Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy for Girls was located in the Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana. The school has long been abandoned but during clean up efforts for the building's 100th birthday celebration, a human skull was discovered on the property. The last incident here was in 2002 when a young girl from the school went missing and was never found, presumed dead. Classmates Rita, Katrina, and Summer reunite in an effort to compare notes and memories as this mystery unfolds.

The setting of Poison Wood is murder mystery perfection. It is eerie, mysterious, and secluded - exactly where you would expect something ominous to take place.

Rita Meade is our main character and narrator. If you've read Moorhead's first novel, Broken Bayou, you'll remember her as the investigative journalist. It is not necessary to read them in order but there is a little crossover in characters, so I was glad I did.

The story primarily takes place in current time (2019) with some chapters giving the readers glimpses into the past through news articles and diary entries from the academy girls. I absolutely loved this aspect! The diary entries were a fun way to get parts of the story.

There was a decent number of characters, but I did not find it hard to follow at all. The writing is exquisite; I was hooked from the first chapter until the epilogue! Moorhead's 2nd novel and she has quickly made her way to my auto-read favorite author list!

Highly recommend for fans of mystery thrillers, eerie settings, past/present unfolding, and abandoned locations.

Thanks to NetGalley, Jennifer Moorhead, and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC and chance to give my honest opinion!

I love a thriller set around a school, so the synopsis quickly piqued my interest. I was invested from the beginning, I enjoyed Rita's pov and I was excited to dive into the mystery. An enjoyable, twisty story.

I did not read Broken Bayou and I’m not sure how I missed it. But here we are at her next book, Poison Wood.
Rita is extremely dedicated to her career in journalism. When she receives a tip from someone connected to a school her father sent her to after he found her ‘misbehaving’, she gets on the first flight. Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy For Girls has been abandoned for years. We will find out what Rita’s time there was like and the reason for its abrupt closure.
When the person who reached out to Rita is found dead, it sends her back in time, remembering her past. Especially when something very old and very dead is found at her old school.
Lots of potential suspects and motives, as well as quite a bit of growth for Rita. A good story that I read on my treadmill and had to make myself stop every morning so I wasn’t late for work. I enjoyed the descriptive atmosphere and at the end, imagining what would come next for Rita.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this arc!

I loved this thriller! Our fmc Rita goes back to a girls academy she went to as a young lady to investigate after a skull was found in the basement. She’s bound and determined to get to the bottom of what happened.

There were twists and turns everywhere and I truly didn’t know what to expect. So good.

I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery. It was better than a cozy mystery without being too gritty. There was a good balance of dialogue, inner dialogue and action, with suspense as well as family drama. There were some nicely timed twists and more than one mystery to solve. It didn't matter that I hadn't read the previous book. I really enjoyed the use of humour in the opening chapters and realised later in the book that it hadn't continued. I like this author's style of writing and would be interested in reading others books she has written.

Poison Wood is a dark, twisty return to the Louisiana woods from Broken Bayou author Jennifer Moorhead. This time, crime reporter Rita Meade finds herself at the center of her own true crime story when a tip about a skull pulls her back to Poison Wood Academy—the creepy reform school she attended as a teen.

The place is abandoned now, but the secrets aren’t. A classmate was murdered, a man was convicted, and Rita’s own father was the judge who put him away. But now he’s sick, the killer has recanted, and Rita’s forced to dig into a past she’s worked hard to forget.

This is more than just a mystery—it’s a smart, emotional thriller about ambition, family, and how far we’ll go to protect what we love (or think we need). The atmosphere is tense and eerie, and Moorhead does a great job showing how the past refuses to stay buried.

Rating: 4/5
Creepy, personal, and emotionally sharp. Perfect if you like your thrillers with a Southern gothic edge.

Poison Wood picks up after Moorhead’s debut novel, Broken Bayou, with the story of the one of its characters, the ambitious TV reporter, Rita Meade, who did a documentary series on the serial killer of Broken Bayou. She's pulled into a story based in her own past at a girls’ school in a Louisiana forest. Rita was sent to this “therapeutic” institution by her father after he found in a compromising position. After a series of incidents, including a murder, the school is closed down. Though Poison Wood is a sequel of sorts, it can easily be read independently.
When a former schoolmate from Poison Wood reaches out via text to Rita about these incidents, she initiates the tumbling down of a house of cards, involving Rita's well-respected father who is a local judge and members of the upper echelons of Louisiana society.
Poison Wood is told in two timelines, 2002 (Rita’s years there) and the present and includes journal entries from the girls in the school. Though it’s a bit slow at the start, Poison Wood quickly builds up speed as secrets are revealed and the tension and danger amp up. The novel combines elements of family drama and psychological thriller as Rita uncovers both long-buried personal emotions from trauma after the death of her mother) and the secrets of the girls and staff of the Poison Wood school.

If you are looking for a good mystery with twists left and right this is it! I was left on the edge of my seat the entire time and was hooked from the very beginning. This novel follows Rita, who is thrust back into her childhood to uncover the mystery’s she thought were buried. Thank you for much to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my review!

