In New Jersey’s Pine Barrens lies Nilhollow, a woods that some say just may be haunted and most have heard the rumors or legends that surround the area. Among the tales of missing hikers come stories of tree spirits and all powerful forest gods that have driven some insane before taking their own lives.

Julia Russo lives near the area of Nilhollow and when she is forced to run for her life from her violent ex-boyfriend she finds herself deep in the woods. After Julia has vanished without a trace State Trooper Peter Grainger knows that he must find her. Peter knows the stories of the woods and the further he goes the more he believes they just may be true.

Savage Woods by Mary SanGiovanni seems to be based a bit on a real area in New Jersey that does have stories and legends focused around it and an incorporation of the Native American mythology. The tale is a bit gruesome in places and intense in others but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me leaving me to rate it at 2.5 stars.

There is nothing particularly wrong with the book in my opinion, the author seems to have a nice enough writing style and I’m sure some horror fans may love this. In my case the book just kept reminding me of other things I’ve seen and read so I never found myself fully invested in this one. The idea of a haunted woods sounded appealing in picking it up but as it unfolded I started thinking the activities within were a bit silly for my taste and unfortunately as I said seemed a little too familiar and not quite original enough for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

SAVAGE WOODS is spooky, scary and very gory. Don't read it on a camping trip! Good, relatable characters but San Giovanni could have taken them deeper. Great descriptions and interesting use of Native American folklore.

Very good, fast read. Engrossing and unsettling. This book let to a few sleepness nights bcause it really scared me, at times. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

After reading Chills last year, my first Mary SanGiovanni book, the author immediately shot to my must-read list and I’d been patiently waiting for her next release since finishing that prior story. Chills was a great introduction to Mary’s work, so I dove right into Savage Woods at the first opportunity.

Unfortunately, Savage Woods didn’t entirely work for me – mostly due to personal hurdles, rather than the author’s work. As much as I love horror and this genre’s tropes, I’m not real big on the fantasy genre. Although Mary draws on Native American folklore for the crux of her narrative, the execution was a little too lite-fantasy for me.

In the woods of Nilhollow, deep in the Pine Barrens, an ancient evil is beginning to awaken. The wood sprites are panicking and going insane, which means it’s a pretty crappy time to get lost in the woods. Or, as is the case with Julia Russo, have her car run off the road by her crazy ex-boyfriend stalker and chased into the woods by the axe-wielding maniac.

There’s some cool stuff happening within these pages. I loved an early depiction of a prisoner’s breakdown and the ensuing fallout as he confesses to a New Jersey patrolman the nature of these woods and what’s lurking within. There’s also a nice heaping of gore and violence, and the shifty nature of the Nilhollow woods and its promise of madness is conceptually cool and well executed.

So what’s my problem? Well – and again, it’s a Me issue all the way – I couldn’t help but find the threats in the wood a little bit corny. Again, I’m not a big fan of the fantasy genre, and the use of tree monsters as the primary evil reminded me too much of psychotic Ents and Groots gone wrong (and mind you, I love me some Groot, but it’s an odd mental image to be carrying around with this book’s particular tone). Had the threat been something along the lines of spores, for instance, I think I would have been more drawn in.

This mental obstacle was one I brought to the table, and it was, unfortunately, one that I could not quite get over. Even in spite of this, there’s a good deal to enjoy here; I just wasn’t able to sink into this book as deeply as I wanted due to my own inability to suitably suspend disbelief with these particular horrors.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.]

