Early Review – The Girl in Red by Christina Henry (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 18, 2019)
ISBN-13: 978-0451492289
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

“It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.

Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods….”

I have read all of Henry’s book and have really enjoyed her forays into fairy tale retellings even more than her urban fantasy series. I really loved this post-apocalyptic horror retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. It was very well done and very engaging. My only complaint is that it wrapped up really abruptly.

Red exists in a world gone crazy where a coughing virus has taken out a vast portion of the population leaving the rest of humanity to struggle on its own. Red has always been paranoid and so she is better prepared than most when things come crashing down. As her family is taken away from her one by one, she is left with one ultimate goal…make it to her grandmother’s house in a secluded region. Hopefully there her grandmother and her can ride out this storm together and survive.

The book jumps back and forth between the present and the past. Because of things Red is doing in the present these glimpses into the past are all the more intriguing. The story is slowly unraveled leaving the reader to, not only wonder if Red will survive to see her grandmother, but also wonder what horrible things happened to Red on her journey to the present.

I loved how this is written, it was written beautifully and does a great job of capturing the feel of a world gone crazy. In general I have been pretty tired of post-apocalyptic speculative fiction but this book really revitalized the genre for me.

I did have some small points of frustration with the story. It is revealed that possibly the coughing virus is not the only issue here, but I never really figured out if the two problems were tied together or not (I know this is vague but I am trying to not spoil anything). I also thought the book ended very abruptly without much resolution and would love to see a follow up story about Red and what she finds in the end. The ending here is one of those slightly vague endings that leave readers feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Overall I really loved this book. It was a wonderful retelling of Little Red Riding Hood that stays true to the fairy tale while fully embracing a post-apocalyptic setting. It’s gritty and horrific at times but also thoughtful and beautiful. I would recommend to those who enjoy creative fairy tale retellings and/or post-apocalyptic adventures.