Jeremy Bates

"Just outside of Tokyo lies Aokigahara, a vast forest and one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Japan ... and also the most infamous spot to commit suicide in the world. Legend has it that the spirits of those many suicides are still roaming, haunting deep in the ancient woods. When bad weather prevents a group of friends from climbing neighboring Mt. Fuji, they decide to spend the night camping in Aokigahara. But they get more than they bargained for when one of them is found hanged in the morning-and they realize there might be some truth to the legends after all." -- Back cover.

Suicide Forest

Just outside of Tokyo lies Aokigahara, a vast forest and one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Japan...and also the most infamous spot to commit suicide in the world. Legend has it that the spirits of those many suicides are still roaming, haunting deep in the ancient woods. When bad weather prevents a group of friends from climbing neighboring Mt. Fuji, they decide to spend the night camping in Aokigahara. But they get more than they bargained for when one of them is found hanged in the morning-and they realize there might be some truth to the legends after all.

Maggie Gordon

Alas, group voting failed me this time. Suicide Forest was not nearly as strong a novel as A Head Full of Ghosts or Ice Twins, and certainly not a particularly scary horror novel. 

So what went wrong with this one?

1. For approximately half the novel, nothing happens. Our protagonists wander around acting like idiots in the woods. I mean, sure, it's the Suicide Forest, but that locale is still just... some woods? Woods aren't very scary to this Canadian, and nothing very scary happens. There's some mishaps, but ones more suited to an adventure novel than a horror novel. I'd also like to note that anyone who plans to go hiking for such a long period of time with so little in the way of food and survival gear are bloody idiots asking for disaster. 

2. There's very little character development for our mains. The secondary characters are interesting enough with their singular identifying traits, but Mel and Ethan are pretty cardboard. They are a perfect couple, but they bicker constantly in the forest, and seem to not trust one another at all (there's a very tired "how dare you have slept with people before me and not cut off all contact" sub-plot with them). Ethan seems to be trying to be a good guy, but really he's just terribly bland with the occasional "why are you being such a dick about that" moments. 

(view spoiler)[3. SPOILERS. Suicide Forest is NOT speculative fiction in that there's nothing imaginary about the horror in the forest. The bad guy is a real person. However, I found the old man in the woods far less believable than a ghost. Supernatural elements to a book mean I am prepared to suspend disbelief to an extent, but horror that relies on real life terrors doesn't get the same type of leeway. Having the antagonist been some strange dude who kidnaps and rapes ladies so that he can create a legion of feral sons was just... silly? He was horrific in such an exaggerated manner with so little context that I just could not buy into what was happening.

4. The denouement to this book just didn't work. Endings are hard, I know. But after our heroes get the heck out of the forest, the rest of the book peters out in a rather unsatisfying manner. The only two characters we check back in with directly are Ethan and Mel, the two bland ones. Ethan goes to live with Mel in her backwater town even though he wasn't very interested in that in the beginning. Mel is pregnant with what is probably forest man's child. The word "abortion" is never mentioned, and Ethan seems excited to have a kid. Props to them if they are actually trying to make the best of a shitty situation, but that whole trope is actually really gross with rape victims. Mel seems rather broken by the whole experience and probably not in a great frame of mind for any decisions, and the whole thing felt icky in the unchallenged social norms rather than horror. 

Mel's mother somehow manages to blow herself up (not kidding) and requires constant care, and Ethan can't get a job. Mel is sinking into depression, and all I can say is JUST MOVE AWAY. Mom ends up hanging herself, and Mel almost commits suicide (but Ethan warns her that she'll kill the baby so she can't pull the trigger). She cries that they will never escape the forest, and I have to say I feel like the author tried to insert some supernatural curse feelings into the last pages of the book, and it just doesn't work. Things end with Ethan thinking about how to make things better (AKA getting the hell out of Dodge), and readers are left going meh because we don't care about Ethan and Mel, or even know how they changed because we certainly didn't get a sense of who they were before the forest freaked them out for life.  (hide spoiler)]

Overall, Suicide Forest fails to deliver much horror or even a very coherent story. The characters are dull, the plotting fluctuates between stagnant and unbelievable, and the setting fails to honour the "Scariest Places in the World" tag line.

I really disliked the characterization of the person in the US military, and the protagonist. I nearly quit reading this book and put it on my "didn't finish, don't read shelf," but about at the halfway point, the book took a turn for the better. The action picked up, the suspense increased, and suddenly I was interested. I liked the twist near the end.

I did not remember anything about this book from reading it the first time.  In fact, I didn't even remember reading it at all, so the re-read was unintentional.  I thought I recognized the title because there is an excellent movie called "The Forest" that I thought was called "Suicide Forest".  In any case, my original thoughts about the book are still stand, but I do think I was a little harsh in my evaluation.  I did not consider not finishing this time.  This is a book for a time when you want a quick and easy scary story.  

shellybn

I really disliked the characterization of the person in the US military, and the protagonist. I nearly quit reading this book and put it on my "didn't finish, don't read shelf," but about at the halfway point, the book took a turn for the better. The action picked up, the suspense increased, and suddenly I was interested. I liked the twist near the end.

I did not remember anything about this book from reading it the first time.  In fact, I didn't even remember reading it at all, so the re-read was unintentional.  I thought I recognized the title because there is an excellent movie called "The Forest" that I thought was called "Suicide Forest".  In any case, my original thoughts about the book are still stand, but I do think I was a little harsh in my evaluation.  I did not consider not finishing this time.  This is a book for a time when you want a quick and easy scary story.  

Suicide Forest

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