If You Go Down To The Woods by Seth C Adams a book about a group of young teenagers who become friends and start the Outsiders club. The group encounter bullies and get into situations out of their control. This has far reaching consequences for each of them. This book is full of nostalgia and has some creepy qualities. It reminded me of Stand By Me and the beginning reminded me of IT by Stephen King. I enjoyed this book. I would like to thank NetGalley and Harper Impulse and Killer Reads for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Posted on February 26, 2018 by cayocosta72
If You Go Down to the Woods by Seth C. Adams. Published by Harper Impulse

A coming of age story reminiscent of Stand by Me, this story of 4 boys, the Qutsider’s Club have a summer adventure that will transform their lives. While hanging out in the woods, the boys find a car that has been burned, along with a body in the trunk and plenty of cash. The boys see it as a chance to solve a real life mystery, they never expected the whole thing to be so dangerous. But when that much cash goes missing, someone s bound to come looking for it. and the Collector has no interest in playing games with a bunch of kids, he just wants his money and to make sure those four kids never reveal what they saw

Premise: A group of teenagers make a discovery that brings about a chain reaction of action and consequence of epic proportions and nightmare quality.

Favorite passage/quote: "He too smiled at me, and I didn't care for that smile anymore than the winks he gave, or the tip of the hat. His every feigned display of propriety was a nuanced mockery and as much as the Collector or Mr. Perrelli and Brock, I knew Sheriff Glover wasn't really human anymore."

5/5 stars because it met my three requirements to get that 5th star:
(1) It captivated me. Literally held me captive. I read this book in 6 hours straight, couldn't put it down.
(2) I'll talk to people about this book and recommend they read it and tell others.
(3) I'll read it again. If I don't love a book enough to read it again, I won't give it five stars.

I'll admit to having a Stephen King "Stand By Me" vibe early on, but the story quickly defined itself as not being a copy cat. I could definitely feel the influences of King, perhaps some Dean Koontz with a dash of John Saul and Clive Barker. Basically I'm comparing this debut novel to some of my favorite horror authors, giants in their field. So yeah, I liked this book.

The story is told in 1st person narrative by Joey Hayworth, then 13, now grown. It flowed. It was smooth. At no point did I pause and go back trying to figure out complicated plot lines. Oh, they were there. Layers and twists and the unexpected, but woven seamlessly together and told in a controlled and well paced narration. Nothing was rushed. No frantic scrabbling to cram details into the story. From a technical standpoint, this is a great representation of what happens when you have talented authors and editors working together. Unfortunately I do not, at this time, have the editor's name to give credit, but I'll add it in later if I come across the info.

When I said that the book captivated me, I meant it in the literal sense. The story pulled me in, made me care about the characters, wonder what they were going to do next, caused some anxiety over what happened to some of them, may have caused a little smile toward Karma for what happened to others.

It was difficult to select just one passage as my favorite, because honestly I did a lot of highlighting in this book. Not just because of clever phrasing or word usage (those are present, and nicely done!), but because of the deeper meaning of the passages. Joey isn't just telling us the story of "One summer when I was a kid...", he's telling us the story of THE summer when he stopped being a kid, when some of the polish was no longer on the world, when you learn that people hurt each other and that the fair isn't magical.

I could continue to gush over this book, but the bottom line is that If You Go Down to the Woods by Seth C. Adams is an incredibly well written book that pulled me in and didn't let go until I'd read the last word.

I read this in one sitting today as it is utterly compelling. The descriptive sense of it captures so much emotion in a "nostalgia for childhood" way although I wouldn't want to live through the summer this group of friends, The Outsiders,live through. I was entirely caught up in their story and suffered through a lot of angst in the telling - Seth C Adams makes you care about his characters and layers them well to make you feel it right in your heart when bad things happen.

I did love this very much for it's writing, the premise of the story and for the most part the execution. This is a writer to watch. However it wasn't without it's issues - perhaps it is a little over reaching in the saga, there's a little too much going on that starts to feel more unlikely. Perhaps less is more, for example I didn't think the kids needed *quite* so much going on, I can't say much without spoilers but one thing or the other or that one, not ALL the things. Also the kids read older than they were actually stated as being which at many points didn't ring true especially in their decision making - and sometimes the "bad guys" veered off into caricature and there was a horror movie staple scene near the final resolution that I really felt was too over the top. My honest feeling is that pared back on the event situations, raising the age of the kids just a little, allowing that beautiful writing to shine through rather than distract with so much going on, would have made this a 5* and then some read for me.

Even having said all that I see such a huge talent here. The author made me feel every moment of this one and even when I had to suspend that disbelief I was still right in there. There were some wonderfully done scenes (Joey and Tara at the fair, Joey and his sister's love/hate interactions to name some) some beautifully layered characters and that nostalgic sense of the friendships we make when we are young was spot on and brilliantly done as were the differing parental relationships. There were shades of King in here, that way of immersing the reader into the world and making them laugh and cry and hate and love and all those things right alongside those they are reading about so mostly it was excellent stuff.

If You Go Down To The Woods stole my Sunday afternoon and I gave it up gladly. I can't wait to see what this author brings us next - it is true it is an emotional and powerful debut - with the few caveats I made this is an easy 4* for me and I'm adding Seth C Adams to my watch list for future releases with no hesitation at all.

Recommended.

I am not completely sure about this book. It was totally unbelievable kids of that age to behave in the ways these kids did. It was a great story but I felt like the kids should have been older.

The called themselves The Outsiders Club.. a group of kids who really didn't fit in in the small town of Payne Arizona. There is Joey, Bobby Jimmy and Tara... who are 13-16. The find an abandoned car in the woods one day... and the The Collector arrives to claim back the contents of that car. A series of crazy scenes and encounters between the characters then start.

It was a good story, I just struggled to see young kids acting the way that they did. Thanks to Killer Reads and NetGalley for a copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest opinions