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
