A fascinating and bizarre book. Missing people and bodies floating around. Abandoned towns, lots of secrets and a very creepy entity. This was a good audiobook and I enjoyed the narrator. It held my interest as it had some science fiction like horror but not too much.
Quirky and interesting characters. I loved the setting as well.

This book follows a young woman as she journeys into the creepy, spore-infested forests of the PNW to figure out what happened to her missing brother.
The biggest positive of this story is how eerie and atmospheric it is. The tone falls somewhere between a noir and an episode of Supernatural, with our main cast of characters investigating all of the strange goings on.
I think I can sum up the negatives through one word: undercooked. There are a lot of plot threads woven into this, and a lot of them aren’t given nearly enough depth. I wanted a deeper dive into the cops ignoring POC women’s disappearances. I wanted more of the small town politics muddying investigations. It was frustrating because the foundation was there, it just needed MORE.
Similarly, our group of characters aren’t developed enough to be fully lived-in people. The main cast is fairly large for such a small book, and yet I consistently got confused about who was who and what happened to whom.
I found the overall story to be interesting, but there were several areas where the pacing slowed down too much, and interest waned. I feel like, especially with a mystery type book, you need to be on the edge of your seat 90% of the time. Finally, if I’m being harshly honest, I found that plot twist to be pretty stupid. I thought the sentient mushroom thing to be unnerving on its own merit, and didn’t need anything else to explain it (no spoilers, I was just pretty bummed when I got there).
Basically, this was a fun little book, but it left me wanting. I think most readers interested in eco-horror or sporror will enjoy it. I just think it could’ve been better in areas.

Check it out when it releases next month! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my ALC!

Thank you @tornightfire @macmillan.audio #partner for the gifted copy of this book!

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve picked up a horror book, but after laying eyes on that epic cover, there was no way I wasn’t requesting Girl in the Creek. It’s simply amazing!

The setting in this book is what stole the show for me. A small town tucked into the misty foothills of Oregon — having just been there last summer, I could feel every dark, wet, rain-soaked, mossy moment. Wendy N. Wagner absolutely nailed that eerie, damp atmosphere that just crawls under your skin and gets into your bones.

The story kicks off strong with the discovery of the girl in the creek and the string of missing people no one seems to have answers for. And can we talk about the mushroom obsession in this book?! There’s a local mycology expert (because of course there is) and I just loved that he added a chilling touch to the unsettling vibe.

The creep factor builds beautifully — what starts as a quiet dread slowly morphs into straight-up weirdness as it typically does in horror books. If you’re into small-town horror, shady locals, foresty mysteries, and a slow, delicious unraveling of the unsettling, Girl in the Creek should be on your radar.

I think that botanical horror (for the most part) just doesn’t catch my attention the way I wish it did. I enjoyed the synopsis of this book and I thought the cover was cool, so I gave it a try. There are so many characters, but you hardly get to know any of them because the story moves so fast. It’s hard to care about any of them because you don’t truly know any of them. I think that the writing isn’t for me, either. The dialogue lacked realism to me, which made me care for the characters even less. The mystery that we, as readers, are supposed to care about, doesn’t matter if we don’t have a reason to care for the characters we’re following. If the development of the characters was better, maybe it would be different and maybe the story would’ve caught my attention, regardless of the botanical horror aspect of it. It just didn’t hit for me, unfortunately.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC!

While I do like a good suspenseful book the beginning of this one was very slow. I was a bit confused with all the information happening and was lost for a bit. The second half did pick up and saved me from DNF'ing. So if you're like me and need to know if its worth it to push through, the second part does get better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for this advanced listener copy of Girl in the Creek. Jennifer Pickens did a great job narrating this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an arc!

I listened to the audio edition of this book and personally quite liked Jennifer Pickens narration. I think she can be a tad on the slow side, and that suits this story so well. It lures you into a false sense of normality
That makes the more fantastical aspects of this story seem plausible. Then we get to the climax of the story and Pickens narration evolves into a perfect encapsulation of horror and emotion.

The first half of the books reads far more like a thriller than a horror novel. Its not usually a genre I love but i found the first half compelling enough.

Erin is a fine protagonist. She’s capable and you want to root for her but she makes some silly choices that seem a little questionable. The side characters, especially Erins friends don’t quite get as much screen time and feel a touch underdeveloped compared to to her but not in a way that enough to truly turn me off, and I think you could chalk it up to Erin being a little preoccupied with her missing brother to really give her friends the attention they deserve.

