Hello Beautiful People! Welcome to a new review! For this review, I get into the very hard-to-put-down book These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant. Based in the Appalachian woods we follow a father and daughter duo living off the grid in the woods that harbour secrets, in a cabin that has even more. With really interesting characters and an absorbing setting, this is definitely a quick read that I would recommend.
Main Characters:
- Cooper: Father to Finch, lives in his friend’s Cabin with her where it’s been just the two of them for a long time, has his reasons as to why he keeps his daughter away from the world, his world starts to crumble when he and Finch get caught up in a mess
- Finch: A too smart for her own good 8-year-old who only knows the walls of their cabin, her father, their neighbour, and Jake
- Jake: Cooper’s friend who lets him and Finch live in his family’s secluded cabin
- Marie: Jake’s sister
- Scotland: The families only neighbour who really doesn’t live all that close to them, is the only one other than Jake who knows they are in the cabin
My Review
I always enjoy a good thriller that is based around an interesting setting. The off-the-grid lifestyle is one that’s always been kind of interesting to me so as soon as I read the synopsis for this one I knew I was pulled in. These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant is a fascinating thriller that also carries some parts of mystery. With characters that are hard not to get connected to and a story that you want to follow to the end, I would definitely recommend this one. It is also not a long read and while a bit more slow-paced to fit the setting, does not take a lot to get through.
I gave These Silent Woods an 8.5/10 rating. While this book is defiantly a thriller I would also categorize it as a character development story. The book revolves around the relationship between Cooper and his 8-year-old daughter Finch. Cooper is desperate to keep Finch in this bubble he has created at the cabin, and Finch is desperate to escape the cabin. The more thrilling parts revolve around why the two are so far out in the woods in the first place, why Cooper hides his daughter away, and where the young girl who went missing went when the two saw her out in the woods one day. The missing girl is actually a very small part of the book and more so is there to play a role in a test of the two’s father-daughter relationship and calls Cooper’s morals into question.
I enjoyed the relationship between Finch and Cooper a lot in the book. Cooper is this gruff and tough man, and Finch is this innocent wide-eyed girl with a lot of softness in her heart. Cooper commends Finch for being the way she is because she is raised by the large amounts of books in the cabin. She learns to be thoughtful by reading intense literature and has a view of the world far greater than the cabin even though she has never left. It’s interesting because the books allow Finch to have a concept of what’s going on in the world outside of the cabin, and that she and her father don’t live how people normally do. This creates danger for her father however because it doesn’t allow for him to keep Finch in this small box that he wants her to be in. I won’t expose yet why Cooper needs to keep her away from the world, but the reason keeps Cooper from allowing his daughter out into the world is in his eyes to protect her. His fear of the outside world does not translate to his daughter and this frustrates him, his lack of control frustrates him further.
Aside from Jake who is the owner of the cabin knowing that the two are hiding in the mountains one other person does. Scotland who lives on the land a ways away from them but not too far is the only one nearby. Jake hates Scotland but it’s not particularly because of who he is but more so of what he represents, and that is a connection for Finch to the outside world. Although Scotland lives in as much seclusion as they do, he does have some luxuries, like getting the newspaper. Despite what Scotland means to Cooper he means a lot more to Finch. I really liked the dynamic between the two because it exposed some softer parts of Scotland that probably wouldn’t have come out had Finch not been there. The two have a genuine friendship and despite the age difference it’s nice to see Finch interact with other people outside of her Dad.
Books like these can be a bit difficult in terms of getting a good picture of the setting. I have to say though that Kimi did a fantastic job at explaining the setting in the woods. I felt like I could perfectly picture the cabin and the area it was in. The book really starts to pick up early on when it’s exposed that Cooper and Finch don’t go for their own supplies, Jake brings them a year’s worth once a year, every year. The one thing that Cooper has been hoping that would never happen one year finally does, and Jake doesn’t arrive for his yearly visit. This forces Cooper to take a hard look at himself and his choices and to decide what is really important for him and his daughter. It also exposes him to the fact that Finch is entirely her own person outside of him who has different opinions and thoughts, and no matter what he does he can’t change that. He also is exposed to the fact that her awareness of the outside world is now going to be an issue for him.
All together a super fun and interesting read, and definitely one I would recommend if you like a thriller based in the woods or a thriller that revolves around an interesting duo. It’s a fast but also slow-paced read that you can definitely crush out on a weekend.
*** Don’t go any further if you don’t want to read any spoilers***
When it came time to expose why Cooper kept him and Finch hidden away all of these years, it wasn’t as huge as I was thinking, but was still good. I was thinking it was going to be something like she wasn’t really his daughter but it’s definitely a bit of a sadder reason. Finch’s mother came from a very well-to-do family and Coopers did not, meaning that her parents didn’t approve of the two’s relationship. When Finch’s mother unexpectedly died after an accident her grandparents attempted to take her away from her father. They had a case against his mental state based off of the PTSD her suffered in the war, saying he wasn’t stable enough to care for her. In an attempt to get Finch back Cooper tied her grandparents up, kidnapped her, and ran. No one was overly hurt but by the law standards he did technically kidnap his daughter and of course, knew he would be chased after because of it. So he took them out to the woods, changed their name and made sure that no one would ever find them.
The issue arises when Jake doesn’t come to bring their yearly supply, and one day when the two are out in the woods they see a young woman, it’s reported that some days later she has gone missing. Cooper is forced to question if he can’t risk taking him and Finch into town to get food and if it’s safe for him to speak to the police about seeing the girl. He concludes it’s not safe to talk to the police, but no matter what the two need food. Finch hates that he won’t talk to the police, but that’s because she knows more. She found the girl dead in the woods but didn’t tell her dad. The two go for food and it goes okay, they aren’t found out. Marie Jake’s sister also unexpectedly comes to the woods with a haul of food a week later. Jake as his dying wish asked for her to continue what he was doing, and to not ask too many questions. Finch and Cooper take a liking to her, and Coop starts to think that if it wasn’t for what he had done maybe he would have been able to create a normal life for his daughter.
Finch eventually takes Cooper to the body and tells him that he needs to go to the police. He tells her he can’t and what he did. Finch being 8 calls him some nasty things, not really understanding that if her Dad does this he isn’t coming back. Cooper tries to explain but she continues to view him as vile for not being willing to go to the police about the woman. Cooper eventually decides that he has to go to the police, calls Marie to come be with Finch and goes. It was a really sad scene with Finch realizing at the last moment that he meant it when he said he wouldn’t be coming back.
There’s a big twist to the end in which Scotland, knowing what’s been going on the whole time takes the police to the body, and gives Finch and Cooper an out to run so they won’t be found. The book ends sweetly with Marie, Cooper, and Finch going off together and it was a nice ending because despite what Cooper did I didn’t want him and Finch to be split up. I also kind of understood why he did what he did and although I didn’t agree with the way he did it I defiantly got it. I was glad he decided to go to the police, but I was glad in the end he didn’t have to and could stay together with his child. The reality is he made his situation a lot worse by kidnapping her. If he tried to work the system there may have been a way he got her back, but with kidnapping her there would be no way he could ever legally have her again, so if that was the way it would be at least they are together.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have you read These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant before? What did you think?
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