This was hands down one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read. It held my complete attention through out the entire thing; I never felt bored. I thought about it constantly when I wasn’t reading. I guessed one of the twists but the other two at the end totally threw me off! This premise was amazing and I loved it! I’ll definitely be recommending this one!

#WhatLiesInTheWoods #NetGalley
A MUST READ. 5 ⭐
Well, this book was a roller coaster ride for me. I've not read such a good book from a long time. The author has done an excellent job.
Naomi, Liv, and Cassie have been best friends since they were kids. Woods, a make-believe world, and a human skeleton bring them together. However, one day goes horribly wrong when two girls stumble out of the woods and one is left hugging a tree stump after she'd been stabbed by a serial killer and left for dead. Now, decades later, that serial killer is dead and Naomi must return to the woods after receiving a strange call from Liv - Liv knows who the skeleton is and wants to tell all of their secrets.
Who is who and what are their motives? Read this book to know more.
I loved it and finished it in a single sitting. Characters were so good and so was the narration.
Thanks to Netgalley and Flattron Books for giving me an advance copy.

One of the best novels I’ve read in awhile! I truly could not put this book down. Every time I thought I had something figured out, I was wrong (I did get one thing right, for the record). I wasn’t in a reading slump, but if I was, this book would have pulled me right out of it. It was also awesome to see some bi representation in the main character. I genuinely cannot recommend this book enough - I rarely give 5 stars but these is beyond earned.

Naomi survived being stabbed seventeen times while playing in the woods. Her testimony, plus that of her fellow eleven-year-old friends, Olivia and Cassidy, put a serial killer behind bars. Twenty-two years later, the killer has died in prison, and the girls are forced to figure out and face the whole truth about what happened that day.

AAAAAAGH THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. Did I guess a few of the twists along the way, despite some well-executed red herrings? Yep. Do I care? Nope.

The writing was beautiful and really captured the frantic, painful intensity of girls' friendships. Naomi was frustrating AF, and I loved how Marshall addressed the (often self-destructive) ways people deal with trauma so realistically. The story was sad and thrilling and hooked me from page one. READ THIS BOOK.

I need to go back and read Marshall's backlist -- she's a new auto-read/auto-buy author for me.

HOLY MOLY! What twisty story!!! Just when I thought I had it figured out, it changed! It really left an impression.

Naomi is damaged due to a horrible event that almost cost her her life. She has been living with the scars - physically and mentally - for a long time. and then a death that could've provided closure just opened up old wounds. All of a sudden Naomi is in danger and her life will never be the same. The people who she thought were on her side are not who she thought they were.

This is a book that will not disappoint.

My favorite thriller of the year so far! Three best friends go into the woods one day, with one of them being brutally attacked. With the girls testimony, the attacker is sent to prison - the only problem is, the girls are lying. Years later the girls are brought back together after the death of their attacker. Their lies and secrets begin to catch up to them, and the hunt for what really happened in the woods that day is on.

I love the suspense and mystery Kate Alice Marshall wove throughout the book. There are some great twists and turns along the way, and I kept changing my mind on what I thought the truth was. I highly recommend going into this book with as little information as possible and just enjoy the ride.

Kate alice marshall is a phenomenal author and knows how to keep you on your toes. I haved love every single book i did rrad from her and to read this one was even better than her past. And creepy things happen in the wood sign me the heck up.

This was sent to me from netgalley for
review and my opinions are my own.This is Kate Marshall's
debut adult novel.Three 11 year old best friends make a pact to enjoy summer playing sinister games in the
woods - until they stumble upon an unspeakable crime. They vow to keep it as their secret- but are troubled by it. If that isn't enough, an attack in the woods happens to the group of friends and they put man in jail. 22 years later, that man dies in prison from cancer. Main character,
Naomi heads home to connect with her other two friends to discuss the past and relive what actually happened. I'll be honest, while this sounded really good it was confusing in many the chapters. I would of loved more of the past to really understand character development
and the personalities. I felt no real connection with any of these girls. It lacked depth. Definitely a slow burn in a lot of
Chapters but still full of twists and I did enjoy it in the end. Not my favorite but not my least fav! Debuting 1/23

An absolutely excellent adult offering from Marhsall. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

Absolutely could not put down this spooky, atmospheric thriller. Unreliable narrators, small town intrigue, the most imperfect heroine I've encountered in a long time...a perfect read for a cozy winter night in front of the fire for any true crime junkie who also admires the slightly supernatural.

I havent read a suspense/thriller in forever, and oh my god, this one was so damn good.

Naomi has never really recovered from the vicious attack that nearly took her life in childhood-but after she returns home to discuss her attackers death, the secrets of their childhood resurface, promising danger for them all.

I thought marshall gave naomi such a presence and a voice, i felt like i really knew her. i liked hearing about the goddess game- all weird loner kids had some variation of devotion to an imagined game, even though this one was super dark. I even liked the ending. Highlt recommend.