The second half of the books is a visceral horror show that truly gross (complement). An imaginative body horror with a delightful fungus flavor.

Therese a part in here about meat fabric that is truly so gross. I don’t think ill ever forget it

Perfect for fans of the ruins, the thing, and invasion of the body snatchers

This was an unexpected, amazing novel! A ruined hotel covered in fungus and mushrooms, the Pacific Northwest, forests and abandoned mines where poachers and serial killers play, lots of missing persons cases, and (my favorite) aliens from a meteor crash made this book impossible to put down. Erin Harper's brother is one of those missing persons and she is hell bent on finding out what happened to him. This book was atmospheric and haunting. Knowing that there is another unknown being always lurking made me feel uneasy while devouring this book. I enjoyed the back history of the land and the characters and felt for the missing people. This was an amazing book that was well-paced and an intriguing read!

Spooky mushroom body horror time!

Overall, this had a pretty good story to it with some pretty good reveals (especially at the end). But I did find the characters to be quite flat. And I need characters to be interesting to make me care about the story and what's happening to them.

This book has multiple spooky storylines happening, between our FMC trying to investigate her brother's disappearance and stumbling across a dead girl in a creek in the woods.

This is set in the Pacific Northwest, which I thought was cool because I don't think many books are based there. At least, I have never read another book that takes place in that region (to my knowledge).

I did find the pacing to be a bit strange at times, some moments dragged and other moments moved so quickly. I think it was so build suspense because there was a theme to what moments were at what speeds, but it just felt a bit to weird to me.

I did love how vivid the imagery of this book was. Very gross and vivid, I could picture everything perfectly and with so much detail. And I think this is a very good skill to have in writing, to make me see what you saw when you wrote the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Erin Harper's brother went missing while he was exploring the woodlands surrounding a small Oregon town. People have been regularly been going missing in this area for years. While looking for her brother five years after his disappearance, Erin finds a dead girl in a creek.

I was brought back to watching a few movies while reading this book;
John Carpenter's The Thing
Dean Koontz's Phantoms
Alex Garland's Annihilation
(Despite Ben Affleck, Phantoms kinda holds up.) This book seems to draw inspiration from some of the coolest works I've seen/read since I got into horror/sci-fi. Cosmic sporror and cli-fi meet up with a splash of Erin Brockovich. Our protagonist, Erin, is also a reporter who is using research for a story as an excuse to be out in Oregon snooping around for her brother. My only real gripe with this story was the characters got a little muddy for me toward the climax. I had a tough time keeping track of the actions of the people whose names I wasn't 100% on. That may have been a more me thing than an author/editing thing, but that's an issue I had. Really cool book overall. This is a story which I'd be happy to watch a '90s-style TV show. Every week and episode about a different character, serialized and drawn out to explore more missing people.

I look forward to more works by this author as well.

This was a fever dream novel that I was in and out of. This is body horror to the max and its like nature body horror which I really loved; like Erin as a main character ate down. I think she was the right choice here as she doesn't really shine, but she outshines the other cast members with her keen eye for detail as well as her wanting to hunt for the truth about her missing brother and what's going on in this weird little town.

I did recognize that because we have a large cast of characters and we met them so soon, but i do like that aspect because they all like bonded really quickly and it was that found family that we all love and adore. It was a short book that packed a punch and I loved it so much.

What an amazingly “strange” story! I love books set in the woods and have a nature twist. This did not disappoint. The story follows Erin who is looking for her missing brother who disappeared into the woods, and she finds more than she expected. The story was a blend of horror, sci-fi, and mystery. I really enjoyed getting the POV of the Strangeness which I felt was such a different approach to the story telling that I wasn’t expecting. I felt that the climax was exciting and the ending was perfect! I highly recommend!

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

Thank you for the ARC audiobook. I really wasn’t thrilled with this narrator. Her voice was very monotone and boring. The story itself had potential but fell flat for me talking about fungus and the “strangeness”.

Girl in the Creek is a trippy, fungus-y, grief/body horror murder mystery with comic-adjacent undertones. It is clever and tense, with quickly scaffolding anxiety. There are missing hikers, violent poachers, sketchy townspeople, greedy landowners, zombies and The Strangeness. The Strangeness is a cognizant, curious entity that has taken over and manipulated animals, birds, plants and the bloated corpse of a young woman murdered and left in a creek. The Strangeness is a growing, spreading mycelium, which is usually a network of tiny fungal threads, but in this wooded area of Oregon, the mycelium is becoming much more.

