Cover Image: What Lies in the Woods

What Lies in the Woods

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Member Reviews

DNF @ 27%

I cannot stand the main character at all, and I don’t like the writing. It felt like a YA book, and I don't have any problems with YA at all... but it's not what I wanted. I was invested in the beginning, but then I lost all interest and became bored and irritated with Naomi's character. She's rude, and I didn't care one bit what happened to her for that reason. Cass was also awful, and Liv acted like a little baby. Personally, I won't be recommending it to others but I'm sure I'll mention it among new thrillers.

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Great book that had me guessing and trusting no one! This was a great thriller with several twists in the book. Good book about coming of age, being honest, and multiple other issues. Enjoyed this book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book

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I read Rules for Vanishing by this author and really enjoyed it so when I saw she had written an adult thriller I had to check it out.

I really enjoyed this book. There were more twists that most thriller books have and only one of them did I guess exactly right- and it was the mid-book twist that I'm pretty sure was meant to be figured out.

The story of this book reminds me of a true crime case but to reveal the case would reveal the twist so you are just going to have to trust me on that one.

I really liked Naomi, even though she was her own worst enemy. After what she experienced of course she would be damaged. The author really showed a true version of how a trauma victim would think or feel and that is an aspect that I really enjoyed.

The Goddess Game was interesting and I loved reading the flashbacks about it. The magic of being a tween and trying to hold onto that innocence is something that I think all adults can relate to and the author really did a great job of translating that feeling to the page.

I could go on and about every aspect that I loved but really- just read this one. It's definitely worth the read and I will definitely be following this author for news of any of other releases because she's phenomenal.

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What a great read! I loved the characters and felt that the twists were very unexpected. In most stories I can see them coming. But this one had some surprises for me.

I think this novel had some emotion to it that made it more than just a creepy suspense.

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I adored this thriller. Fast-paced, intriguing story, likeable heroine (which I feel is rare in psychological thrillers!). I was hooked from the first page. I’ve recommended this to everyone!

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#What Lies in the Woods #KateAliceMarshall #FlatironBooks
This is a gripping psychological thriller that explores the dark secrets and lies that can be buried deep within friendships. The story follows Naomi Shaw, who, along with her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent a summer playing in the woods, When Naomi was attacked, the girls helped put the man responsible behind bars. Six other murders were also attributed to him. It turns out that they were not entirely truthful.

The characters are complex and layered with Naomi engendering sympathy as she struggles to come to terms with her past while also facing new dangers in the present.

The book explores themes of trauma, trust, and the lengths people will go to protect their secrets.

This is a well-crafted thriller that will appeal to fans of the genre.

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There is something about thrillers that I could say it is my favorite thing. The secrets. The secrets and how everything unfolds and they always end up out in the open. I think the reason this attracts me so much it's because we all are hiding something. It can be something small and it can also be something big. Regardless of the size of what we are hiding, we are hiding something.

When the book I pick up is covered in them, that's when I have a blast reading. I spend the majority of the time figuring out my characters. Some authors give life to them better than others but I did not had any problem with our main lead and her friends. The suspicion is planted early on and I did not trusted anyone. It was a very fun read even though not my favorite one. I would like to read more from this author, for sure.

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“There is a wilderness in little girls… Beneath a canopy of moss-wreathed branches, we joined hands and pledged ourselves to one another forever- a kind of forever that burns only in the hearts of those young enough to not know better. Forever ended with the summer. It ended with a scream and the shocking heat of blood, and two girls stumbling onto the road…Our parents always spoke of the moment when they found out- of hearing that three girls had gone into the woods and only two had emerged.”  

THIS BOOK GAVE ME CHILLS FROM PAGE ONE. Absolutely loved the writing of this author and can’t wait to see what she writes next. She is very talented at throwing red-herrings everywhere and at some point I think I thought nearly every single character in the book might have been the guilty one. Ilove the magical way she painted the intensity of young friendships. I also found it super satisfying that all of the tiny little things that didn’t sit quite right with me while reading ended up making perfect sense with the end reveal. The last ¼ of the book I had so much adrenaline going that a) my cat sneezed and I jumped half of my skin and almost screamed and b) my apple watch yelled at me about my elevated heart rate for probably an hour. READ IT!

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Great amd twisty thriller!

Positives:
The 22-year old initial mystery.
The goddess game and lasting friendshship of the original victims.
Naomi's tricky relationship with her alcoholic, hoarder dad.
The twists along the plot. and the fact that the girls were not 100% truthful about the day in the woods.
The title
The pace

Negatives:
Some of the main character's poor decision making skills

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WOW! If you are looking for a crazy wild thriller, pick this up. Three girls go into the wood to believe in magic, but one is almost killed.

Years later, one of them wants to come clean. But once everything starts unraveling, you’ll never guess the end!!

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A staggering thriller that’s both serpentine and stunning. This follows three best friends Naomi, Liv and Cass and the aftermath of being eyewitnesses in a trial that put a man in prison for life.

