Sorry, but I did not finish this one. I may go back and try in the future as it may be mood, but I just had trouble connecting. Will likely try again in the future.

Really enjoyed this novel. Definitely had undertones of some Stephen king books and kept my interest throughout.

Haven’t read anything else of the author, but I’d love to (need to check if there is more to read). Good read, kept me interested all the way. Light and approachable in style and likeable characters. Worth your time.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

This definitely has a feel of Stephen King's Stand by Me and IT stories where a group of young kids come together and something not to happy begins! While not on the same level of writing, this will still scratch the itch for readers that love that type of story.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

after careful consideration I decided to dnf this book at 42%, ill keep it shelved and may revisit it later at another date but for the time being I could just not get into it

I couldn’t get through this book, I thought it was very boring and lacking of any substance. DNF’d at 23%.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

This book was so reminiscent of Stephen King's It in some ways, specifically the friendships amongst the kids in The Outsider's Club, that I couldn't put it down. Adam Contreras creates such realistic characters, particularly young teens, that I felt compelled to keep reading in order to discover their fates.

While this book lacked a clown, it had plenty of despicable villains, perhaps even more frightening because they COULD be real.

If you like Stephen King, read this. Ook. I loved it!

I am not a Stephen King fan nor am I am fan of his genre so not surprised I didn't enjoy this book, however if you are a fan of Stephen King and similar you will not be disappointed. I had visions of the movie Stand by Me throughout this book as it is told through the eyes of a teen boy. There were some offensive, according to today's standard, 'language which I was not a fan off however I understand they were authentic to the time frame the book is set in.

This novel had all the right elements but I just couldn't get on with it. I loved the premise and for the first half of the book was really desperate to read the second half but unfortunately the book lost momentum halfway through and I lost interest.

If You Go Down to the Woods was a great book for the first half. I felt like this book had a Stephen King vibe to it and was enjoying that. However, I was a bit disappointed with the second half. As suspenseful as it was at times, I felt like I had to force myself to get through to the end. There were parts of the book that were a bit unbelievable as well. All in all, I was just not a huge fan of this book overall. I hate rating books low, but unfortunately this book was just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Impulse and Killer Reads for this ARC.

We were so young when it all happened--just 13-year-olds making the most of the long, hot, lazy days of summer, thinking we had the world at our feet. That was us--me, Fat Bobby, Jim, and Tara--the four members of the Outsiders’ Club. The day we found a burnt-out car in the woods was the day everything changed. Cold, hard cash in the front seat and a body in the trunk. It started as a mystery we were desperate to solve. Then the Collector arrived. He knew we had found his secret, and suddenly, our summer of innocence turned into the stuff of nightmares

my thoughts
sadly I didn't like like this at all , just couldn't get in to it and there was nothing about this story I actually liked , with that that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it .

If You Go Down to the Woods by Seth C. Adams is not a horror novel, but there are moments of sheer terror in it. It is not in and of itself a mystery, but there is a mystery to be solved. It is not a coming of age tale either, but the young Outsider's Club will need to grow up quickly if they hope to survive the summer. It is none of these things and yet, it is all of them.

"...This is the night. These are the times.
I heard these words for the first time from a killer the summer I met the Outsider's Club. Years passed before I finally understood them and, by then, everyone-my friends, my family, my dog-were long gone: some to the dirt that eventually claims us all, others to the remote reaches of time and memory.
The promise the Outsider's Club made to each other had a part to play in the way things went down. No doubt about it. But much of it was just life itself, and things beyond our control. Yet I still wonder how it all would have turned out had other choices been made, different roads taken. This is called regret, and it's very important you listen to what it says.
In my case, the long trail of dead that summer demands it..."

Joey Hayworth was thirteen when his family left California for Payne, Arizona, his father having gotten a job as a manager for the local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Joey and his older sister Sarah left all their friends behind to start this new life in a small town that looked and felt nothing like the life they left behind in Southern California. Joey decided to investigate this new town and the woods behind his home with his dog Bandit when they came upon a group of older boys throwing rocks at a young kid. A young kid Joey's age. This is how Joey met Fat Bobby. He would be the first member of their group. The Outsider's Club. Tara and Jim would come along next. They became fast friends, held together by their love of comics and the fact that the other kids their age didn't want anything to do with them. They had a few run ins with older bullies and the local redneck law enforcement but nothing they felt they couldn't handle. Until the night they went down into the woods and found the car.