🐊For my friends who love twisty Louisiana thrillers.

POISON WOOD by @jen_moorhead

Thanks, Jennifer, for the review copy via #NetGalley. (Available 28 Oct 2025)

My book clubs are going to eat this one up with a spoon. As with her debut, BROKEN BAYOU, Jennifer delivers a twisty Louisiana thriller that reads like a movie. Here she picks up a character we all loved in her first novel, feisty crime reporter Rita Meade, and fleshes out her backstory as a cold case from her youth heats up.

“There is nothing more diabolical than a teenage girl,” if that girl is part of an entitled, feral trio of friends trapped at an all-girls boarding school in the middle of the woods. Rita returns home to Louisiana when her father suffers a heart attack. The trip back brings many buried memories and traumas to the surface, both for Rita and several others linked to the Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy for Girls. The old school might be boarded up and falling down, but there are plenty of clues (and a human skull) still lurking for Rita to dig up.

While Rita was in BROKEN BAYOU, this thriller reads as a standalone. I loved how the twists, turns, and sketchy characters are only part of the story. A large portion is dedicated to Rita’s evolution as an adult, daughter, friend, and reporter. She allows herself to accept and adapt, and in doing so, becomes better at her job. I appreciated that from a character in a thriller.

Special to my heart is the careful attention Jennifer put into describing my adopted hometown of Natchitoches, Louisiana. I can’t wait for others to read this, especially those who love to lunch at @lasyonemeatpies and shop at @piedaterre.natchitoches, or wander around #KisatchieNationalForest. Oh, and make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you read the acknowledgements. (IYKYK)

Pretty darn good. I went into this book, not expecting much, after being disappointed by a few other reads, but being very impressed.

The characters were well developed. The main character Rita is pretty likable. Usually, I am annoyed by the journalist type, but she was very reasonable and understanding. She takes on this case following when a skull is found at her old, closed down boarding school for troubled girls and also after a body is found on a shore. She ends up in her hometown and investigating this case which involves loved ones and people she knows. There is a lot of twists and turns. Good character development. Characters, such as her father, step mother, ex classmates, and more, they were also well developed with good backstories. Not everyone was likable (some were), but you felt some way about them, which is good and you want to feel some kind of way about characters.

The plot was really good. Great setting. It fit the story. Great mystery and it kept you guessing and on your toes, wondering what is next. I never was bored. This would had been a faster read for me if I wasn’t so busy suddenly with personal things.

I started reading Poison Wood without realizing that it was part of a series. It can definitely be read as a standalone but after reading it, I am planning to go back and pick up the first one!

Poison Wood started off a bit slow but after a few chapters, I was hooked. It has a dark, tense feel to it and it keeps you on your toes. Rita is a reporter who used to attend Poison Wood school. Terrible things happened there and the school ended up closing down. Old secrets start coming out after a skull was found in the wall of the school and Rita is determined to help figure out what happened.

As I said before, I liked the tense atmosphere that the author created in this book. The journal entries sprinkled throughout were fun because you were trying to figure out which entry was linked to which girl. I like the writing style this author uses and am looking forward to reading more!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Jennifer Moorhead’s Poison Wood is a slow-burning psychological suspense novel that simmers with secrets, resentment, and the complexities and cruelties of youth, when we are not our fully formed selves, morally or physically.

Rather than relying on the usual thriller shock tactics, Moorhead crafts a taut narrative that excavates trauma with precision and eerie resonance.

In this book of the series the tables are turned on Crime Reporter Rita Meade as she revisits the trauma (and potential crimes) of her youth as she becomes witness rather than reporter, if not perpetrator.

This book gripped me instantly. The title alone had me excited to read (it sounded so ominous!)
I haven't read the first book in the series, but it was clear that you didn't really need to. The storylines were not connected in any way, and you also do not get spoiled on any vital plot points (other than the mainh character obviously surviving whatever happened)

The book goes between the is mainly set in the present, with s few flashbacks to the past timeline in the form of journal entries. These were good at increasing suspense, especially as they were under pen names so I was continuously trying to guess who wrote what. The setting of the book (mainly the woods) was great, though I wish a bit more time was spent in the woods or the old school (whether it be in the present or in the flashbacks), as the author really nailed the ominous vibe and tone in those areas.
The storyline itself was basic but gripping- creepy boarding school for troubled children where there was a disappearance (assumed death) many years ago, and information surfaces in the present bringing doubt to the previous verdict and conviction for the crime.

My only real gripe with the book was the conclusion. Although the ending (and reveal) made sense, the conclusion felt a bit rushed and unsatisfying. I truly thought there woulod have been more to the characters and what happened based on the old journal entries. The journal entries set this really sinister vibe and paint the characters (aka suspects) as very troubled characters, and it felt like some of these plotlines ended up fizzling out with no real purpose.
Additionally, the drastic change in Rita in the span of what seemed like no time at all was a bit unrealistic.

Overall though, I definitely enjoyed the book. It was a quick, thrilling read that I blazed through in almost one sitting.

