I really wanted to love Girl in the Creek. From the description, it sounded like the perfect summer horror pick: moody, haunting, and deeply unsettling. And while there are some genuinely horrifying scenes, the story as a whole just did not work for me.

After finishing it, I even went back and listened to most of it again, hoping to connect with it on a second try. Unfortunately, the pacing felt uneven, and the emotional impact never quite landed. I was more frustrated than frightened. 2.5stars

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this title in exchange for my opinion.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the copy to read and review.

I was sucked into this book because of the cover. I love the creepy aspect with fungi! I liked the missing persons case in this book. It would be so easy to disappear as a hiker and that’s exactly what happened, and kept happening. Erin shows up after her brother disappears and she comes to find him. She unravels the whole town and more missing people are found. The spectacular, a fungus taking over living things undiscovered and also brought to an end.
This book was okay for me overall, there were a lot of characters that weren’t always easy to distinguish. But I liked the plot and I didn’t mind the body snatching fungi. I did just read another plant taking over people right before this one so I’m all planted out. I think this was a good mix of horror and mystery/ thriller. The audio was good, just like I said a few to many characters to listen to.
I would recommend it to other readers.

4.5✨✨✨✨I LOOOOVED THIS.

Wendy you did your thing!

This book was so vivid.

If you like eco horror, aliens, sibling trope.. yeah you’re going to love this! We got right into the story and I really enjoyed it!

The narrator did a great job and my stomach was turning at some of the descriptions… esp rice krispy and the “meat” comment ☠️

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the Alc!

this was one of my most anticipated read of the year sadly I believe this was just an average read. it was weird in some ways but nothing really scary about it. this book reminded me of wilder girls a bit with a bit of what the woods took. I really liked the narrator, the writing was good I just the story was a little flat and wasn't much to the characters

This audiobook started off strong for me! I couldn’t wait to hear more about the missing girls and Erin’s brother Brian. Where did they go? And the fact that more than one person ventured off into the woods and never came back out had me intrigued!

Once I got to about 50% of the book I was like YES finally some horror. However I quickly realized that the amount of characters and who they were got confusing so it was hard to focus on the plot when I was trying to remember who was who. I also thought “the strangeness” was a great concept, but could have been a bit more scary.

The narrator was great, her voice is so enchanting. I listened at 1.75x.

All in all, a decent creature feature! 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook.

This book was unlike anything I have ever read/listened to before. The Strangeness was a concept that took me by surprise and I couldn't stop. I was desperate to understand how this story unraveled. I think I'll avoid mushrooms forever. Thanks!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.


3.5 voted down. Was a little like an 80's typical horror flick... BUT that kinda worked. I was curious... wanted to hear more-- probably should have voted up. Decent ending.



The Clackamas National Forest has always been a sanctuary for evil—human and alien. The shadows of looming trees and long-abandoned mines shelter poachers and serial killers alike. Then there’s the ruined hotel on the outskirts of picturesque small town Faraday, Oregon, nestled in the foothills of Mt. Hood. The one drowning in mushrooms and fungus not even the local expert can identify. Not to mention the stacks of missing persons cases. Freelance writer Erin Harper arrives in Faraday to find out what happened to her brother, whose disappearance in the forest has haunted her for years. But someone else has gone missing. And when Erin finds her in the creek, the girl vanishes again — this time from the morgue, and days later her fingerprints show up at a murder scene. Maybe it’s a serial killer, or maybe it’s the spores infecting the forest and those lost inside. Erin must find answers quickly, before anyone else goes missing. But she might be next…

I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC. It’s my third book this year about killer, sentient mushrooms and I’m so here for it. Who knew this is a hot topic this year? I enjoyed this book and it was fun, but also confusing at times.

Erin’s brother, Bryan, went missing in the Clackamas National Forest several years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. After looking into her brother’s disappearance, Erin discovers many more people missing from the area. She and her friend Hari head to a forest adjacent town under the guise of writing a travel article. They join forces with several locals, who are also curious about the disappearances. The team discovers the body of a local missing woman, and that’s when reality begins to unravel.

Anna, from @innamorarebooks, said it best when she described the book as, “It feels like that friend we all have who promises a wild night out but then spends half the evening texting someone else instead of fully committing to the party.” I often felt like I was missing some key detail in the story but it was never revealed. There are so many characters, I had a hard time keeping who is who and who is friends with whom straight. The supernatural element was cool, but I felt it fizzled out by the end. Although, I did love the killer mushrooms, I felt this book promised a lot and didn’t deliver.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the gifted ALC!

Not gonna lie, I requested this book purely because of the cover. It’s creepy, weird, and beautifully disgusting in a way that whispered, “This is going to be your next fungal nightmare.”