A thoroughly enjoyable tale with genuinely terrifying moments in the first half, carrying notes of American folk legends such as the Jersey Devil, and a sense of the Blair Witch Project. The descriptions of being lost in a forest that somehow's gone foul, and its rotten manifestations that are proper creepy - curled bleached ferns looking like children's skeletons - are fantastic and made me uncomfortable sleeping with the window open at night. At this point it had massive potential and delivered full on gore.. But I was disappointed by the tree creatures, and the showdown towards the end: it all felt a bit 80s B-movie, including the lines of the characters and how the relationships developed. Which I guess isn't a bad thing if you like 80s B-movies (I do!) and an entertaining read, but the over-the-top technicolour second half somehow could not match up with the strong first half. I'll recommend it as an easy and fun pulpy read, but someone looking for something along the lines of Adam Nevill, MR James or John Ajivide Lindqvist will be disappointed.

“Savage Woods” is the latest novel by Bram Stoker Award nominated author Mary SanGiovanni who has a wide ranging back-catalogue as both a novelist and short story writer of supernatural fiction spanning the last decade. However, although “Savage Woods” was a solid enough tale, predominately set in a very dangerous forest, it offered little which was particularly new and had a plot which was pretty familiar to the genre. Although there are positives to highlight, ultimately there just wasn’t enough going on in the novel for my taste.

Straight from page one tension is unnecessarily killed off, as the prologue immediately reveals that the part of a forest known as ‘Nilhollow’ is inhabited by some ancient type of supernatural or mystical beings which have lived there since before man. Personally I like a horror novel which reveals its secrets very slowly, this book doesn’t and I knew too much too soon. These strange magical entities can take the form of trees, or other aspects of the forest which can come to life, morph, or change shape to catch out any unlucky traveller. As time has marched on these beings increasingly feel the threat of mankind, the modern world and begin to awaken further.

So nasty tree creatures aren’t particularly new. At various times it had me thinking of the Julia Donaldson children’s classic “Stick Man” [but MUCH nastier], and of course it was impossible not to think of Tolkien’s magical creatures ‘The Ents’ from “The Lord of the Rings” and thirdly Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” in which the trees do nasty things to Bruce Campbell and his dumb friends. So the threat in the novel comes from a combination similar to the above.

Nilhollow is definitely a place worth avoiding, which all the locals most definitely do, they have long since realised there is something wrong with the cursed forest. However, over the years many unsuspecting hitchhikers, tourists and lost locals have disappeared from the darker areas and the police have long since seen it as something similar to the Bermuda Triangle. The major thrust of the plot centres upon a policeman searching for a missing woman, Julia Russo, whom the policeman knows had been abused and stalked by her nutter boyfriend Darren who is a real nasty piece of work. Policeman Pete, knowing the forest is dangerous, bravely ventures inside to find her after discovering her abandoned car nearby. So into the forest we go…

Julia hides in the forest, as Darren stalks her, and quickly realises things are not normal, but for an unknown reason the forest and its inhabitants do not kill her, forming a major plotline. The elongated forest sequences are very strong and are amongst the best in the novel, with the author vividly recreating a dangerous place which is both alive, ancient and very, very evil. Dripping with atmosphere quite a few characters meet really nasty ends as the cavalry are called.

That brings us onto the graphic violence, and there is plenty of it to go around. Characters are ripped in half, bones are shattered, eyeballs are pulled out and the forest even has the power to make humans maim themselves in all sorts of unpleasant ways. Lots of foreign sounding words are used in the terminology to describe the creatures, but I could find one of them on Google, to see if they were based on actual folk stories, which was ‘Leshiye’ Slavic for an ancient type of tree spirit.

The forest itself was probably the best character in the book and the author obviously enjoyed letting her wild imagination ramp through the gears. Unfortunately, with the exception of Julia the majority of the human characters lacked the depth of the forest and I had little sympathy for them as they were gouged, slaughtered and viciously despatched. This all led to a particularly bloodthirsty climax which was amongst the strongest sequences in the novel.

“Savage Woods” was a well written story, with some great descriptions and over-the-top violence, but ultimately it was a story that was all too familiar with not enough going on to truly grip me.