The story begins when the man their testimony helped put in prison for life dies of cancer and the three women are reunited for the first time in a long time. Each of them are feeling a bit restless and then one of the three girls winds up dead. Secrets and lies begin to be revealed both past and present.

This thriller did have a mental health element as many do and I feel that this is one of the better ways I’ve seen it captured in fiction where it didn’t feel predatory or fall into demonization and stereotyping.

Overall I really, really enjoyed this book and think if you too like thriller novels you should definitely check it out!

5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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4.5 stars. This started pretty slow but I just knew something big was waiting under the surface. Naomi is still working through her childhood tragedy. She’s distant and cold but can lean on her two best friends. There are secrets from that night and they’re starting to unravel. How much trauma can one person endure before it’s too much? The second half really flies by and the ending was great. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

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This was a very well thought out slow burn suspenseful novel. I love the trope of friends revisiting an event in the past and watching the details unfold in this book was enjoyable. The twists were not predictable and the ending was very satisfying.

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I wrote about this on The StoryGraph and on GoodReads with links sent to Twitter and to Mastodon. I also reviewed this for AudioFile Magazine.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5337347039

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Naomi, Olivia, and Cassidy were eleven the summer they started playing The Goddess Game in the woods. They were having the summer of their lives pretending the be goddesses and practicing rituals until the girls were attached and Naomi was stabbed seventeen times. By some miracle she survived and identified her attacker. She went on with her life, trying her hardest to move on and forget about what happened until her attacker died in prison and suddenly Olivia wants to tell the truth about what happened....but what truth does she want to tell since they didn't lie......right??

Oh my god!!! I could not stop reading! This is one of the best books I have read in a while. I was absolutely blown away by the twists and turns! This is a dark, like dark dark, psychological thriller that is character driven. The story is told through Naomi's point of view, with a duel timeline between the summer of The Goddess Game leading up to and after the accident and present day. I really enjoyed Naomi as the narrator and found her really reliable which isn't necessarily the norm with psychological thrillers.

As soon as I finished, I went to look up Kate Alice Marshall in hopes to read other books by her and found out that this was her debut book. And wow!! What a debut! I will for sure be reading her next book without a doubt! I loved this book so much, I bought a physical copy!

If you're looking for a dark, twisty, mind blowing psychological thriller, this one is for you!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This book was extremely good. I felt the characters are relatable. The story caught my attention from the first chapter. I felt like I was on a wild goose chase for a quick minute because there are so so many twists and turns. I really did like the clever plot. I look forward to reading more stories from this awesome author.

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I loved this book more than I expected to! A lot of books have predictable endings but this wasnt one of them. Everyone should read this book

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I really enjoyed this book - it was one that I took with me in my car when I left the house so I could read it any chance I got. Hooked in the first twenty pages, twists throughout, thought I had it figured out 4-5 times and I never ended up guessing correctly. Always enjoy a book that isn't easy to crack. Would recommend!

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Twenty-two years ago, 11-year-old best friends Naomi, Cass, and Olivia frolicked through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, playing their magical, wondrous Goddess Game. But the magic stopped when Naomi was attacked, stabbed 17 times while Olivia and Cass hid in fear. Miraculously, Naomi lived and was able to identify her assailant, ultimately putting away a serial killer who had previously murdered six women. But now that serial killer has died in prison, and Naomi has returned to her hometown to reckon with the events of two decades ago...because Naomi, Cass, and Olivia weren't telling the truth back then.

What Lies in the Woods includes some of my favorite plot elements: serial killers, verdant and menacing forests, the feral savagery of girlhood. I am absolutely going to read any book that includes those things, and there is a lot about this one to like. Kate Alice Marshall's writing is textured and perceptive, rich with atmosphere and fascinating imagery. This is a well-composed and intricate thriller that kept me engaged from start to finish, even in the slower-paced sections. I can't quite say that I liked any of the characters -- even the narrator, Naomi -- but I did feel like their actions and motivations made sense in the context of who they were.

This is Marshall's first novel for adults, and unfortunately, that shows. It's a common issue with YA writers making the jump to adult fiction; the writing is at times overwrought and hyperbolic, with characters often experiencing their emotions very melodramatically. Some of the characters felt immature at times, especially during the novel's big reveals.

Ultimately, the main issue that took away from my enjoyment of What Lies in the Woods is that I found it to be really predictable. This is definitely a "me" problem and not a problem with the book itself; I do think it's clever and there are some interesting reveals...it's just kind of hard for a psychological thriller to surprise me these days. I spent a lot of the book just waiting for what I knew was going to happen, to happen. As my kids would say, at this point it's not hard for me to spot when something is "sus."

Overall What Lies in the Woods was a decent enough thriller, but probably not a book that will stick with me for long.

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Fast paces and well written. While I guessed a "who," there was just enough of a question to keep me intrigued until the end. I enjoyed this story very much, and would absolutely read more from this author.

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