Suicide Forest by Jeremy Bates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fun engaging read. Blair Witch in Japan, but with less irritating characters!
Several years back, I watched an episode of a show called “Destination Truth” with Josh Gates going all over the world working out if monsters and stories of hauntings were real. He went and spent the night in Aokigahara, the Suicide Forest, and BOY did they see some weird ****! Nowadays, he’s on a show called Expedition Unknown on the Travel Channel (I like this guy’s style!). Check it out if you can.
Anyway, this book is set in that same forest. A group of friends initially meet up to climb Fuji-san, but bad weather forces them to find something else to do. They join up with another couple who they meet by chance, and decide to camp out in Aokigahara. Great idea! A day or so in, they lose their way, run out of food and water, and one by one the friends start to die.. or did they kill themselves?
A great narrative, characters you don’t mind hanging around with in a dark forest, and a satisfying eventual reveal of what is going on around them in the woods.
Would probably make a better horror film than the original Blair Witch! (Which I don’t dislike, but this is still way ahead).
Click the image to buy a copy on Amazon UK (Kindle edition FREE at time of writing)