Well, I have to sadly say that I didn't enjoy this one. The writing was really good, please don't get me wrong. It was the story in general. I used to live close to the Pine Barrens so I'm familiar with the area and let me tell you...it is absolutely terrifying, day or night. SO that's what drew me to this title. I liked the characters enough to finish the book. But, at the end of the day it really wasn't what I was expecting or was wanting from this story. I won't give any spoilers to back up my reasons, I think readers should form there own honest opinions of the story.
I wouldn't read this author again, though. Just not for me.

This horror novel was just okay for me. It had plenty of gore in it but lacked the "edge of your seat", "look over your shoulder" sensation to it.

Savage Woods is one of the best books that I have read this year! This is my first time reading Mary SanGiovanni, but it won't be my last! Believe the hype! Savage Woods is all grit and no quit. I'm never going into Nilhollow, and you can take that to the bank. This book kept getting better and better as the story progresses. I couldn't put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen. Mary SanGiovanni grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go until the epic conclusion. Mary SanGiovanni doesn't disappoint.

I love Indigenous and Native American legends! Nilhollow is located in New Jersey's Pine Barrens. Some say the woods are haunted, others say there are tree spirits and all-powerful forest gods. Hikers have gone insane and killed themselves in those woods. Julia Russo flees after her douchebag of an ex-boyfriend, Darren, runs her off the road. Julia vanishes in the woods, and it is up to State Trooper Peter Grainger to find her. He will stop at nothing to find Julia. I will stop there because I don't want to give too much away.

Savage Woods is a helluva book! In fact, it is one of the best books that I have read this year!

WARNING: Enter Nilhollow at your own risk!

I highly recommend this book to fans of horror!

5/5 stars!

I really enjoyed Savage Woods by Mary Sangiovanni.

This is old school horror - and it works. The story is gory, violent, and just fun.

You might need to stretch your imagination just a touch. I try not do many spoilers, so I’ll just tell you that what’s behind our horrors is fun, but it never truly rises to believable for me.

I did love our characters. Our likeable ones were extremely likeable and our not-so-likeable ones were – let’s just say fun – especially when some of them bleed.

This is a fast, highly entertaining read.

Best horror book ever? Meh. Fairly fun, spooky scary story with some above
average writing thrown in? Yes. So, for the good: It's fast paced, it has wonderfully detailed goriness from a fairly original evil boogie in the woods, and the characters are overall likeable. I read this story fairly quickly, and am very glad NetGalley gave me the opportunity to have an ARC of this book.

I probably would have enjoyed this story more, but there were some strange
moments thrown in that kind of veered off into the juvenile or made me think I was reading another genre for a second. For instance. Some of the characters are in the middle of horrifically well detailed disembowelment and all around gore, seconds later they share a cutesy moment between the two of them and then the other characters are snickering and they're giggling and blushing. No, the main characters aren't 12. One is a domestic abuse victim that found her inner strength in the woods and the other is a hardened cop. Hardly the type to *giggle*.

All in all, I'm glad I read it. I think it could use a few more revisions, maybe smooth out a lot of the dialogue between the characters and could
benefit from a few more edits. The story itself has a very solid foundation
and I think just needs some polishing.

Once again, I have been drawn into a perfectly written synopsis only to have the book turn out to be less than stellar. I've had this issue before with this author, but I decided to give her another chance specifically because this story was centered in the Pine Barrens.

I live in the Pine Barrens. And let me tell you, there is definitely something creepy about these woods at night. Yes, people go missing in the Pines, yes it is rumored that the Mafia used it for a dumping ground years ago, and yes, a lot of people from Jersey (especially those who live in or near the Pines) will tell you they believe the Jersey Devil exists. So when you take a place as ripe as that and put together a story of a fictional place existing within, then add Lenni-Lenape legends, tree spirits and an unspeakable horror living within, you have all the makings of a best seller right?

Apparently not.