The story follows Erin Harper, a freelance writer who returns to her hometown of Faraday, Oregon, still haunted by her brother’s mysterious disappearance in the nearby forest years ago. The Clackamas National Forest has a dark history: abandoned mines, an old hotel overtaken by unidentifiable fungi, and a disturbing number of missing persons cases. When Erin finds the body of another missing girl in the creek and that girl later vanishes again from the morgue things get weird. Like... maybe-this-isn't-just-a-serial-killer weird. Think spores, mind-altering fungi, and a forest that might be alive

The concept is SO cool. But the execution? Just didn’t quite land for me. I struggled to connect with the characters and found myself zoning out throughout the story. The pacing felt uneven, and there were moments where I honestly had no idea what was going on. If I hadn’t had the audiobook, I probably would’ve DNF’d.

That said: Jennifer Pickens’ narration? Incredible. Her performance was haunting and immersive she brought an eerie tension that kept me listening, even when the story lost me a bit. I’d absolutely listen to her narrate more horror.

If you’re into eco-horror, fungal body horror, and plot driven creepiness with Annihilation type vibes, this might be more your thing. Personally, I’m more of a character girlie, so it didn’t totally work for me. Still, I appreciate the originality, the setting, and the gross factor.

Not a bad book just not the kind of mushroom infested forest tale I was hoping for

Put Mira Grant’s science in T. Kingfisher’s fantasy folk horror, and you’ll get something that approximates Wendy Wagner’s Girl in the Creek, which follows Erin who finagles a work trip to a forest in the Pacific Northwest so she can look for her missing brother. We know right away this is not a normal forest - or a normal book, as it begins from the perspective of a sentient, but obviously not human, life form, and the closer Erin gets to finding out what happened to her brother, the closer we are to understanding what we were introduced to in the first pages (or minutes, in my case, listening to the audiobook version).

Amazingly and deliciously dark! I am a big fan of fungal horror and this one was did not disappoint.

This book tried to do too many things at once with too many characters. I had a hard time keeping track of who was who, both in the friend group and outside forces. This also meant that I didn't particularly care about any of them so the deaths that happened were hollow.

Erin and her friends were way too trusting of the situations they were putting themselves in (ex. Erin just going off alone to ask "The Mushroom Man" some questions just because "he was nice". I'm sorry but if girls were going missing in a tiny town I was visiting, I would not just go off to find a strange man.)

Someone else may be able to get past these things and enjoy the story, but I could not.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

Such a good story!! Highly recommend!
Wagner gives us a tale about Erin, a journalist, traveling to a small town in the foothills of Mt. Hood, to investigate her brother’s disappearance after hearing about several missing person cases in the same town.
What results is a beautiful tale of familial love, mystery, horror, and female rage. Wagner beautifully weaves together botanical horror, gore, mystery, thriller and sci-fi to gift us with “Girl in the Creek.”
This story is fast paced, with lots of action, gore, and beautiful fungi.
Readers may get lost in some of the science behind the story, but keep reading.
For listeners, it is one narrator through out the story, even though there are multiple characters. Pickens, the narrator, is does a great job of portraying fear, dread, and disgust. Because there are so many people to keep straight, (Erin meets up with a group of friends) and so much action, this may be best done as an immersive read.
At times I struggled with who was who and what was happening with who, so I had to break out the book to read along. None the less, I enjoyed the audio as well as the story and would be happy to add this to my collection.
If you are a fan of T.Kingfisher, I highly recommend you pick this up.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of the audiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this early audio copy! This was weird, creepy and suspenseful and the narration was great. Erin wants to know what happened to her brother and she goes to investigate the last place he visited, a small town in Oregon with weird fungi and loads of mysterious disappearances. I enjoyed the multiple, sometimes even odd points of view (such as an animal viewpoint) and that the place itself was a character. What at first seems odd and creepy gets more and more frightening, and it's a lesson to be careful what you wish for!

Girl in the Creek follows two POVs. The primary POV is Erin, a writer investigating a small town in the Pacific Northwest. A suspicious number of people have gone missing in the surrounding forest, including her brother, and Erin wants to find answers. The second POV is a mysterious force called “The Strangeness.” I really loved the concept of The Strangeness and really enjoyed seeing its POV.

The first half or so of this book doesn’t really feel like horror - it’s more of a thriller/crime book. The horror ramps up in the second half of the book. There’s some really great body horror/fungal horror in here, which I enjoyed! And I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this book, particularly when the characters were in the forest.

Now, what didn’t work for me were the characters. There were just too many and they didn’t feel unique. I kept confusing who was who. I didn’t feel connected to the characters, so when anything bad happened I didn’t care. I’m a very character driven reader so this was a big problem for me - but if you’re someone who cares more about plot or atmosphere, this might not be as big of a deal for you.

