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….

‘The Girl In Red‘ was immediately immersive. The story is stark and bloody. It takes place in a world that offers no quarter to a lone woman trying to make her way more than a hundred miles across country to her grandmother’s house. The opening sequence is violent and fatal, leaving the reader in no doubt that this is not going to be a cosy retelling of a fairy tale.

This is a story of the pain of loss, the cost of survival and the importance
of facing the reality of who you are, what you’re facing and the choices you’re going to have to make; of recognising that the impossibility of controlling events by planning; and the importance of following your instincts. 

‘The Girl In Red‘ was a master class in the use of a first-person narrative. Everything was told from Red’s point of view. Given that there was a whole post-apocalyptic world to build, and that much of the time, Red was alone, this was a remarkable achievement. I loved being inside Red’s head, hearing her debate with herself and reprimand or encourage herself. Red does some terrible, violent things, and yet, she remained someone I rooted for and wanted to succeed.

The story is told in two timelines: Now and Before. We first meet Red in the Now timeline. She is the person that recent trauma and the need to survive in a hostile environment have made her. She is alone and she is formidable. The story then cuts to Before, showing Red living with her family as the catastrophe that will end the world as they’ve known it is unfolding.

The Now sections were tense and full of risk. The action scenes were vivid and believable. At times, the tension was almost unbearable. I liked that when Red was assessing a situation, she’d constantly refer to all the post-apocalyptic movies and novels that she’d read, but could also bring to bear a good understanding the relevant science. She took knowledge of both domains for granted, sometimes to the amusement and definitely the puzzlement of those around her. 

The Before sections gave Red a context that made her both more human and more impressive. She’s not a superhero. Not even a hero in her own eyes. But she’s not going to let anyone stop her from getting to her grandma’s house.

I found the Before sections as propulsive as the Now sections, partly because I knew that Red ended up alone but had planned to travel with her family, so in each section when she was with her family, I was waiting for disaster to strike, and partly because I identified with Red’s frustration at not being listened to.

Red can see the disaster coming. She’s watched all the movies and read all the novels. She thinks she knows what to do to survive. She certainly knows that she needs to plan and prepare. And yet, she cannot get her family to listen. They are optimists. They take safety for granted. They cannot bring themselves to imagine the fundamental changes that are about to engulf them. Their disregard of Red is amplified because, although she’s in her twenties, she’s still living at home and is still the baby of the family, and, because Red is an amputee with one leg missing below the knee, her mother sees her as physically limited and vulnerable. Red sees herself as the only one fit enough and mentally prepared enough to survive what’s coming.

‘The Girl In Red’ is one of the best post-apocalyptic stories I’ve read. It has engaging characters, makes exemplary use of the first-person narrative, a plot that maintains tension, is filled with action but also allows space for the emotional impact of events to be understood. 

I recommend the audiobook version. January Levoy’s narration added to my enjoyment of the story. Click on the Youtube link below to hear a sample.

I’ll be reading more Christina Henry soon. I have ‘Good Girls Don’t Die‘ (2023) and ‘Lost Boy‘ (2017) on my shelves and I’m looking forward to ‘The Place Where They Buried Your Heart’ , which is due on 4th November 2025.

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Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include THE PLACE WHERE THEY BURIED YOUR HEART, THE HOUSE THAT HORROR BUILT, GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE, HORSEMAN, NEAR THE BONE, THE GHOST TREE, THE GIRL IN RED, THE MERMAID, LOST BOY, the CHRONICLES OF ALICE series (ALICE, RED QUEEN and LOOKING GLASS) and the seven-book urban fantasy BLACK WINGS series.
Her short stories have been featured in the anthologies HOWL, ELEMENTAL FORCES, CURSED, TWICE CURSED, GIVING THE DEVIL HIS DUE and KICKING IT.
She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.