Cover, title and description promised me atmospheric forest horror, but all I got was a bunch of unlikable people stumbling through the woods. Among them is the protagonist Jen Monroe, who returned to her childhood home after the remains of her missing father were found in the forest. But some things don't add up for her and she had the strangest experiences in the forest lately, so she doesn't believe in her father's death. Jen and a group of other people – I would call them her friends, but I don't think anyone actually liked her – set out into the forest to take a look at the place. Of course, things don't go as planned and the forest turns out to be more dangerous than expected. But when I tell you that the first horror adjacent thing didn't happen until the 60% mark of the book, and until then it was a lot of walking and petty smalltown talk, and Jen not getting along with other people. I understand that she was supposed to be an isolated character that still craves connection, but her behavior was mostly unlikable, sometimes even childish. She was not someone I would ever want to read about. The first 10% were about how she's having an affair with a married man, and that she's somehow angry with his wife when he literally sleeps with everyone. And no, that whole part did not play any role in the rest of the book. It was just there to annoy me, I guess. Same with the characters. They were basically introduced just to be killed off in the last third of the book. Everyone was very one dimensional, as in everyone had one single character trait: one is Jen's shady ex, one makes stupid sex jokes all the time, one is sexualized by everyone, two are a couple, and two were so forgettable that I can't even remember.

I could have gotten past all of this if the horror had been actually good. I like the idea of a living forest and the female forest creatures had my attention for sure, but in the end that couldn't save it for me either. I rolled my eyes so, so many times during the "horror" part, because everything was so dull and tropey:

- The characters say that they better stay together, and oops in the very next chapter they are all separated.
- Some characters say that they saw something creepy, but no one believes them of course. (Because someone has to die first.)
- Jen finds a journal and reads about how all the creepy stuff happened to another group before them, journal entries written out and everything. Like, could we concentrate on the actual story, please?
- The way that one guy sent like 5 employees of his into the forest and all of them died, and no one was thinking that that was kinda weird. (It's actually hilarious now that I write it down.)

I have to admit that the ending was very "good for her" and that I liked it. But that of course didn't make me forget literally the entire rest of the book. A big disappointment for me.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and DAW for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a stunning novel, horrific and sapphic and just perfectly written. I loved the tongue in cheek attitude of the protagonist, and the build up where you are uncertain if this is going to be a psychological horror or full on gore (it’s a perfect mix). The ending is beautiful and believable. I loved all the research of plant and fauna species that went into the story.

They Fear Not Men In The Woods

The woods are already an uneasy place, especially in uncharted/ forgotten paths.

Jen the protagonist is confronted with a reality that her missing father’s remains have been found, and must return home. Although not believing her father is really gone, and wants to find exactly where he went missing several years ago.
We follow what I want to say, a long character building four chapters.To get to the point of most homecoming scenes, “nothings changed” “where did everyone go?”.

I did like the eerie atmosphere and the focus on the woods, as well as forest rangers and their importance in real life.

I did not care for Jen’s adult life or anything she did outside of being in the woods. Felt like watching a full grown teenager cosplaying as an adult, I wanted to physically throttle her if I was able too.


Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jen hasn’t been home in a number of years. Why should she after her father went missing and her mother proved herself completely disinterested in having a relationship with her? But then, her father’s remains are found, which prompts Jen to return home. Before she knows it, she’s on a trip to a hidden area of the forest with old friends and one new, a woman named Sammy. But everything she thinks she knows is wrong, and at least one person will betray her.

This eco-horror book was a good read. It does dive into fantasy too, so be aware. If you like the idea of forest folk mixed with intensely disturbing deaths, then this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Jen Monroe's father disappeared six years ago. Receiving news that his body has been found, she makes the journey back to her hometown to attend his memorial service and finally say goodbye. Jen becomes skeptical of his official cause of death when she learns that his remains were immediately cremated, and decides to go hiking to visit the grove wherein she believes he disappeared. She's joined in this trip by her best friend, Miranda, Miranda's boyfriend and her childhood friend Todd, Jen's ex boyfriend and son of the town's logging magnate Chaz, and a mysterious Finnish stranger that all of the men in the camping party (and sometimes Jen) are sexually attracted to, Sammy. Also, three other men who don't really stand out as their own characters. The further they get from civilization, the clearer it becomes that something in the woods is following them and doesn't want them to leave.