I listened to the audiobook and I enjoyed the narrator’s performance. I think she did a great job when narrating scenes, but I did struggle a little to differentiate between some of the characters’ voices during dialogue.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me an ALC in exchange for my fair review.

I received a gifted copy of GIRL IN THE CREEK by Wendy N. Wagner from Tor Nightfire and a gifted audiobook from Macmillan Audio!

GIRL IN THE CREEK by Wendy N. Wagner is set in the Clackamas National Forest in the Pacific Northwest. Five years ago, Erin's brother walked into that forest and never returned. It turns out he wasn't the only disappearance and Erin is determined to look into these disappearances for answers. When another body is found, the forest's dangers center in on Erin and those around her.

This is a book cover that definitely caught my attention and I went in without really knowing what to expect. I truly think going in pretty blind is the way to go. The synopsis on goodreads really gives a lot away in my opinion, so I'm glad that I didn't read it until after I read the book!

I will say that it took me a bit to engage with the story. The beginning has good atmosphere, but it feels like a pretty typical story of people going missing and the people gathering to investigate. As you get further into the story, things begin to get weird and that's really where it hooked me.

Lots of trigger warnings in here. Without giving any spoilery specifics, there is a lot of body horror and definite stakes for our characters and those they are searching for.

I actually had to stop reading this book after the first few chapters because I always already so confused and lost. I think the writing is good, the “horror” portion of the books are interesting and the narrators are fantastic BUT it is unfortunately just lost me in the beginning and it never got better. I liked the story line and the horror portions of the book that I was hoping it would get better but unfortunately it just did not. There were so many characters it was hard to keep track of them but the whole idea was just confusing…I kept having to stop and “ask myself what did I just read” I really wanted to love this book but I just could not. 2.5/5 stars. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen and review this book

I enjoyed this story overall, but I felt the ending was a little bit confusing. I perhaps need to re-read it and pay more attention for all the twists.

This was pretty good! I think the main issue I had is that the mystery of who killed the girl in the creek isn't very good and almost felt like a side note to the whole mushroom zombie thing. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't especially interesting and I didn't really care when the killer was revealed. Actually, the brother mystery wasn't very good, either. Still, everything else was pretty great. I'm very partial to body horror and mushroom horror anyway, but the approach they went with in this was definitely pretty fun and had some really cool, unique elements that I haven't seen in other similar books. This is just a personal preference thing, but I absolutely hate breathy voices, so I didn't like the narrator at all. Her performance was good, I just can't do breathy, whispery voices. Just a heads up to others who might have the same issue as me, because the story is pretty good, so you might wanna look into getting it in print if you feel the same way. Either way, it's definitely worth a look if you like gruesome body horror and sporror.

A fast paced Eco horror covering the devastation of climate change that is vivid and unique.

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: 7 hours 45 minutes
🎤: Jennifer Pickens
I enjoyed this narrators dictation of the novel. While the narrator didn't do anything that really highlighted or stood out to me as one of my top faves in the future, the narration was clear concise and I was able to listen to it at my normal speed without any adjustments. I felt like the characters had their own agency and were well established from each other. I would listen to this audiobook narrator again.

Themes:
🍄‍🟫 : Climate change
🍄‍🟫 : Death of Ecosystems

Representation:
🌲 : Queer main character

Tropes:
💗: Alien Invasion
💗: Hive Mind

🥵: Spice: 🚫
Potential Triggers: **check authors page/socials for full list.

Short Synopsis:
Erin heads off to a remote town in the middle of the woods in desperate search of her brother under the guise of writing an article about things to do in the area. When she gets there, she realizes something far more sinister is going on and her brother's disappearance may be involved. And not everything in the woods has good intentions.

General Thoughts:
This book was absolutely fantastic. The way that the book started off with mystery from the very beginning and continuously held your attention. I loved the way that the story is slowly ramped up with the gore aspect going from mild all the way up to honestly heartbreaking.

The premise of the book itself was interesting and unique. It had many subtle twists and turns that really captivated the imagination of the reader. The vivid descriptions made you feel like you were there and gave it a cinematic quality. While nothing in the book was necessarily groundbreaking as far as theme, the way it unraveled and was presented was stunning and fresh.

Our main character Erin definitely had some character growth and change throughout the story. I really enjoyed being in her head and reading her POV. It felt very layered and nuanced. The side characters were a little bit flat and felt very much like they were there for the betterment of the plot line. However, considering what they were doing for the plotline that did not bother me, and I really didn't need more from them. The relationship between the characters was well established, and that was enough.

There is a light thread of sapphic romance in this novel. It does take a giant backseat to the overall horror story.

I cannot wait to dive into this author's backlog. It's not very extensive so I feel like I should be able to get through it fairly quickly, but if this is the kind of writing, this author is putting out into the world. I definitely need more of it.

Disclaimer: I read this book via NetGalley ALC from Tor Nightfire. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.