So entirely autumnal vibes that I regret reading it in the middle of August. Basically The VVitch in book form and I loved every minute of it.

I LOVED this book. It was GRIPPING. I read it in mere hours and I will recommend it to anyone who will listen to me. It was an amazing, horrific spiral that you just can't put down until it's finished.

In The House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt is a haunting folklore tale of a young woman and her journey through the fabric of myth and lore in the early Americas. A journey that will involve witches and werewolves and the haunted woods of this new world.

"...You are well-schooled in ghosts!'
'I am well-schooled in many things, my dear.'
'I know something of ghosts.'
'Do you, now?'
'Don't we all?'
She stopped short, gazed long and carefully at me, said, 'How do I know you're no ghost yourself? A ghost washed up on the shores of these woods to haunt me..."

A young mother and wife, Goody, in Puritan New England leaves her home one night to search the woods for berries. As darkness descends the young woman becomes lost and rests her head. The world she wakes up to is similar and yet quite different from the one she left behind. Here she meets the enigmatic Captain Jane who leads her to the woman in the house in the dark woods named Eliza. But Eliza is no normal woman and Captain Jane as well has her reasons for leaving young Goody there.

Goody must make her way through the deceit and puzzles of this new reality where no one is quite who they seem to be, and the dangers are deadly and horrifying. Goody's journey back to her home and her family takes her through the tales and myths of early America and through darker place than the woods she finds herself lost in. The darkness of her very own soul.

This short novel was confusing on to many levels to make it very enjoyable. The fables and tales did not blend seamlessly and at times it was hard to tell if Goody was the victim or the evil and in the end of it all; it was still not clear.

The setting and narrative fit the time but there are simply too many plot lines that do not connect going on. Also, Goody seems to be a character that is very difficult to connect with as well and you are never sure if her desire to get back to her child is genuine or not. She comes off as that one friend who complains that she needs to get home but keeps ordering drinks all night long and eventually closes the place down. Which is fine but did you need to be a downer about it all night long?

Pass on this one.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book a little over the half way mark. I tried to pick it up again and I finally decided it just wasn’t for me.

Let me say, for someone that likes this genre and the way that the story is told, they would probably LOVE it.

I had totally different expectations for some reason. That’s on me, not the author.

During the colonial period, a wife and mother going into the woods to find berries for her husband and son. Soon is she lost. (possibly a metaphor?) While trying to find her way, she comes across an array of sinister characters who are not what they seem. This book was a challenge to follow and went on a little too long. Although advertised as a horror, this was more fantastical to me than horror.

Wow, this book was a trip! The entire time I was reading it, I felt like I was in a dream. The tension is tight as a drum, and kept me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to put it down. This is a creepy, atmospheric fairy tale set in Colonial America (there are hints in the text, but no places are named), wherein our unnamed narrator goes for a walk in the woods to pick berries for her husband and son, and takes a nap in the shade after growing tired. When she wakes up, night has fallen, and she gets lost in the woods. Then the big, spooky, psychological suspense-filled mayhem begins. I'm not going to try to describe what happens- it's meant to be confusing, I think, and it's much better to let it wash over you without knowing what's coming. The writing is lush and beautiful, and drew me in from the start. I'll definitely look for more books from this author! This is a perfect fall/winter read- snuggle up under a cozy blanket with a hot cup of something nearby, and prepare to get lost in more ways than one! Seriously, it's kind of hard to follow the story, but that's one of the things I liked about the story- it really felt otherworldly, like wandering through a dream where the oddest things seem normal, and things can change in a moment. A great quick read for when you want to be wrapped up in prose.

Laird Hunt's novel is a dark fairy tale where a Puritan woman goes missing into a realm of the fae, wolf creatures, and her own mind. The book is dark, but the way it is told lulls the reader into a strange secure place that suddenly feels ripped away.

This was a very atmospheric read and was perfect for Halloween. It follows a woman who gets lost in the woods and happens upon some strange and maybe dangerous women. This was a very short read for me. I would say I liked it but not maybe loved it I like a bit more scares in my horror stories and I believe some readers won't enjoy the authors writing style but I found it added to our protagonists unreliability. The ending is a bit ambiguous which in any other genre I wouldn't find appealing I like closure in my endings but I have no problem with ''em in my horror stories it to adds to the horror aspect.


Overall this was a fairly decent scary read. Maybe not for hard core horror fans but I think those who aren't into scares and want to try dabbling into it might like this read.

This was really atmospheric and weird, but also really boring at the same time. So kudos for managing to somehow do that. I guess. I really wanted to like this more than I did because I thought that the concept behind it and the parts of it were great. but it just didn't manage to turn into a complete whole for me.