After reading “Broken Bayou” I knew I had to get my hands on this book! Rita Meade (who was introduced in Broken Bayou) attended Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy for girls as a teenager. A skull was just found in the walls which bring up the disturbing events that intimately closed the school.

As an ambitious crime reporter, Rita is desperate to get to the bottom of this mystery! This story had a lot of moving parts and was very intriguing. Definitely a page turner and I’m looking forward to more in this series!

I enjoyed this story and didn’t even realize that I had read the previous book, Broken Bayou! I can’t remember how big Rita Meade’s character was in that story, but she’s the main character in this one. A skull was found in the basement of a closed school called the Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy for Girls. Quite a mouthful. Rita jumps into the story but doesn’t disclose her connection right away – that she attended this school. Not only that, but a man confessed to killing one of the students, and the judge who convicted him was Rita’s father. This leads to a whole mess of problems for her. At the same time, a body is found a few states away that breaks the Academy case wide open, and Rita knows she has to stay close to the case, no matter what.

There's a lot going on, and it keeps the story moving fast. The story is told from multiple perspectives, Rita's now and in the past from her school days in the form of journal entries. You don't know at first which girls are which and that adds to the mystery of what happened then and how it connects to what's happening now. Sure, the whole rich girls' boarding school and the powerful families that rule the town are a bit cliche, but those stereotypes don't come from nowhere. I could totally see the events playing out like they did in the story, all the way up until the end.

I really like this author's writing and the atmosphere that she creates. Her books draw you in, like you're right there with the characters, trying to unravel the mystery while keeping danger at bay. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Wow - grabs you and doesn't let go! Complex mystery between past and present with secrets, lies, ambition, pride and murder - intertwined with a bit of self discovery and finding what is really important.

Poison Wood was a good suspense and mystery filled book bleeding past traumas with the present to create character building and suspense. Rita was a likeable enough character and I enjoyed watching herself struggle with family history and drama as well as things that haunted her from her past. Ultimately this one just wasn't super exciting for me. It's well written but it just didn't keep me on my toes. I really enjoyed Broken Bayou and the twist at the end was so much more shocking than Poison Wood. Regardless I still think mystery and suspense readers will enjoy this read!

Poison Wood by Jennifer Moorhead, published by Lake Union Publishing is a literally unputddownable pageturner. The author of Broken Bayou delivered again a pulspounding, multilayered thriller of its finest with crime reporter Rita Meade in the lead.
Just moths after the Broken Bayou case, avery personal to her case appears. A case that brings ghosts from her past to light, brings danger to her and her family's doorstep.
I read this book, cover to cover in one single sitting, who needs sleep anyway.
I recommend the book and am hoping there'll be a next book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC.

If you are looking for your next mystery / suspense novel, then this book is for you. I went into it completely blind, having not read any other books by this author. Poison Wood exceeded my expectations in every way.

The story follows Rita Meade, a journalist who’s case takes her back to her home town. The case is somehow involved with her high school boarding school for troubled girls, Poison Wood, and connects with Rita and her people in troubling ways.

It took a few chapters for the story to fully draw me in, but once it did I was completely hooked. I went from thinking it would be maybe a three star read in Chapter One, to immediately marking it as five stars as soon as I finished.

Not only was Rita an extremely complex and realistic character, with both her faults and her charms, but the book was full of complicated characters. This added so much depth to the story, and was the reason why it was such a good mystery. I’ve read plenty of mystery books where the plot twist is kind of just put in there at some r point, with no build up and solely so the book isn’t predictable. Since the characters were all complex and not fully known to the MC, this helped to build the mystery through the whole book, but still make for a shocking reveal. Basically, it was both a plot twist as well as being realistically possible given what we know about the characters.

The plot was immersive, and this was genuinely one of the best mysteries I’ve read in a while!

Main character Rita has to relive an uncomfortable part of her own past by visiting her old boarding school that's just slowly rotting away because the place finally decided to give up some of its secrets, including the skull of one of them. Being an investigative journalist, a daughter and someone directly affected this time promises to be a difficult mix.

This book is well written, in the parts where it matters most - there's tension, there's mystery, there's a good amount of character growth. Maybe even a little bit too much growth because in the span of a few days the main character wouldn't be able to recognize herself any more, but in her case maybe it's for the best.. I didn't like her much, especially in the beginning. I'm just no fan of the whole "I just couldn't stop myself!" thing. I do appreciate the author's voice though. Definitively keeps you wanting to read and find out more, just because the flow is there.

There's a lot of stereotypes that are used to build this story, starting with the whole all girls boarding school for the rich and the kids do whatever they want without any rules anyway. Then it's closed down and everything is abandoned. It's still intriguing, the building blocks are there, but it definitively could've been fleshed out a little more. The ending also fell a little flat for me - this is where that tension could've really been shining! I also wish the loose ends would've been a little more neatly wrapped up.

I may be a little harsher than usually though because I struggled with this story. It just needs a professional editor to go through, those random little mistakes frequently broke my reading flow and left me just kind of feeling like I've got to force myself through. I did get to read this book through netgalley though, so maybe it's still being worked on?