Kelley Armstrong’s Alone in the Wild (rockton 5)
I will start this off with a few caveats: I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for this review AND I am a Kelley Armstrong fan. I have been a fan from the first time I was introduced to her in Bitten, and have followed her bodies of work avidly since then. One of the things I love about her body of work is that she has a vision. She stays true to that vision even when fans criticize her for it. Sometimes, the vision isn’t immediately apparent but it is always there. She also has a number of compelling stand alone novels that are unique and compelling.
I have greatly enjoyed the Rockton series and I was one of those who read the first book in installments. The premise is unique and it seems like there are many ways for the story to advance over time. I didn’t see that at the beginning, but now I do. I have to say that once again Kelley Armstrong has delivered a compelling series with well rounded characters that will appeal to readers. These multifaceted characters defy classification as heroes or villains. It highlights the fact that everyone has both good and bad and must be evaluated on their own merits. This is especially true of the residents of Rockton, where everyone is running from something.
I do not want to ruin any of the books by alluding to parts of the plot line that are spoilers for earlier books: so SPOILER ALERT (not for this book but for others in the Rockton series)!
When the series started, we followed Casey Duncan and her best friend Diana on the journey to Rockton a town in the Yukon that isn’t on any map. It’s billed as a town for those who need to get away from something. You have to cut off contact with everyone in your old life. There will not be any contact once the decision to go is made. A generic open end message will tell friends and loved ones that you will be out of touch and then you disappear when you get on the helicopter. There can be no cellphones, no GPS, no email, not even an air-gapped computer. The town itself is camouflaged by the terrain. AND everything is controlled by the town; unless the council think it’s necessary you won’t be getting it. Once you arrive you must contribute to the workings of the town. Casey has a vital role as a homicide detective. Even that is different in Rockton–there are no forensic teams to call. Not having the internet to research forensics makes a large difference and there is no end to the challenges that Casey faces. And getting used to life with less electricity isn’t a walk in the park either.
Once Casey arrived, she discovered there was a hidden underside to Rockton and to Diana who she thought she knew so well. Turns out that Diana and her Abusive Ex-husband had stolen a large amount of money and that was why he kept turning up like a bad penny. Being in a town without internet makes it easy for people to hide their true natures. But all of that is another story, literally…so go read the first 4 books!
At the beginning of Alone in the Woods, Casey and Sheriff Eric Dalton are on a much needed vacation after all the truly daunting challenges they have faced in earlier. Casey has had a steep learning curve sine she walked out to that helicopter so many moons ago. But when Casey awakens alone in the camp with her Newfoundland puppy Storm and she hears what she thinks is a baby crying she doesn’t quite believe her ears. When she finds a baby clutched to the chest of a murdered woman, it raises a number of issues. The most immediate of which is that Rockton doesn’t admit children of any age. Solving the mystery of how this baby came to be in the Yukon without any others in sight will be one of the toughest challenges Casey faces. It will introduce a number of new characters into the world of Rockton. And, seeing Sheriff Dalton with this newborn will cause Casey to face emotional pitfalls that surprise her and force both she and Eric to have a relationship talk Casey never thought to face. Since I wholeheartedly hope you will read this book I will stop here.
I have enjoyed the journey with Rockton so far and I cannot wait to get my hands on book 6. At the beginning, I was anxiously awaiting the next installment and I still am! Seeing Casey settle into Rockton is a pleasure and seeing the world expand to include so many characters reminds me of the early books of Otherworld. Even more of a Kelley Armstrong fan even though this book kept me up all night!
Happy Book Birthday to Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong gained fame and notoriety with her women of the otherworld series. It started with Bitten, the story of Elena Micheals the only female werewolf. The series was exceptionally different as each book followed different strong woman of the otherworld. The otherworld was the paranormal world that coexisted with our world, but in secret and containing all the supernatural creatures. Many of us were greatly saddened by the end of the series and we have enjoyed each and every one of the short stories that continued to follow the stories of all our favorite characters, bringing our friends stories back into our lives.
These stories success opened the door for her Nadia Stafford series, about an assassin who is partially retired but somehow keeps getting sucked back into all kinds of shenanigans. Kelley Armstrong had written some other stand alones as well as some young adult series.
