I absolutely loved this book! I chose this one because the synopsis looked like it could be good and the narrator is one of my favorites. So naturally, the narrator was wonderful and made the audio version even better- she has distinct voices for each character and injects such emotion into the story! There were so many twists and turns and the ending was perfect.

This is told by Naomi Shaw, the girl who survived a brutal attack in the woods when she was only eleven years old. She and her two best friends Cassidy and Olivia, who witnessed her attack, put the monster who hurt her in prison. Now 22 years later, her attacker has just died in jail, bringing up a torrent of feelings.

Going back to her hometown, she meets up with Cass and Liv and it becomes very clear that there is a lot that people don't know about what went on in those woods that year. The three women are hiding some secrets and Olivia wants to come clean. Maybe Naomi isn't so sure what happened to her that terrible day, and now she is on a mission to find out exactly what did.

This was a wild ride from start to finish. There was this perfect balance between the amount of characters and the plot. The whole time you're wondering who could have possibly had more to do with Naomi's attack and the events that led up to it. This was a juicy read. I was never in a moment where the story lulled. I was on edge the whole time just needing to know more.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher Flatiron Books for an Arc in exchange for a review!

Really enjoyed this book right from the first page!
Kept me guessing until the end. I highly recommend this book to anyone the loves a great mystery/thriller.

This hooked me immediately! Serial killers, secrets, and lies, what else could you want in a thriller?
*
Quick synopsis: When she was 11, Naomi was attacked and stabbed 17 times when she was in the woods with her two best friends. She survived, and their testimony put away a serial killer. But Naomi has a secret, she never actually saw who attacked her and she lied on the stand. Decades later, she and her friends are coming to terms with the lies the told, the implications if they put away an innocent man.
*
Even though I thought I knew exactly where this was going, I very much enjoyed reading it. It has the kind of writing that I found completely immersed me from the start. And it turns out I could not have been more wrong about the ending. This was so exciting and I really enjoyed Naomi as a character (and I especially loved how her relationship with her dad evolved!)
*
Highly recommend for thriller fans! Thanks to @netgalley and @flatiron_books for the early copy.

A truly engaging, suspenseful, and well-written story. The atmosphere of the book made me think about it, even when I wasn't reading it.

4.5 stars.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this book!

Ooo this was fun and the ending was explosive. I think this is a great adult debut from this author. She really does well at weaving in new red herrings with different characters introduced and new motivations. It truly felt like anyone could be a suspect and I absolutely got nowhere near guessing the twist at the end.

What Lies in the Woods is a magical, mysterious read that had me on the edge of my seat till the very end. Written in such a way that leaves the readers in the dark, What Lies in the Woods follows Naomi Shaw as she returns to her hometown following the death of the convicted serial killer who attacked her as a child. His death brings up feelings in Naomi she cannot name, but the feeling of guilt worsen as her two best friends, and fellow children who escaped his wrath, bring up that there are secrets from that time still unknown to her. Everything ties back to The Goddess Game, a whimsical childhood game that ended in a dastardly way. With masterful storytelling skills, Kate Alice Marshall turns every character into a suspect, with a motive driving every one. The truth is just under the surface and someone will do whatever it takes to ensure Naomi and her two friends are finally honest.

I went into this one blind and wow, it blew me away. With true character depth and a multi-faceted plot, Marshall weaves a story of wealth, privilege, and poverty colliding in a small, woodsy town. Naomi is fierce and driven, bold in herself and her flaws, but as the returns to her town and everything she left behind it's like she unravels. She's an unreliable narrator, my favorite of course, but her friends are equally unreliable. No one will tell her or anyone else fact from fiction and as her unnamed guilt eats at her, Naomi vows to discover the truth.

Incredibly unique, character driven, and atmospheric, What Lies in the Woods was my first Kate Alice Marshall read, but it certainly won't be my last. This one sucked me in and it blew me away that I never could guess a single twist. With detailed writing and a slower pace, Marshall's latest may not be for everyone, but it was a standout read for me. I still feel like, two weeks out, that I haven't left the pages.

This had such an intriguing premise so I was excited to read it. A group of friends question what really happened when one of them was stabbed in the woods years ago. The character development of this was outstanding and each chapter revealed more of their truths. Nothing turns out to be true in the interpretation of past events. Readers won’t know the real culprit until the shocking conclusion. For fans of B.A. Paris and Shari Lapena.

I NEVER wanted to leave the pages of this story, what a masterpiece, what an adult debut! This story is as atmospheric and magical as the setting where it takes place, in the farthest reaches of the Olympic Peninsula, deep in the rainforest. Sure, there are mysteries to solve, lies being told, covers ups abound, but there is also heart breaking truth, reconciliation and a past to overcome. Keep bringing us stories, Kate Alice Marshall, you had me at “there is a wilderness in little girls”! Thank you NetGalley, Flatiron Books and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is available for purchase on January 17, 2023

This was such a gripping, suspenseful read about three friends who have locked away a horrible time in their lives and must revisit it and set things straight some twenty odd years later.

