The Woods of Hitchcock by Ann W. Jarvie – 5 Star Review

The Woods of Hitchcock by award-winning author Ann W. Jarvie is a thriller about a psychically gifted Chicago copywriter and victim of violence who returns to South Carolina’s equestrian country to solve a riddle involving murder, the metaphysical and the secrets of her eccentric family.

Welcome to the March 2nd stop on the blog tour for The Woods of Hitchcock by Ann W. Jarvie with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for 5 more reviews and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Not enough? I hosted an excerpt spotlight for this book with a guest post written by Ann W. Jarvie earlier in the month. Check it out!

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

About the Book

The Woods of Hitchcock
The Henrietta Series Book Two
by Ann W. Jarvie

Published 12 October 2021
JazzComm Publishing

Genre: Thriller, Psychological Suspense
Page Count: 314
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

The Woods of Hitchcock by award-winning author Ann W. Jarvie is a thriller about a psychically gifted Chicago copywriter and victim of violence who returns to South Carolina’s equestrian country to solve a riddle involving murder, the metaphysical and the secrets of her eccentric family.

Suzanne Clayborn is a psychically gifted southerner working in her dream job in Chicago, which also conveniently takes her away from the ghosts of her past. But when she’s nearly killed, she realizes all she wants is to return home to her eccentric family, her horse and the one place she feels safe: Hitchcock Woods, an enchanting equestrian forest in South Carolina.

But instead of finding solace, Suzanne becomes entangled in a murder spree, while stumbling upon an old manuscript, written by her sage grandmother. As she explores it, Suzanne uncovers a tome of long-buried family haunts and ancient metaphysical secrets offering healing and inspiration. She also begins to understand her unwanted psychic abilities, especially after meeting a mysterious stranger in the Woods whose ominous riddle suggests others close to her will die within the week…

Brimming with raw emotion and a trail of psychological twists, a story of hope and transformation begins to unfold. Yet with the riddle’s deadline looming, Suzanne’s present must ultimately collide with a violent past. Will she be able to solve her life’s riddle and fulfill her destiny? Or will she die along with those she loves?

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Excerpt

Suzanne Clayborn woke up in darkness, mouth taped shut.

Jerking only made the ties around her wrists and ankles tighter, but it wasn’t just the bindings holding her down. Her muscles weren’t working right, like her whole body had fallen asleep. All she could do was lie there on a floor, heart pounding in terror, listening to the eerie bangs of pipes hidden somewhere behind the shadowed walls.

Her body trembled, despite an overwhelming heat, heavy and putrid, falling on her face and neck like the terrible breath of a monster. She had no memory of what had happened to her or where she was now. She only knew she was immobilized, maybe paralyzed, and every inch of her head ached. She might’ve welcomed another blackout, but the fumes were acting like smelling salts, forcing her to remain awake.

Yet she preferred consciousness—she didn’t want to die. It wasn’t that she feared the afterlife. That was actually the only good thing about the tragic accident years ago, when she was thirteen, when she’d felt her soul float away in bliss. It was the coming back that was the scary part. What she’d seen and felt when she’d woken up, and almost every day since then, could not be unseen or unfelt. It was a secret horror, her life irreversibly altered with strange, new abilities she didn’t need or want. Still, she didn’t want to die—not now, not like this—because she was struck in this dark moment with an awful knowing, a bothersome niggling in the deepest part of her soul about something important she had to finish in this life.

My Review

My Rating: 5 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads

I was granted complimentary access to The Woods of Hitchcock by Ann W. Jarvie as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with Goddess Fish Promotions. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

When Suzanne survives a brutal and mysterious attack at work she decides to return to her quiet and somewhat obscure home town of Hitchcock Woods to seek comfort among family and her horses. Unfortunately for Suzanne, trouble follows her to Hitchcock. People are dieing and disappearing around her. The ghosts she’s been able to see since a near-death experience as a teenager are behaving strangely. A wise young native man no one else has ever spoken to is meeting her in the woods to counsel her on this sticky situation. Can Suzanne change the course of events before she or those she loves are killed? Will Hitchcock ever be the same again?

This book had me on the edge of my seat the whole way! The characters are compelling, the setting is absolutely perfect, and any well-written book with horses is guaranteed to win my heart anyway. Besides Suzanne herself my favourite characters were her grandmother and her mysterious forest friend with the Mustang/Paint cross that seems to be some sort of demigod. This book does a great job of putting Suzanne and those around her through strong emotions that feel right for the unreal situation they find themselves in without letting that emotion overwhelm the storytelling and turn it into a soap opera. There’s fascinating psychology in here, but other elements of the book are allowed to shine.

I loved all of the incorporations of paranormal plot elements and the integration of native beliefs and spirituality. A character who can see ghosts is always interesting, but if done poorly it can be cheap and tacky. That’s definitely not the case here! Suzanne acknowledges and dismisses the ghsots in equal measure, communicates with them in interesting ways, and lets us in on what she’s discovered about their limitations. For example, ghosts can’t enter Hitchcock Woods. She doesn’t know why for sure, but they’re not allowed. (That’s why it’s odd that the boy who’s been following her since Chicago is such a curiosity. He seems to be an exception to the rule.)

This book is full of teachers who guide gently and subtly, saviours who give everything they can, and monsters who aren’t exactly what they appear to be. I truly didn’t see the reveal at the end coming and I think it was handled perfectly!

I’m so glad to see this book labelled as part of a series on Goodreads because I want more in this version of the world!

About the Author

Ann W. Jarvie has a B.A. in journalism and twenty-five years’ experience as a writer in advertising and public relations agencies, in Chicago and South Carolina. Although it stands completely on its own, The Woods of Hitchcock is an indirect sequel to Jarvie’s award-winning debut novel, The Soul Retrieval, which received four literary awards, the highest score by Writer’s Digest e-Book Awards’ judges (5 out of 5 on all points) as well as myriad positive reviews. Jarvie currently lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona with her husband, their boxer dog and boxer mix rescue.

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Giveaway Alert!

Ann W. Jarvie will be awarding a $75 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feb 23	The Faerie Review	Mar 2	Westveil Publishing
Mar 9	The Avid Reader	Mar 9	The Reading Addict
Mar 16	Sandra’s Book Club	Mar 16	Gina Rae Mitchell

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