I try not to be too negative with these reviews, but 'They Fear Not Men in the Woods' is kind of a mess. Jen's narration is a mix between poetic descriptions of the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest and some of the most agonizingly dated 'trying-to-sound-young' slang you'll ever read. She calls people cringe, complains about man buns, and tells pithy, Whedon-esque jokes that are, according to the other characters in the story, funny. The story takes inspiration from slashers, by having the characters be annoying not-quite-teens getting sequentially killed by the threat, but the deaths don't start until around the 65% mark and the initial camping party consists of eight people. This is a lot of characters to juggle, especially when the characters are made to be disliked. Ellis, Dmitri, and Brandon are interchangeable frat-bro characters (with Brandon being the most egregious, as he's not in attendance of the initial friend get-together) who exist to demean Jen over her superior tree knowledge or be Chaz's hype-men. Two of them are revealed to be in a secret gay relationship, and incidentally they're the first to die, which is... certainly a choice.

The pacing is all over the place. A lot of the early book is dedicated to Jen sleeping with her professor and how much of a harpy her mother is, which doesn't amount to anything other than adding two more unlikable characters to a cast that's packed full of them. A 'survival record' is literally given to our main character, and it's frustratingly by someone who likes to say 'goddamn' a lot but it too afraid to not abbreviate it (he doesn't even seem particularly religious in the text, so perhaps he wants to make sure he's not demonetized or hidden by the algorithm). Jen's relationship with her so-called friends vacillates between them being nuisances she doesn't even want to see to her guilting them about not reaching out because they're supposed to be 'best friends'. Todd suddenly develops an unwavering belief in aliens that becomes his defining trait about 2/3rds into the novel.

There are so many good horror stories that take place in the Pacific Northwest woods. There are so many good horror stories about spooky trees and forest spirits and evil logging tycoons that I don't know what 'They Fear Not Men in the Woods' brings to the table, other than being a not-quite YA book that could be a daring teen's first foray into horror. I will give it to McNeil--the gore is very gross, but I don't think that's a good enough reward for sifting through the banal personal dramas of people who aren't over high school.

They Fear Not Men in the Woods is an interesting spin on the tried and true horror trope of something creepy in the woods. The novel follows Jen Monroe, a forestry graduate student who is estranged from her mother and still mourning her father, who has been missing for years. A ranger who passed his love of the outdoors on to Jen, he disappeared while hiking and left a hole in Jen’s life that she has not recovered from. When the novel begins, Jen learns that her father’s remains have been found in the woods and she reluctantly returns home for his burial. Once there, she and some childhood friends stumble upon evidence that there is something very strange happening in the woods and trails surrounding her hometown.

There’s something almost primordial about the idea of the woods as other, frightening, and strange and I loved this book’s setup. However, ultimately this one didn’t work for me. Though it is an adult novel, the author has written in the YA genre and the book felt young to me in the sense that the characters didn’t seem like adults though they were supposed to be in their early twenties. The novel’s twists were very predictable, though I did love the mythology McNeil drew on (I won’t go into more detail to avoid spoilers). Ultimately, it was just okay—a quick read that passed the time, but not one I will return to. That said, if you’re intrigued by the premise it’s worth giving it a try.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

4.5 ⭐ rounded up for Goodreads.

There’s something unnatural about this place.

When I first started this book I found it slow, and the characters extremely unlikeable. As a matter of fact, nothing really happens for the first 50% of the book. Yet, as someone who never hesitates to DNF, something kept me invested and rooted(pun intended...iykyk), to this book. I am so glad I stuck it out.

