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Writer's pictureThe Fiction Fox

Review: Lonely Places - Kate Anderson


Genre: Young Adult Horror, Contemporary

Published: North Star, October 2024

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars


"The bones had grown into the roots and the roots had grown into the bones… And Guthrie had gathered bones from the dirt like wildflowers.”


The Story:

16-year-old Chase has never known what it’s like to “have roots” in a place. Newly moved into the remote lookout-tower in the Pando-woods after having spent 8 years traveling the country in a converted school-bus, Chase is glad to stay in a single place for more than a few months. Perhaps the stability of a place to call home will help her family recover from the trauma of that night; the one that originally sent her parents on the road and rendered her younger sister selectively mute.

When Chase gets a job at the local summer camp and befriends her fellow-camp-counselor Wilder, she learns her family isn’t the only one carrying secrets. Strange events have been happening in the wilds around Pando and Chase and Wilder embark on a quest for answers, in the hopes of saving both their families.


What I liked:

Lonely Places exceeded all my expectations and made for one of my favourite YA-reads of the year. It strikes that perfect balance between heavier themes of mental-health, trauma and grief, slight eeriness and horror-vibes, and a strange feeling of nostalgia that belongs in liminal spaces. The author does a fantastic job bringing mystical woods of Pando (which are a real place that are now on my bucket-list to visit…) and the small town of Boone to life to the point where the atmosphere oozes off the page and I felt myself completely transported there.

What originally seems like two separate mysteries (the story of the strange events and disappearances in Boone, and the history of our central family) are beautifully intertwined and the central metaphor that connects them is a powerful one.


From a grief/trauma-representation perspective, this was really well done. The topics are approached in a sensitive and compassionate way and I loved the emphasis on healing together as a family from a shared trauma. All characters are flawed, and all grow throughout the book, but they truly feel like they care for each other from beginning to end. I especially love the dynamic between Guthrie and Chase, which is far from ideal (acknowledged on page!) but so relatable and true.


What I didn’t like:

The very first mysteries that’s introduced (the one relating to a disappearance that happened in Pando before), never gets a true resolution. Although I’m not the type of reader who needs every question answered, this mystery was so central to the plot that it did feel a little unsatisfactory.

When it comes to the trauma-representation, I have a single personal gripe with the language, which is entirely personal to me. I personally dislike “therapy-speak” from characters (or authors!) who have no background in psychology or therapy. It feels disingenuous, quasi-professional and misplaced. This book fell into that a couple of times. Phrases like “unpacking your trauma” don’t belong in a conversation between16-year olds and lose a lot of their meaning when they’re overused. Again, this is quite a niche gripe I have, so do take it with a grain of salt.


Overall a novel I’d highly recommend, especially as a transitional read from late-summer into early autumn.



Many thanks to North Star for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

You can find this book here on Goodreads.

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