The Space Between Trees

by Katie Williams

When Evie sees a body being pulled from the woods behind her home, she's already intrigued, but when she finds out her childhood friend Elizabeth (nicknamed Zabet) is the murder victim, she becomes oddly obsessed with the case. While she and Zabet were best friends as kids, she knows little about who Zabet was as a person. She attempts to contact Zabet's current best friend, Hadley, who at first blows her off as a weirdo. But Evie's obsession grows, and at the funeral, a little white lie she tells to Zabet's father gets her closer to her dead ex-friend, and to Hadley, than she ever thought possible. As she and Hadley hunt for the killer, their own frighteningly dysfunctional relationship grows, causing awkward tension up to the very end.

This is a psychological thriller. Don't expect high action, or blood and guts, or a smash-bang ending. The creep-out factor is all about what's going on in Evie's mind, and what Hadley is going to do next. While I didn't love this book, it had an odd appeal for me. Evie's clearly a nut job, but she's sympathetic. You know/hope/think maybe she means well, but you're not really sure, and that makes for a compelling read.