As mentioned above, the first half of the book is world building, character drama and the occasional spooky, unexplainable occurrence. At times, I did struggle to connect with the FMC, however, her sharp wit, dry sarcastic humor and blunt personality, kept me entertained. She certainly wasn't a boring narrator.

When the story started to pick up, I was engrossed and couldn't look away. The book took an entirely different route than what I was expecting. I was both pleasantly surprised and horrified. The body horror, the setting, the isolation, are all some of my favorite tropes and executed so well. This story was a unique take on the supernatural sub-genre, with a touch of eco-horror to boast.
I love that the author took a little inspiration from a decades old mystery, "The Yuba Five."
The ending was equally beautiful and filled with abject horror. I was seriously impressed at how much I ended up loving this one.

Thank you to Netgalley, DAW Books, and Gretchen McNeil. For my eARC of this book. All opinions are my own. Pub date: September 9th, 2025.

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

This book feels like is two different stories in one: the first one has a very slow rhythm and feels so realistic it sometimes made me feel I was learning about someone’s deepest secrets. TMI (Too much information), included. I was not very fond of this story.
I was, however, a huge fan of the second story, the one I really came for: the trees, the forest, the claustrophobic setting.
So it’s a 50/50 for me.

When the remains of her missing father turn up in the woods, Jen Monroe returns home to try to find out what really happened.
The author takes her time to set the scene but once you get to the woods all the action starts and you are drawn into a horror adventure that isn't too gruesome although it is perhaps a little predictable.
The novel is slow paced and it's hard to get to the interesting part but it's definitely worth a read.

A little arboreal horror (I don't know if that's a real genre or if I just made it up) sees Jen Monroe return home to find out what happened to her father, years after he went missing.

It starts a little slow but picks up the pace in the second half as the forest pulls them in and doesn't let go. There is a bit of gore, although not too graphic. Definitely not in the "scary" category but tense at times. I think the forest setting worked well with the descriptions really creating a strong backdrop, evoking the feeling of a deep dark wood.

Thanks to @netgalley and @dawbooks for this ARC.

I’ll start off by saying thank you so much for the opportunity on reading this in exchange for a review! This isn’t my usual genre nor have I really ever gave it a chance but the cover of this book and reading the synopsis really drew me in. I’m so glad that I did. I loved it. The plot. The story. The characters. I was completely engaged in this and it was hard to put down. I’m a new fan of horror! Thank you

I don't really think of this as horror but it is creepy and gory in some parts.

When Jen gets the news her father's remains have been found after disappearing unexpectedly 7 years ago. She comes home to find out what happened to him and disprove his death. She and her friends set off into the woods where her dad had been spending a lot of time. Only as soon as they get into the woods creepy stuff starts to happen and not everything is as it seems.

The first half of this book was slow and then in the last half of the book it started to pick up. This book will make you think differently about going into the woods.

I may never want to go hiking again. Loved the unique path this story took, and I enjoyed their perspective of our main character, Jen, with her relatable quips.

The setting is perfection and the author does an amazing job of bringing the forest to life for the reader. The dread creeps up on you as the story unfolds. Even our main character, Jen Is so steadfast in her belief that everything is as it should be, you are even believing her when she doubts what is really happening.

There is some gore, but it’s not over the top and is appropriate for the story. Who doesn’t love a little gore mixed in their horror? The creepy factor is absolutely there and the ending is (somewhat) satisfying.

This book was completely unpredictable, in a fab way. I at no point had any idea of what was happening, save for knowing someone was off.

My only critique is that the story takes a long while to get rolling. It’s about 34% of the way in before they even get started on their camping trip, then another 25% before things starts really get rocking. I would have liked to have cut down on the first third of the book and have less of a build up to what’s going on. I feel like a significant amount of that build up was just fluff and didn’t add much to the story for me. I kind of had to slog through the first third of the book.

Overall, a fun and unique read. I would recommend it for fans of slow burn horror and those who want to have an excuse to not go hiking.

I’m pretty sure I won’t call this book horror. Sure, there are some creepy moments, but they only happen after the first half of the book. I think this story is more like a paranormal mystery with a bit of fantasy.