To begin with the synopsis calls Nilhollow a six-hundred-plus acreage of woods located in the Pine Barrens. Except, as you read the story it is repeatedly said that Nilhollow is much smaller, about a mile or so. People trapped there keep thinking they should have reached the road by now, and when a search party is finally formed, it is one that is considerably too small to search over 600 acres, but perfectly suited to a mile or so.

Then it seems like the location keeps changing. And I'll be honest here, someone who doesn't live in the Pine Barrens probably wouldn't notice this. But to someone who grew up next to Brendan Byrne State Forest (formerly Lebanon State Forest), who knows exactly where the Pasadena brick factory ruins are (as well as the actual name), and who has passed the Red Lion State Police barracks on their way to spend weeks at Atsion - you notice these things. And it seems like the author cannot make up her mind. Is Nilhollow on Brendan Byrne as the beginning of the story would suggest, or is it on the Atsion side of Wharton as it seems later on?

But perhaps, my biggest problem with this story is that the all-powerful tree spirits that guard Nilhollow sound like a rip off of the character Groot from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. If you have seen the movie, or even just know who the character is, it is impossible to read the description and NOT immediately think of the character. It seems a poorly thought out idea, when there were so many other ways the author could have gone about it.

For fans of gory, well described scenes of chaos and mutilation - this story will likely be right up their alley. The author definitely knows how to tell a story in the broad sense, however it is in the details that she gets tripped up.

Overall, I am sure this story may still appeal to fans of horror novels.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

I have never read any Mary SanGiovanni stories before but now I will look out for her books.

Savage Woods is a good horror / fantasy story, with the woods having many stories about it in the past and people known to have gone missing before why would you going camping there??

But this a well rounded and fast paced story that keeps you interested until the last page.

Good mix of characters with a good interaction to their storylines.

Good descriptive story and not too horrific!!! Well worth a read

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

Savage Woods by Mary Sangiovanni was received direct from the publisher. My reading relationship with Mary has gone on probably since she started writing novels. In recent months, I have read several novels based in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, mostly about, you guessed it, the Jersey Devil. This is not about that, but about much more strange affairs. This is probably the authors best book, at least that I recall, since her first one (The Hollower (I think)). This book never slows down to inane dialogue and if you or someone you buy gifts for likes no nonsense creature horror, give this one a read.

5 stars

The woods are savage indeed. Possible pissed off sacrificing their lives to mediocre books. Such as this one...and mine is the first review of it on GR, so there'll be some positive things too for a balanced opinion. I'm familiar with SanGiovanni's work since her Leisure days and later Darkfuse, there's a certain quality that maintains throughout, but nothing really wows. She can tell a story, she got all the basics down, likeable to semi likeable characters, pacing, etc. and she can appease genre fans with plenty of gore and guts, it's just that she never rises above that level of her comfort zone, which is slightly disappointing, because as a reader one does want that something extra to boggle the mind, but then again at least this way you'll always know what to expect...a relatively quick entertaining mindless read. One that really needed an editor, actually, if only to prevent the word giggle from being so dramatically overused, but also to explain the difference between swear and oath (synonymous in some but not all meanings, so if you're angry, you might find unleash some swears, not oaths) and definitions of some polysyllabic vocabulary improvement words. I did enjoy the very creepy forest setting and the incorporation of the Native American mythology, made for some lovely creepy atmosphere. And killer trees are just awesome, pure and simple. The sort of story this might have been, the psychological terror of being trapped in a forest gone mad, the trees that may or may not be coming back to life to stalk their prey...now that would have been a gorgeous nightmare. Diluted into a slice and dice creature feature it's a somewhat more lowbrow situation, but still fun. Genre fans should find a lot to like. Thanks Netgalley.

OK, yes... I admit that I've always been addicted to horror novels (it's my trashy little secret) and to nasty things that hide in dark forests. I didn't, however, find anything in this book that set it apart from literally dozens of other books with the same ominous setting. It was very predictable and held zero surprises, at least for me. It's alright, but nothing to "write home about".