This right here is wny my generation (millennials) raise our kids like they are perpetually grounded. No way are we letting mysterious evil tree men get our babies!
And poor Mike is living in a dilapidated and unsanitary house with open wounds and no one is like "okay. That's enough. You live in assisted living now." Mike is the real victim here. A victim of neglect.
"don't go visit the own man the entire community decided to neglect kids."
This was a typical childhood in the 80s and 90s though, We would ride bikes, visit people in dilapidated houses, some of us got murdered, and we tried to solve crimes.
Sometimes other kids beat me up and stole my bike. Thank goodness we didn't have some evil dead woods.
Anyway I will never recover from this book. Thank you!

This is such an awesome twist on the haunted woods/creature in the woods trope. Combining horror and science fiction, Christian Francis hit it out of the ballpark with The Dead Woods, it was gripping, atmospheric, and unique. I love a horror story surrounding a group of young friends, and Pip and his friends were like a much less lucky Losers Club. A great plot coupled with the perfect "oh no" ending makes this a great quick read.

This was a surprise. It was a quick, brutal, monster story along the lines of IT. I didn’t like all the dialogue, it was confusing at times. The ending saved the book for sure!

I really wanted to love this book- the cover and description are awesome. The book is marketed as YA horror, but it read almost more like middle-grade. While the characters are supposed to be in highschool they acted like they were 10 years old, which made it hard for me to engage.

The style reminds me of goosebumps/fear street, but the dialogue and execution didn’t work very well for me. The concept was cool and unique - a bunch of kids who hang out at a clubhouse investigating the suspicious disappearances of their friends- and I enjoyed jumping around in time.

It was entertaining, but not for me. I think a younger reader would likely enjoy this.

This book piqued my interest the second I saw the cover. I knew it would be the perfect blend of mystery, horror and suspense and that’s exactly what I got. I had so much fun for this book and I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for something to keep you on the edge your seat.