The book follows Jen Monroe, a college student and forester. Six years ago, her dad, a ranger and her hero for loving nature, just disappeared. Now, after leaving her hometown and trying to deal with this loss, Jen gets news that her dad’s body has been found. Intrigued by this strange discovery, she decides to follow the Lost Trail that her dad had taken. Along the way, she’s got her high school pals by her side, and things start getting weird.

This book is a bit slow-paced, but it delves deeper into Jen’s background, including her relationship with her mom and school friends. I found her life circles quite toxic, and I couldn’t understand how she could survive them. So, when bad things happened to them, I didn’t even flinch.

The ending is a bit predictable, though. There are plenty of clues from the start that are pretty obvious, but Jen keeps refusing to believe the truth. Interestingly, at the end of the story, Jen suddenly accepts something much stranger and odd than anything she’s ever experienced before. I think that’s a pretty big departure from the character she was portrayed as earlier.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil was the kind of book that gave me chills in the best way. From the very beginning, there’s this sense of something being off—a creeping unease that only tightens its grip as the story unfolds. I went in expecting a scary story in the woods. What I got was a sharp, unflinching descent into fear, power, and survival.

The atmosphere? Perfectly tense. McNeil knows how to use the setting to her advantage—those woods feel alive, almost sentient, like they’re watching, waiting. Every snapped twig and shadow between trees felt like a warning. It’s immersive in that way where you forget you’re reading until you realize your shoulders are tense and you’ve been holding your breath for the last few pages.

What I really appreciated, though, was how the horror wasn’t just in what lurks out there—but in what the characters bring with them. This is a story about fear, yes, but also about control, gender, and the terrifying ways power can twist people. It asks big questions without ever slowing down the momentum. The tension is constant, the pacing relentless.

The characters felt grounded and real, with enough nuance to make their choices believable—even when things get terrifying. And trust me, they do.

This is an incredibly creepy novel which has hints of folk horror with an eco horror beat at it's heart. It's provocative, engaging, and terrifying.

Jen's father, a passionate park ranger who's dedicated his life to stop logging efforts, disappears on a survey never to be heard from again. Jen has followed in his footsteps and is as passionate about preserving old stands of trees from destruction.

When she receives the news that her father's remains were found, six years later, she reluctantly goes back to her small Washington state town. She doesn't believe he's dead though.

She eventually catches up with some high school friends who all work in some capacity for the logging company in the area. Jen wants answers but is getting nowhere. Her friends decide to hike for days, camping along the way, to the place she believes her father to be.

Deep in an uncharted forest, forces beyond comprehension begin to taunt them, turning violence and seemingly bloodthirsty. Lost, turned around, and with strange whispers and bizarre things happening, the group will have to fight for their lives against something impossible.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Rich evocative descriptions of the forest gave it a beautiful yet frightening atmosphere. Sammy is a character new to this group of friends and she seems connected to Jen is some strange way. The other characters are well rounded and believable.

This book creeps under your skin as the mystery of her father, what he discovered, and what lurks in the dense dark forest all combines to give a chilling visceral terrifying vibe. It's also extremely well written and Jen is a character who you'll love to read about. I loved this one and I highly recommend it.

Jen is a college student and a forester. Her dad was a park ranger, and she basically grew up with him in the woods. Neither of them had any interest in being home with Jen's evil mother who never felt even a little bit of kindness toward her. Five years ago, Jen's dad disappeared in the woods, and everyone but Jen believes he's dead (Jen has trouble accepting reality. This will come up a LOT). When her father's supposed remains are found, Jen decides to search the woods and find out what really happened. She's cajoled into taking several old friends and townies with her, all of whom are so horrible that the reader is pleased to assume they will die.

This book is a slow burn. Nothing even the slightest bit horror-tinged happens until 50% in, then there's a little bit of tension where Jen refuses to believe anything could be happening, then 90% of the way in the reader is smacked in the face like BAM body horror BAM guess what really happened to everyone BAM last-minute exposition.