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I thought the story was an interesting premise and I tried to get into it but the writing style kept me confused. I was never really sure what I was reading and kept waiting for something to clue me in. Maybe if I continued reading this would have happened, but I just couldn't continue.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

In the House in the Dark of the Woods contains beautiful prose, meant to disturb and confuse. It’s not a book to gulp down, but one to linger over.

This is a horror story that begins with a walk in the woods, set during colonial American times. It is a dark story populated with women with untoward motivations toward our main character, who is referred to as Goody. The plot is interesting, but suffers from the convoluted sentence structure that is apparently Hunt's signature style.
If you can muscle through the prose, there is an atmospheric, creepy story to be had - but for being such a short story, this book reads like a much heftier tome.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of In the House in the Dark of the Woods, this in now way affects my review.

IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS
Laird Hunt
Little, Brown
ISBN 978-0-316-41105-9
Hardcover
Suspense

IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS is presented as something special, and fittingly so. Its dimensions in length, width and depth are smaller than the usual hardcover book, so that it shoulders its way to the front (or top) of your attention. The illustrations which serve as a forward to each chapter and repeat themselves in somewhat irregular order are something less than woodcut and more than pencil sketches. Their vagueness creates a sense of uneasiness even before one starts reading. That is good in a way. It warms you up for the tale, which is at first not so much frightening as unsettling before it takes the reader into some very dark and nasty places. IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS may not run long --- it’s a bit over two hundred pages if you’re counting --- but veteran and critically acclaimed author Laird Hunt goes deep.

The narrative voice over the course of IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS puts one in the mind of folklore, as does the apparent setting, which seems to be a Puritan encampment in the general area of New England during American’s colonial period. The voice of the tale, for the most part, belongs to a woman we come to know as “Goody” goes on a day walk to pick berries for her son and husband. She stays overlong into the night and gets lost when she attempts to return home. She is found by an enigmatic woman named Captain Jane who surrenders her to another woman named Eliza. Goody finds Eliza to be a gracious hostess but her aggressive friendliness is a bit offputting. There are many sides to Eliza, some of which reveal themselves when Goody speaks of returning to her family. She ultimately does so with some assistance from Captain Jane after a diversion occasioned by another inhabitant in the woods, but the path back to her former life isn’t quite as straight and true as she might expect. The same can be said for what she has experienced during her time spent with Eliza, who has a few surprises of her own. The major revelations, however, lay with Goody, who has some secrets of her own. Fissures and steaming cracks in reality abound by the time the narrative within IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS is concluded, and anyone reading this fine work will never hear the phrase “change about” again without thinking of Goody, Eliza, and Captain Jane.

Hunt is a marvel. Those who read IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS will want to search out his previous work for his ability to present different perspectives from exotic settings of time and place. To put it another way, one cannot read Hunt without wondering how the f-heck he thinks this stuff up (to put it simply) while infusing his prose with the perfectly appropriate --- and uneasy --- narrative. That with respect to IN THE HOUSE OF THE WOODS is the stuff of nightmares, or perhaps a reality that bubbles and steams just under the veneer of ordinary perception. You won’t drive pasta woods again --- let alone walk in one --- without thinking of IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS. Strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2018, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

I loved the description & cover. However, this book just seemed to lack the level of excitement I was expecting. If you like the older style of writing you should definitely check it out. It just wasn't for me though.

In this dark fairy tale set in colonial New England, an unnamed puritan woman sets out in the forest to pick some berries for her husband and little boy. She does not return. Perhaps she's lost. Or perhaps she's fleeing her tyrannical husband and eerily quiet son. Lost, alone, and injured, she is rescued by a women - Captain Jane - wrapped in the pelt of a wolf. She takes the Goody to Eliza's charming stone cottage. But in the house in the dark of the woods, all is not as it seems.

On the surface, this is the story of a woman who is lost, wandering in the woods. She is a wife and mother, she wants to return to her family. Page by page, her journey gets darker the deeper she goes into the woods. She runs into things both fair and foul, beautiful and strange. Hunt's prose is meandering and lyrical, with searing descriptions. 

"Its scratch was like the dry sparking of a flint and a page with fresh marks on it like a blazing porcupine. A tale written down must be like that, I thought. It must be like the block of wood of the body sprouting tiny tongues of fire and who know where the next one will rise up and burn."

Laird Hunt's novel is filled with a dream-like terror - beautiful, huge swarms of insects, a water well most foul, a ship made of skin and bones, a watchful master - and filled with witches. Yet it is not terrifying. Is it filled with a building, pervasive dread? Yes. Does it frighten? Yes. This chilling fairy tale is tempered by its lovely, quiet prose and the slow revelation of the nature of these complicated women. In the House in the Dark of the Woods will haunt you, but ou might just be grateful. Highly recommended.