What Lies in the Woods is one of those books that you finish in one sitting. This thrilling mystery keeps your guessing at every turn. You have an unreliable narrator who you can tell has something to hide. The writing is outstanding and the story is well paced. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers and mysterious stories.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

First time reading a book by this author. She immediately pulls you into this thriller leaving you wanting to know what happened. The twists keep coming, just about the time you think you figured it out there is another twist and your left wondering what is the truth. Gripping thriller you won't want to put down!

What Lies in the Woods is one of those mysteries that wraps you up in it and doesn't let you escape until you've finished the book, and with this one, even after you're not fully done with it. From the beginning, you know that Naomi has secrets that she isn't telling, along with the two other women who were once the young girls wrapped up in the same crime that Naomi was. With each secret revealed, there are more questions presented. But the highlight of this book is the writing; the author understands what it is to be a young girl who is bonded completely to her group of friends, that there is a special kind of magic that exists at that age. This aspect is never forgotten and it weaves such a beautiful darkness that really reminds me of Megan Abbott's writing.

I'll avoid delving into plot details because I'd avoid as many spoilers as possible before reading this. Going in blind is a much more rewarding experience. True, there was one plot twist that is signaled heavily and that was easily to figure out, but the rest all slowly come together as puzzle pieces before the big final reveal.

I really loved Naomi as a character; she's prickly, she's sarcastic, she's a survivor and she is constantly struggling with what that means for herself. I also loved that she is a bisexual woman and the author doesn't linger on that, she just lets it be as and lets the relationships of the novel form naturally.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book at first but it started to feel really long and slow. I usually finish a book in about 3-4 days, sometimes less if I really love it. I’ve been reading this book for a month and I just can’t do it anymore. It’s becoming a chore to get though and I just have to set it aside.

This suspenseful thriller captivated my interest early, from the traumatic event that impacted the lives of three best friends, their families, and their community to the unraveling of the truth. The story has a raw emotion and I liked how my perception of the characters changed. There are so many twists and just when I thought I had the story figured out, another twist. Highly recommend to mystery thriller fans, add this book to your 2023 reading list.

ARC was provided by Flatiron Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Expected Pub Date: Jan 17 2023

Looking for a book that grips you, keeps you guess, and almost causes you to lose your head because of the constant swivel? Then this is the book you need to read!

I thought I had it figured out, but I was oh, so wrong. It doesn't stop. Kept me guessing until the final page, with twists and turns that were believable. Wonderful characters, fantastic sense of place and time.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Three eleven year old friends loved playing in the woods until the unthinkable happened, one of them stabbed 17 times and the other two escaped. Fast forward to adulthood all three are still living under the cloud of that day and what really happened.
One of, if not the best thriller I’ve read in a long time. With twists and turns on almost every page the plot builds to a crescendo before reaching its surprise conclusion along with well written characters that seem to go through a constant metamorphous as well. Hands down, a page turner you’ll think about even after you’ve finished.

📖: What Lies in the Woods
✍🏼: Kate Alice Marshall
💁🏻‍♀️: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️// 5
🗓: January 17, 2023

🤔💭: First off, thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me an eARC of this book that will be released in January and I am voluntarily leaving my review! This was quite an interesting mysterious thriller that kept you guessing for sure and I enjoyed this storyline. It definitely had some twists along the way and I didn’t see that ending coming at all. Over twenty years ago, Naomi and her two best friends spent the summer roaming the woods when that came to a halt after Naomi was attacked, surviving 17 stab wounds, and loved to identify the man who hurt her. The girls’ testimony put a serial killer behind bars making them heroes, but they were also liars. After all these years, the girls’ have had a secret worth killing for and one wants to finally tell the truth. Naomi sets out to find that truth of what actually happened in those woods no matter how dangerous the truth may be. I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend to check out 👌🏼

What Lies in the Woods

Kate Alice Marshall has written a thriller that made me wonder, after I finished, when my heart would stop pounding. The book centers around events occurring twenty two years prior when the three eleven year old girls, Cassidy, Olivia and Naomi, emerged from local woods as heroes. Two of them were not physically harmed. The third, Naomi, was carried out close to death but survived with numerous stab wounds to her face and body. Naomi, relying on the word of the other two, testified in a subsequent trial that she saw who had done this to her and sent the accused killer to jail for the rest of his life.

The experience has seared the three girls, each living with what happened, unable in spirit to every really leave the woods. The most visibly scarred is Naomi who over the years has engaged in a chain of self destructive relationships. At the beginning of the book, she is summoned home from her from Seattle where she makes a living as a wedding photographer. Olivia has called her and wants to finally tell what really happened in the woods over two decades ago.The truth emerges layer by layer on to a final white knuckle finish in the final pages of the book.

This was a truly enjoyable read. However, Naomi is like that character we see in horror movies at whom the audience repeatedly screams “don’t go in that room”. She lies to and refuses the help of the FBI and local police and doggedly tries to solve the mystery herself. This could come down to not being able to trust anyone due to being repeatedly let down throughout her life but I felt this part of her could have been elaborated on.

Thanks to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC in turn for an honest review