"...On top of the head was a hole. Cracks radiated from the hole, as if the head had been struck by something.
Stuffed in the trunk.
Money in the car.
A picture was forming in my head, of possibilities, of likelihoods, and I didn't like it, didn't like the picture and the pieces coming together, what it all meant. I turned on spaghetti-legs to my friends, and I saw that all of them had drawn closer as I'd been inspecting the skeleton. I hadn't heard them, and their nearness, when I'd last been aware of them farther away, was unsettling. I stepped back and struck my head on the open trunk lid.
'Shit,' I muttered and rubbed my head.
'Is that a hole in its head?' Jim said.
I nodded.
'What does it mean?' Tara asked, now moving past me to look back into the trunk, nearly as close as I'd been. Tomboy indeed.
Fat Bobby raised his hand as if he were in a classroom, and we all turned to him, knowing maybe what he was going to say, not wanting to say it ourselves.
'Murder?'
That one word seemed loud out there on that old road with just us and that car, alone, and the rest of the world a world away..."

An abandoned car. Millions of dollars in cash in the front seat. A dead body in the trunk. Joey knew that the summer had changed forever. Only he didn't realize just how it would.

"...I pointed at the old car.
Its doors were all open, like the wings of a gigantic insect. We-me, Tara, Jim, and Fat Bobby-had closed the door we'd popped before we left. The trunk as well.
Slowly, I moved closer. Walking wide around the car, I shone my flashlight into it. The money was gone. All of it. Something else nagged at my mind then, something more terrible than missing money.
I took long sideways strides around to the rear of the vehicle. The trunk was open too. I stepped closer, peered over the lip of the trunk to see inside.
The body was gone..."

Millions of dollars and a dead body. Somebody is coming to collect what is missing. But the Outsider's Club isn't quite ready to just give it up. Someone who deals in knives and guns and killing. Before the summer is over, there will be blood and death and regret.

This book took several turns for me and in the end I found it so damn satisfying as a read that I am amazed that I had not heard of it before! There are really good new writers out there and there are stories that are not genre formulated and are the very thing we pick up a novel and read for.

They are damn good stories!

I was reminded of Stephen King's The Body (Stand By Me for your movie lovers out there) and the coming of age tale of pain and loss. But more than that, and this is high praise indeed, I was reminded of Robert McCammon's A Boy's Life. The narrative and the voice of this story told through the heart and eyes of Joey will twist the reader up inside. The villains grow from bullies and small town cop to mobsters and a killer who seems unstoppable. In Adams' capable writing prose they will feel you with a dread that is greater than any supernatural monster you can think of.

If You Go Down to the Woods is also a tale of friendship and of the very best friends you will ever have in your life. Those that grow up with you and face adversity and heartbreak and eventually, grow apart under all you have endured together. They are usually the friends you make in your early teens and too seldom make to adulthood with you.

If You Go Down to the Woods is a powerful novel and Seth C. Adams has established himself as an author to look out for!

A perfect coming-of-age thriller that strongly reminded me of some of Stephen King's early works: The group of outsider kids, the bullying they have to face, the horrific summer that changes their lives forever, that strips them off their youthful innocence and plunges them right into adulthood, whether they are ready or not.

It perfectly shows how one false decision can unleash a catastrophic chain of events with no return. Of course, as an adult we see that several decisions made were completely childish and unreasonable, but at the same time I wondered if I wouldn't have reacted the same way at that young age when everything seemed possible. A compelling read, and highly recommended!

This book is so creepy. I was surprised by this book. The story is very interesting, not generic in any manner. The book does have a few dry spots. There were a few chapters that were a little slow. However, the story is generally awesome.

After reading that this book is for fans of Stranger Things I thought this is for me. Se I started to read it with some expectations.

Joey and his parents move to a small town in Arizona. And not long after he meets Fat Bobby, and Jim and Tara. They become friends. After going through harassment from the local sheriff’s son and the sheriff himself they become inseparable. The first part of the book is about their friendship. Nothing interesting so far. For me anyway.

So why I kept reading? Because the writing style is great, the story flows and I really wanted to know why this book was advertised that it is for fans of Stephen King or Stranger Things. Unfortunately I couldn’t really find any similarity with Stranger Things. But I still very much enjoyed the story.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a relatively decent book. I was not blown away, but unlike others, I did end up finishing it and it was NOT a slough to get through. I did find some of the actions and scenarios that the characters went through unbelievable and was mildly annoyed with them, but all in all it was a decent book.