After the main storyline of women of otherworld concluded, except for the small vignettes the short stories allowed for quick peeks at how our characters were faring, Kelley Armstrong started two new series for fans to get excited about. The Casey Duncan series follows the main character, a trained police officer as she struggles to help her best friend with an abusive ex husband who seems to always find them which means they are constantly on the run. This continues until they hear of a rumor, a town whispered about where you really can disappear because there is no technology and the town exists on no map. It means that everyone must do whatever jobs they can and they live an almost communal type life. But rather than being created around an ideal of free love it is the idea that everyone, sometimes, needs a do-over and a way to disappear. But now there are murders occurring where people go to disappear after extensive background checks and thus begins the Casey Duncan series.
The other story, Cainsville, that Kelley Armstrong started seemed to be a more traditional fiction book. It centered around the world of Olivia Taylor-Jones, a vapid socialite who discovers that her true parents were serial killers. But as the story progressed it became more and more paranormal, calling on ancient Celtic lore. This is the final book in the series and I cannot wait to dive in…
Rituals
Fiction
Random House Canada
August 15, 2017
496
The fifth book and the exciting conclusion to bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's "impossible-to-put-down" Cainsville series, in which she mixes hard-hitting crime writing with phenomenal world-building to create a brand of fiction all her own. When Olivia Taylor-Jones found out she was not actually the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers, her life exploded. Running from the fall-out, she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois, but she couldn't resist trying to dig out the truth about her birth parents' crimes. She began working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer who also had links to the town; their investigation soon revealed Celtic mysteries at work in Cainsville, and also entangled Olivia in a tense love triangle with the calculating Gabriel and her charming biker boyfriend, Ricky. Worse, troubling visions revealed to Olivia that the three of them were reenacting an ancient drama pitting the elders of Cainsville against the mysterious Huntsmen with Olivia as the prize. In the series' fifth and final novel, not only does Gabriel's drug addict mother, who he thought was dead, make a surprise reappearance, but Kelley Armstrong delivers a final scary and surprising knock-out twist. It turns out a third supernatural force has been at work all along, a dark and malevolent entity that has had its eye on Olivia since she was a baby and wants to win at any cost.
Wanted to Recommend Some Series to Make the Wait Better
So, for all my fellow fans out there rereading series over and over while waiting for the next book in any of our series–here are some series you may or may not know about yet…
Lauren Dane- Goddess with a Blade series. This is an ongoing PNR with a female kickass protagonist who is a vessel for the goddess Brighid. It has all the usual suspects, but a unique take on it. Lauren Dane is working on the next book now. She has other Paranormal series that are good as well, but this is my favorite
Shiloh Walker-The Hunters Series and The Grimm Circle books. Both are unique takes on the original archetypes. She also writes a more urban series under the penname J.C. Daniels about a really cool heroine Kit Colbana who is a member of a unique species called the Aneira.
Seanan Mcguire-October Daye, Incryptid and Indexing series–This has sarcasm in spades and all 3 are incredible stories. She also writes under the penname Mira Grant.
Kelley Armstrong-Cainsville (unique story based on celtic archetypes) and Casey Duncan Series (murder mysteries, sort of)
Karen Chance- Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Basarab series…a unique take on the usual Paranormal types. Focuses on time travel and is non stop action with a humorous take
Jacqueline Carey-Kushiels series More traditional fantasy with a lot of religious imagery and a lot of sex and violence Very good, and was around before PNR was a thing
[Top]Casey Duncan
What if there were a place where you could go and completely disappear? A place for those who had to escape their daily lives for one reason or another. It’s whispered about in abuse survivor meetings. A town so far off the beaten path that there is only one way to get there, and that requires proof of why you must disappear. It’s a whisper in the group meeting, “I’m ready” And then a call comes in on your cell phone with a time and location. From there you are interrogated and if your story checks out, you have 3 days to get ready. You lay a false trail of internet searches and speak vaguely about needing a vacation. and suddenly you disappear…. Welcome to the Casey Duncan series by Kelley Armstrong
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