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
Book review - 5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"They were eleven when they sent a killer to prison. They were heroes . . . but they were liars." - Kate Alice Marshall

My Thoughts:
The atmosphere of What Lies in the Woods makes it a compelling thriller. I enjoyed reading this book. I was constantly trying to figure out who was involved and what was about to happen. I never put the pieces together. This is an excellent book by Kate Alice Marshall.

Synopsis:
The magic of the world used to fascinate Naomi Shaw. She spent the summer 22 years ago roaming the woods with her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia. They imagined a world of enchantment and wonder. The Goddess Game was what they called it, but that all changed when Naomi was attacked at the end of that summer. A miraculous recovery allowed her to identify the man who attacked her and inflicted seventeen stab wounds.

He deserved to be sent to prison. Six women had been murdered by the serial killer, and the girls' testimony finally put him behind bars. Their actions were viewed as heroic, but they lied in court.

There are some secrets worth dying for that the ladies have kept for decades. They vowed never to speak of it again, but Olivia now wants to tell the world the truth. Naomi sets out to discover what really happened in the woods, no matter how dangerous it might be.

What Lies in the Woods book and audiobook will be available on January 17th.

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for sharing this intriguing novel with me! I was on the edge of my seat!

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Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and Kate Alice Marshall for the advanced copy of What Lies in the Woods in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

There were certain elements of this book that were slightly predictable, but the parts that weren't genuinely threw me for a loop, and I could not put it down! This is Marshall's first foray into adult thrillers and I personally would like to invite her to stick around the genre for awhile.

I honestly can't put my finger on exactly what it was about this book that I could not get enough of, which feels strange since I can usually articulate what works and doesn't work for me. (Thankfully there was virtually nothing about this book I didn't love).

What Lies in the Woods will be on US bookshelves January 17!

My only complaint with this book is that the chapters weren't labeled so it often felt like I was just reading one large chapter straight through. HOWEVER, I wasn't mad about it. I quite honestly could not put it down. It kept me interested, it kept pace, it had turns I didn't expect...it was truly a fantastic read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

This book was fun! I have previously read Rules for Vanishing by this same author, and I think I liked that one a tiny bit more. What Lies in the Woods tells the story of a group of friends that survived a serial killer attack when they were 17. The group comes back together when they hear news about the man convicted of the attack. I liked the set up a lot. I did make a prediction pretty early on that ended up being accurate, so this was kind of predictable for me, but still a fun time. This book was a quick read and was pretty fast paced throughout. I loved the last couple of chapters. Things just kind of went crazy (in a good way), and it was really intense with some pretty graphic scenes. My only real complaint with this book is that I didn't feel like it was an adult book, but it also didn't feel YA. There were parts that I thought were very YA and then the tone would shift and it would feel more adult. This is listed as Adult so I think I would have liked it to feel more that way and leaned into more intense horror. This was a solid thriller/horror though, and I really enjoyed my time reading it.

This was such a twisty thriller but with such unlikable characters and a plot I unfortunately couldn’t get behind!! The writing was great, but overall an unbelievable thriller I felt a bit disappointed with. The ending was great and somewhat redeemed the book, but overall I felt a bit meh!!

Twenty-two years ago, Naomi Shaw was brutally attacked in the very woods that had become a haven for her & her childhood friends, Cass and Liv. Barely escaping the woods with her life, Naomi's eyewitness testimony to her own attack put a deranged serial killer behind bars and gave her a new lease on life.

But what if all of it was a lie?

"What Lies in the Woods" is a slow-burn, mind-twisting mystery that alternates between Naomi's present-day return to her hometown of Chester, and the infamous summer when she was attacked as a young girl in the deep woods. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Naomi is not the only one with secrets that drove her to lie in her testimony that led to a killer's conviction all those years ago.

A promising thriller with an interesting (albeit predictable) premise, I had high hopes for this title that in some ways turned out, and in many others, did not. The overall development of the plot felt slow, and the twists that finally came lacked a satisfying punch because the characters, in my opinion, were insufficiently developed.

A middle-of-the road story sure to please plenty of readers, "What Lies in the Woods" wouldn't be my first recommendation for an edge-of-your-seat, won't-see-it-coming read, but the storyline was enjoyable enough. More depth to Naomi & more complex twists would've given this read what it was missing.

"What Lies in the Woods," is a gritty, disturbing story about a girl named Naomi. When Naomi is 11, she is stabbed 17 times while playing in the woods with her friends. While Naomi doesn't see her attacked, her friends claim they saw the assailant, and while in the hospital Naomi is led to believe that she did too. Long story short, the young girls put the assailant in jail. This story picks up in the future when the man Naomi believes stabbed her, dies in jail and she receives a letter from his son, that his father did not do it. Naomi, questioning herself, returns to her hometown, where she uncovers something very sinister.

