Suicide Forest

Author: Jeremy Bates
Series: World's scariest places #1
Genre: Thriller
Original publication date: December 2014
Book Description (from Good Reads):
Just outside of Tokyo lies Aokigahara, a vast forest and one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Japan...and also the most infamous spot to commit suicide in the world. Legend has it that the spirits of those many suicides are still roaming, haunting deep in the ancient woods.
When bad weather prevents a group of friends from climbing neighboring Mt. Fuji, they decide to spend the night camping in Aokigahara. But they get more than they bargained for when one of them is found hanged in the morning--and they realize there might be some truth to the legends after all.

Thoughts:
It is definitely a slow start. 
Initially when you are still getting to know the people the relationship issues the main couple has is very annoying. There is insecurity, jealousy, and manipulation, nothing too extreme but then again I was still not into the story.
There is a group of people, they barely know each other, it is definitely not a cohesive group and they are thrown into the hassle of bad decisions. Not really but who the hell chooses to camp in the place called Suicide Forest!

It is annoying in a few places and the characters took a while to grow on me but in the end, you already care about most of them. It does have a lot of suspense, mystery, and fear, they are lost, they are not? Relationship issues, misunderstandings, showing true colors in the face of trouble?
There is really little I can say without spoiling it. There is some foreshadowing well more like we see our characters discuss and theorize, and you do as well alongside them. For most of the story, they don't know what is going on, and neither do you, it makes sense. They dived in ill-prepared in an unknown place with an eerie reputation, you expect them to be scared and have that affect their actions, thoughts and the way they react to the situation they are facing.
The ending was not what I was expecting but then again, I believe it makes sense. There was a tiny stretch of very convenient last-minute details... like the arrival in the nick of time for whatever, and a friendship develops unexpectedly, anyway the ending helped greatly. (Is this a spoiler? Nah you won't know what I mean so really there is no point on saying it but oh well).

I really liked it in the end!
Initially, I was not enjoying the book but as the mystery came in and after the few reveals, well it did become better.