Wagner has created some great characters in this young group of friends with inside jokes and easy dialogue. The FMC is Erin Harper, a freelance writer on assignment, but also looking into her missing brother. She has a backstory of familial trauma and a deep grief and she is a wonderfully sympathetic and layered character. She and her friends are looking into the pattern of missing hikers and have plans for a podcast and a book. A lot of things happen in these woods, and the story becomes complicated but Wagner keeps it moving and relatable, and the reader is invested.

This was a propulsive read. Very different. Very creepy. With a gripping ending.

What a creative read. This book was different from anything I’ve ever read. There is a good amount of body horror. I appreciated the ambiance of the hot and moist forest amidst a vibrant nature. The fungus was described well (from a non-scientific point of view) and did manage to feel like a character. That said, the actual characters weren’t quite strong enough for me to fully immerse myself in their relationships or form distinct impressions. I did enjoy the LGBT+ inclusion.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was soooo eerie & mysterious lol. What starts off as something small, turns into something completely unexpected 🤯 And then we just get deeper and deeper into the mycelium.

A very cottagore horror story, so on brand nowadays. I’m obsessed lol! The list of suspects just kept getting bigger & bigger for me, until everything just became one big thing. What a turn fr. I’m super curious to see where the rest of the story goes ‘cause the way I’d be swimming in vinegar lmfao pls.

Overall, this will def have you squealing like you were getting chased from page to page lol!! Jennifer Pickens once again does it for me 🤍 One of my fave narrators for all things eerie & mysterious.

Very good concept. Reminded me of Lovecraft at times. Plot drags a little towards the end, but climax is very good. Only major complaint is the main characters do not seem well developed,. At times it is hard to distinguish one from another. I would recommend.

4.5 stars rounded down

This book felt so unique to me. The blend of mushroom body horror in conjunction with the eerie forest atmosphere created something I hadn’t read before and I was totally hooked. The concept of spores overtaking the forest and affecting those who enter gave this a chilling, unsettling tone that lingers after the last page.

The plot was fantastic and moved at a great pace. Twisty, dark, and totally immersive without ever feeling rushed or bogged down. I especially loved the setting in Mt. Hood National Forest. The mix of true crime vibes with supernatural horror made this stand out from others in the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Girl in the Creek follows Erin, a freelance writer, who is writing a piece about a small town in the PNW. Her motive to writing said story? Her brother is missing and this town was the last place he was seen. Erin and her friends learn there are multiple people who have disappeared and they start to suspect something very strange is happening,

I gave this book a solid 4. It kept my attention, had a unique plot, and the ending was spectacular. I did feel that the beginning felt a little muddled, as I had a hard time understanding exactly what Erin was trying to accomplish, but it turned around 1/3 of the way.

The narration was perfect. The narrator sounds exactly how Erin should. The way it was read brought another level of horror to the book that I would have missed if I read the ebook.

Thank you to Wendy Wagner and McMillan for allowing me to review the ALC for an honest review of Girl in the Creek

: Girl in the Creek
Author: Wendy N. Wagner
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Jennifer Pickens
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Horror
Pub Date: July 15, 2025
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
Pages 272

Something strange is going on in the Pacific Northwest at the Clackamas National Forest as people are vanishing.
Perhaps ~
• Bears-
• Lost while hiking and fell in one of the abandoned mines -,
• A serial killer or maybe-
• Aliens took them.
No one seems to know.

Freelance writer Erin Harper arrives in Faraday, Oregon located in the foothills of Mt. Hood an area where her brother disappeared years ago. It continued to haunt her. So she decided to do something about it.
While on her search, she stumbles upon a girl in the creek. However, after she is taken to the morgue – she once again goes missing this time from the morgue. Days later her fingerprints show up at a murder scene.

~I did read the reviews on this and thought I am okay with dark and creepy. Plus I like narrator Jennifer Pickens- BTW: And she did do a great performance of this story!
I missed the reviewed that used “cringe-inducing dialogue”.

Lustering to this audiobook was definitely a challenge. I finished but have to admit I had to skip some of the gruesome parts- which there were many! I am so ready for – a sweet romance or a cozy mystery!!

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 15, 2025.

I really wanted to love this , unfortunately it just didn’t keep my attention the way I wanted it to, maybe it was the narrator and the monotone reading- maybe I’ll try it again in physical form because like I said I really wanted to love it