Things I liked:
-There are so many forestry facts. The first half of the book is basically just facts about hiking, and honestly all of that would have been interesting on its own.
-Slight sapphic romance

Things I can't get past:
-Everyone in this book is too young. It's listed as Adult but really feels like YA. Jen has only been away from home for three years or so when she's forced to come back. That's just not enough tension.
-I LOVE a good folk horror, but Jen is such an insistent nonbeliever that by the time she's forced to accept anything folksy is happening, the book is over. That's not really how the genre works.
-I wanted to be afraid, I really did, and there was a decent amount of blood...I just wasn't sold on the monsters.
-I'm not sure how much we were meant to know before Jen knows it, but if the answer is "everything, immediately" then this book is doing its job. It was obvious from a couple of chapters in what had happened to Jen's dad, what was going on in the woods, who this mysterious Sammy girl was, just...everything.

They Fear Not Men in the Woods is going to find its audience, but that's not me. And probably not anybody I recommend books to or buy books for.

Thanks to DAW and NetGalley for an ARC

There is a lot to like in They Fear not Men in the Woods.

Our main character Jen is searching for her father, who is in many ways the only person she has ever had a close relationship with even though all signs point to him being dead.

Jen’s emotional isolation and indeed the physical isolation are believable and well executed. The thing about Jen is she kinda sucks. She dislikes almost everyone in her life, thinks she’s better than everyone else and yet still she’s deeply sympathetic.

You can’t help but root for her.

The setting is a real highlight. The imagery is lush and descriptive. You feel like you are is a cluster-phobic Forrest that’s slowly encroaching.

The dialogue feels dated already unfortunately. I think it would have surged the story better if it had been set a few years ago to be honest. It’s not TERRIBLE but it is detracting at several points.

If you liked this one I’d give This Wretched Valley by Jenny Keifer

There are definitely moments of horror. That are visceral and rewarding but I will say they are less than I would like. We get a ramp up around 90% but I wish the end was longer or the beginning was shorter.

There is a romance that’s strange to say the least. It’s sapphic and that’s nice but it’s also just didn’t work for me. Nymphs? Fae? Couldn’t tell you. I’m fantasy’s biggest hater though so you might like it better then I did

This book might have you thinking twice about taking a walk in the woods. Dark and horrific, They Fear Not Men in the Woods begins with a daughter's quest to disprove her missing father (a forest ranger) death. This book gives a whole new meaning to "you don't miss with Mother nature." This began a little on the slow side but built to a lot of tension, creepy moments, dread, danger, body horror, and atmosphere.

Jen Monre is not willing to believe that her father is dead when his remains are believed to have been found. Coming home was not something she ever wanted to do but she does as she wants answers to the many questions she has about her father's disappearance. When an ex-boyfriend invites her and a few others to go on a camping trip in the woods, she agrees......

I enjoyed the atmosphere and the descriptions of the woods. I enjoyed the eerie feel of the woods and the unease the characters began to feel when they thought they saw things moving out of the corner of their eyes. This book began slowly for me but once the book picked up - it really picked up. With each step in the woods, the tension and eerie vibe began to seep from the pages. There is a nice amount of tension which begins to mount during their hike as well. When you-know-what begins to hit the fan, the book takes a horrific and dark turn. If body horror is not for you, be warned as this book has it. This book also has some social commentary on the logging industry and a touch of politics as well.


Overall, a dark and horrific tale which began slowly but won this reader over with its twists, eerie vibe, atmosphere, vivid descriptions, and shocking reveal.

I feel like the set up for this book was extremely slow and not super engaging for the first half. Had a hard time staying interested. Once we hit the halfway mark, things picked up.
I’ve never read anything like the second half of this book. I did enjoy this part, and how the horror was portrayed. Really awesome concept. Totally new to me. Felt the ending was solid.

I’m giving it 4 stars despite really not liking the first half, simply because the second half was so gross and engaging. Reminded me of the movie The Ritual. I love bug horror, now maybe I’m into nature horror?