Title: The Girl in Red

Author: Christina Henry

Genre: Sci-Fi / Horror / Retelling

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: June 18, 2019

Links: Goodreads | Amazon* | Book Depository*

Rating: 5 / 5 Stars

Source: Digital ARC via NetGalley

 

The Girl in Red is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in a post-apocalyptic world. Humanity was hit with a virus that started as a cough and quickly progressed to death. Red is a young woman who loves science fiction, reading, movies, and just has a general thirst for knowledge. These qualities have left her especially prepared for the end of the world. The opening scene shows us just how bad-ass Red is. She has been walking through the woods alone for days on the way to her grandmother’s house. The plan is to get there and survive the apocalypse with the last of her family in the middle of the woods where she has always felt at home, but the battle is getting there. As she is warming a can of soup over the fire, a man wanders up and Red can tell right away that he does not have the best of intentions. After he attempts to take her food and then threatens her, Red uses her hatchet to take care of him.

This really sets the scene for how the rest of the book will go. It is dark and suspenseful as we go back and forth in time to learn what happened to the rest of Red’s family and continue on Red’s journey with her to her grandmother’s house. I came into this book having read and loved Lost Boy by Christina Henry last year. I was super excited for another retelling from this amazing author and I was not disappointed. The Girl in Red is such a fantastic book and I cannot wait to read more of what Christina Henry has to offer.

Big thank you to Berkley & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

“One thing Red had learned from years of reading and movie watching was that people were far scarier than any disease or zombie or alien or face-eating monster.”

-Christina Henry, The Girl in Red

*Please note, this quote is from an ARC copy, so it may change in the final copy.

Synopsis: 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…. 

---

 

 

 

 

 

Connect with me:

Instagram | Goodreads | Twitter | Podcast

Please note: All links marked with (*) are affiliate links. Meaning, if you click and make a purchase I will get a small percentage of the purchase price from the retailer. Purchases like these help support my blog!