This book was not a page turner for me, as it was very disturbing. While I loosely figured out the ending, it still had plenty of surprises. This book is more of one, you spend time reading and unraveling all of the dark twists and turns. While Naomi was not my favorite character, she was developed very well, and I was rooting for her until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Echoing other reviewers – Wow! Don’t know why I’ve never read this author before, but I will correct that oversight immediately. Deception laden mystery at it’s best!
A complicated labyrinth of childish fantasy mythology and murder set in the Pacific Northwest. An unimaginable brutal attack on a young girl. The aftermath forever altered the lives of three ordinary school friends who just enjoy playing Greek Goddess Games in the woods.
Cassidy is the mayor’s daughter with a brute of an older brother, Oscar. She escaped the attack hiding with Olivia. Even all these years later Olivia (Liv) is mentally destroyed, guilt ridden, suicidal, unbalanced and on the edge.
Naomi shouldn’t have survived her horrific attack. Years later her memories remain blurred, contrived, buried or nonexistent. She is determined to retrieve those buried memories. Her testimony was pivotal in the conviction and sentencing of Stahl but, was he the one? Were her memories correct? Was it all a lie?
Cody used to hang out with Oscar getting into mischief. He’s the hero who found and rescued Naomi. All grown up and respectable now, married, kids and a State Representative. He’s always looking out for Naomi. But, was he the hero?
A podcaster, Ethan, shows up to exploit the victims yet again for his story. Is he the new friend trying to help as he claims to Naomi?
The layers of lies go beyond imagination. I tend to make notes as I read with my theories and who my main suspect is. Not even close! There were small details I figured out, the overall reality of what really happened was impossible to guess. The characters are authentic, the plot is excellent, a recommended read for anyone looking for a strong, suspenseful mystery.
Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “What Lies in the Woods” by Kate Alice Marshall and to Flatiron Books. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.

What Lies In The Woods is a childhood secret concealed by trauma, deception and despair. It’s a gruesome discovery improbably folded into a fanciful kids’ game that makes innocent girls complicit in something darker than they realise. It’s the scene of a horrifying attack that causes ripple effects still impacting on people over two decades later and setting in motion something unstoppable and deadly.

It’s the debut adult novel by Kate Alice Marshall who proves to be just as accomplished in this arena as she has been with her previous YA horror books. This time around, she steers away from the supernatural eeriness that’s become her trademark and instead delves deeper into the horrors of the human psyche with richer and more complex characterisation on offer. This isn’t to suggest that YA novels lack complexity, but there is a lot more to mine from a character in her thirties with a whole host of mental and behavioural issues stemming from surviving a brutal attack in her childhood! Our protagonist Naomi self-medicates with alcohol and a destructive taste in relationships to repress memories she believes are better off left unexamined, but the death of the man she helped to convict inevitably unearths hidden truths and skeletons buried in her youth.

Some readers may be impatient with the slow-burn beginning which explores Naomi’s present-day circumstances and how the stabbing has shaped her personality, however this works very effectively in fleshing out her character as well as revealing how she will make self-sabotaging decisions that aren’t in her best interests. Why she feels the need to punish herself is just one of the many mysteries we encounter in this book. Naomi may not be the most likeable character, but despite her prickly distrust and ever-present cynicism, the walls she has put up around herself are only too understandable. I particularly want to highlight the sensitivity with which the author treats Naomi’s coping mechanisms—for instance, a lesser book would’ve taken salacious pleasure in describing her casual hook-ups and depicted them in titillating detail, but the focus here is always on what Naomi’s actions reveal about her state of mind instead of judging or glorifying her behaviour.

Flashbacks are regularly interspersed throughout the story to introduce or further develop central characters and dynamics plus drop hints about the secrets the girls have been keeping for years. Sometimes flashbacks can be a detrimental narrative tool when they pull the reader away in the middle of an action scene or meaty character moment, but in this book, they’re incorporated with care and precision to hook our attention and dole out tidbits of information relating to the ongoing mysteries.

Genre-savvy readers are liable to predict at least one of the reveals, but the joy of What Lies In The Woods is the masterfully diabolical plot layered with red herrings that convinces you beyond doubt of a particular fact only to blindside you with incontrovertible proof that establishes the exact opposite. The blurb may fool you into thinking there is only a black-and-white reading of the central dilemma it poses—did the girls lie about identifying a serial killer and if so, does that mean the man they put in jail is innocent? But we’re in the hands of a phenomenal storyteller who takes a seemingly simple premise and weaves a thick, tangled web to ensnare the audience with unreliable testimonies, ulterior motives and enough twists and turns to leave us stranded in the middle of the woods right alongside Naomi, lost and desperately searching for answers.

Marshall shows she can’t put a foot wrong with this confident debut in the adult thriller genre, spinning an intricately compelling tale of friendship and magic, sorrow and betrayal wrapped up in a suspenseful murder mystery. What Lies In The Woods examines the cost of survival and the scars that childhood leaves both physically and emotionally with vividly drawn characters, effortlessly polished prose and a brooding, immersive setting. If you haven’t discovered this brilliant author before, I urge you to pick up her previous books ASAP while you wait for release day.

This book kept me on my toes. This was my book of Kate's and it was a great read. I did not see the ending coming at all! Book also contained a couple open mouthed moments when the chapters ended.