This book read like a combination of fevered nightmare and fairytale. And I mean that in the best way possible. The story takes our heroine (?), known only as “Goody” and sets her down in a wood where magic weaves into the bark of the trees, and the stench of rot can be sensed when the wind blows the right way.

Like a traditional fairy tale, the story begins by showing us the fantastical…the sharp teeth are well hidden. But as the story goes on, the underlying menace comes to the fore, and the smile widens into a razor grin.

This isn’t your traditional horror story … but the dream-like prose and ever-fascinating subject matter make this book shine. Anyone out there looking for something a bit different for the Halloween season and the dying of the year should consider this book.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My first thoughts are about the cover of this eerie novel. I loved it. It brings the title together with the content of the book. It's just enough to pique my interest of what could be within the pages under the cover.

The writing style is slightly different from most other reads I've read lately. It took me a bit to get into, but once I did I was not disappointed in the least. Hunts writing was almost poetic, but in a dreamlike, grim way. His foreshadowing was brilliant. It was symbolic and literary in so many ways, I can see this being on many TBR lists.

The content was a perfect read for this time of year. It was full of the colonial time period witches, dark magic, grim forest, revenge and creepy characters. It isn't too often a book will give me feelings other than love and happiness. This one, however, gave me the feels of something I couldn't quite put together while reading. I felt the chills, I felt entrapped in the words on the page wanting to know more and more. I felt my mind racing after about a quarter way through with dark thoughts and gloomy characters.


Overall:
Four stars. I would recommend this dark and twisted fairy tale to anyone, especially this time of year.

A mother’s errand turns dark and mystical in Hunt’s newest take on witches in Colonial New England. A bright-eyed Goody walks into the woods to gather berries for her husband and young son when the air turns dark. Soon our nameless protagonist is lost, and encounters a magnetic Captain Jane, a bizarre hermit named Eliza, and an ephemeral girl in a yellow dress, each one welcoming and yet exuding a cautious eagerness. Circumstances continually keep the Goody from making her way home. As the tale unravels, snippets of the Goody’s past come into focus and the reader begins to understand that Goody has much more in common with the dark, ominous forest than it first appeared.

With an unambiguous ending, IN THE HOUSE IN THE DARK OF THE WOODS is a quick and thoroughly enjoyable horror novel. Hunt’s style will not please readers who strongly prefer prosaic writing, but the story is so engrossing that one can easily overcome any prejudices regarding narrative style. A perfect treat (or is it a trick?) for Halloween. Highly recommended for horror fans and admirers of lyrical narrative.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

After thinking about it for a few days, I still have mixed feelings about this book. I think this was a good book. I just don’t think it was for me. I’ll start with the things I did like, because there was lot to enjoy about this book. I mentioned that I like weird scary books, and this one was definitely no exception. I really love when authors invent strange and super creepy elements of their story, and I think Hunt did a great job. It was definitely one my favorite parts of the story, and was definitely effective at depriving me of sleep.

I also enjoyed the setting. Apparently, I hadn’t read the synopsis all the way through (or at all), because I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was set in colonial New England. I love early American history, and it made for such an interesting setting for a horror novel. I think it worked really well, and I was definitely a fan.

What prevented me from loving this book was the writing. Which, to be fair, I think was objectively good. I’ve read a lot of poorly written books, but In the House in the Dark of the Woods is not one of them. I just wasn’t personally a fan. And I think the writing kept me from becoming invested in the characters and the story. It just felt a bit distant. I’m struggling to find the exact words to describe how I felt about the writing. It wasn’t slow, but it just kind made the main character seem a bit unintelligent, which I didn’t love. I don’t think it was by any means bad, I just didn’t connect with it, personally.

You'd first meet a woman nicknamed 'Goody' who would then meet Captain Jane, Eliza and Granny Someone, all of whom were witches, although one of them will claim she was not, and that she was in the woods to save lost souls.

When Goody was taken in by the woods and the lives in it, she ultimately had to decide whether to stay or to return home to her abusive husband and 6 yo son.

Took me awhile to get into the Hart's writing style. But once I got the hang of it, I was hooked!

The story builds slowly and gradually, but beautifully... Just be prepared though. You don't want to be caught off guard when you find yourself in the deepest, darkest part of the woods, one that's chilling and eerie. You want to be ready when you are off flying above the clouds in a boat made of human flesh and human bones, with a witch claiming to 'have a mercy to perform.'

The story gets darker with every page. You'll be surrounded by screams, howls, cries so piercing you'll have a hard time listening your thoughts.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.

A full review will be posted on my blog and Goodreads closer to publication day, and shared via Twitter and Litsy.