Alone in the Wild: A Rockton Novel (Rockton, #5)

by Kelley Armstrong

In #1 New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong's latest thriller, the hidden town of Rockton is about to face a challenge none of them saw coming: a baby.

Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that's what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there's always something to worry about.

While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.

A town that doesn't let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from--and whether she's better off where she is.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong again delivers an engaging, tense thriller set in perhaps the most interesting town in all of contemporary crime fiction.

• ISBN10: 1250254280
• ISBN13: 9781250254283
• Publish Date: 4 February 2020
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 September 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Chelsea]

Not my favourite of the series, I'm not a baby person so I don't really related to any of those feelings. I was glad that adding a baby to the story didn't ruin it and I'm very thankful for that. I'm excited we're finally learning more about the hostiles and the others living in that area and I can't wait to see where the story goes next now that we have all this new info!

[kimbacaffeinate]

In Alone in the Wild a murder-mystery and an infant soon have Casey and Eric searching for answers. This provides readers insight into the different factions and our main characters.

The town of Rockton doesn’t allow anyone under the age of eighteen, so caring for an infant had its issues. Meanwhile, Casey and Eric need to find out what happened. Does this child have a family? Who killed the woman they found murdered?

The case takes them away from Rockton with only clues from the woman’s body. Aside from the folks who live in Rockton, the other inhabitants of the area are the Settlers, who broke off and established their own communities or the Hostiles who live wild and are nomads.

It was interesting coming across these groups. We saw characters we knew and helped a few, we also met new characters and gained greater insight. It was exciting to see the world beyond Rockton, but make no mistake this was intense with plenty of danger and nail-biting suspense.

I adored seeing Casey and Eric with a small child as Armstrong peeled layers back exposing their thoughts, fears, and histories. She isn’t afraid to expose their flaws and I like that about her writing. The author was very good at helping the reader connect with and understand the others.

While each book in the series has a case with a beginning and an end, I think the reader would cheat themselves regarding character development, relationships and the town if they read this series out of order. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer