Five star mystery/thriller for me! This was the first book I've read by Kate Alice Marshall and I will definitely be reading more by her. I really enjoyed the plot of this story with a twist that I got partially right, with enough of a surprise to make it enjoyable. There are a lot of complex characters who kept my interest and made me wonder whodunnit, continuously working through the clues and hints to figure out what really happened that day in the woods. The author does a great job using description to set the tone and mood of the story, making it atmospheric and suspenseful, while also making it hard to put down. I listened to the audiobook and found myself cleaning longer and walking longer to be able to listen to more. The narrator does a great job with voices and it was easy to hear/tell when the flashbacks occurred. I highly recommend this mystery/thriller for any fans of the genre!

I had to keep picking this one up and really hard a hard time getting into and it was a little slow beginning for a thriller. But as it went on, it picked up speed and I finally got where I need to be with the story. This was a layered character & plot focused thriller l that I was a bit lost sometimes with Jo the characters were. But I also needed had an inkling about the who about the how was a shock.

This is a complex thriller with a lot of characters and occasionally I found myself confusing a few of them and had to go back to sort things out. I'm not sure if that was because I was listening to the audiobook, but I thought the narration was well done and I enjoyed it. The mystery itself was intriguing and I liked the twists in the story. I didn't see where it was going and I love being surprised. The ending suited the story and overall it was a good read.

This is the story of three young girls whose innocence was shattered by tragedy. But, twenty years later the truth of that summer begins to come out.

Well narrated, with great twists.

I really enjoyed this novel from Kate Alice Marshall! Although similar to other recent novels with the same tropes, I appreciate the author staying true to her outlandish concepts. Having Persephone and the Goddess Game as a plot point gave a different twist to a story that’s been done so many times.
I often got confused by some of the extraneous characters in the town which took me out of the story occasionally, but overall I would recommend this book!

It took me a while to get invested in this, but once I did, it was a fun ride! Pretty creepy and equally entertaining. Loved the audiobook's narrator too.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio!

Trauma can lead you to feeling and thinking the craziest things. You will question yourself and you will question all those around you. The emotion and the numbness that comes with the main characters struggle with trauma is so painfully relatable.

Trauma can lead you to believe and think all sorts of things, what doesn't help is when everyone else has their own version of events. What lies in the woods will keep you guessing and having you on your toes until the very end.

Welcome to another THRILLER THURSDAY! I hate giving too much information when recommending a thriller but here are some of the key components I enjoyed in this read:
*A physical attack 22 years ago, with physical and emotional scars that remain
*Preteen best friends, 22 years later
*An incarcerated serial killer
*A podcaster looking into the attack
*So many twists and turns!
I listened to the audiobook, and I had trouble taking breaks from listening once I started. The amazing Karissa Vacker narrates this one - I definitely recommend listening to it! Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion!

While there were a few “twists” I saw coming, I still really enjoyed this one. I’ve read KAM’s YA novels and liked a lot. Her adult debut was even better and I recommended to several other reader friends. I look forward to her next!

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

Karissa Vacker is one of my favorite narrators, so I knew I was going to love listening to this! Karissa Vacker narrated this audiobook flawlessly with a full cast of characters. She has a wonderful way of capturing each characters emotional state. I couldn't stop listening because I was hooked from the very beginning.
I enjoyed Naomi's character, her history of childhood trauma, and all her self sabotaging decisions.
There were many twists, lots of suspense, and overall a wonderful thriller to listen to! Highly recommend.

What Lies In The Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

Naomi Shaw 22 years ago survived an attack by a suspected serial killer with her two best friends Cassidy and Olivia. They would hang out in the woods that summer until Naomi was attacked and survived from 17 stab wounds. Is this really the truth to the story? For years this is what the friends decided to keep as a secret until one of them decided they no longer wanted to keep the secret.

This was a very disturbing story but it was also easy to follow along to what was going on between the characters. I suspected some of it but was a little off by the ending who did what and that for me makes this a great thriller. This was the first time I read from this author and so glad I did. I was entertained and enthralled into the story wanting to get to the end to figure out what was going on.

The power of power and control plays through the pages in its impact on each character and how trauma can taint the mind into believing things that may not be true. The story felt like it was ripped from the headlines even though it wasn't it was one of those stories that just sits with you and you ponder the belief of trauma survivors victim statement of evidence to the reality of the crime.

Narrated by Karissa Vacker which she did a great job bringing the characters in the story alive with their own voice. This made listening to this audio book very enjoyable. I was able to follow along with the narrator. This was a five star read for me and I honestly cannot wait to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for a free audio copy of What Lies In The Woods for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Solid thriller! Lots of twists that kept me guessing. I liked the plot about the surviving victim of a serial killer.

The audiobook narrator is not my favorite though. I just listened to her narrate All the Dangerous Things as well. She is very whispery and I don't care for her male and child voices.

Naomi, Cassidy, and Lydia are childhood best friends from vastly different walks of life. After a traumatic attack that leaves Naomi physically and emotionally scarred for the rest of her life, the three friends fall out of step. But fate has a way of keeping some people intertwined...and so do the secrets that are shared.

After the execution of her attacker and a supposed serial killer, Naomi is drawn back to the small town she escaped. Someone thinks she and her friends are lying about what they saw that day. But that isn't the only secret they're harboring. Who else will die in the wake of their deceptions? Can they even trust one another?

This is a creepy tale that has the reader asking themselves more than once, "What is wrong with these children?" The audience will find the characters perplexing and infuriating at times. The dynamics are confounding and the friendship between the three girls is not one I would want for myself. It was an interesting book for the most part, and enjoyed the narration. I would recommend it to thriller lovers.

Thank you Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙚𝙨...𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙨.

Three little girls, Naomi, Cassidy, and Olivia, would go into the woods to play a made up game called the Goddess Game. One day when they went into the woods, Naomi was attacked, and the three girls put a serial killer away making them heroes. But decades later, when Naomi returns home, Olivia wants to tell the truth while Naomi wants to figure it out.

This was my first book by Kate Alice Marshall, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the author did a good job with making every character a suspect and none of them trustworthy. I had my suspicions from the beginning. Some of which came true and others I didn’t see coming. The small town vibes where everyone was hiding something were great, and I liked the atmospheric feel of the woods.

There were a couple of times while I was reading that I couldn’t remember who a character was so there may have been too many secondary characters that weren’t fully developed, but overall I enjoyed this thriller and liked Naomi as a character.

I listened along to the audiobook as I read this one, and thought Karissa Vacker was a good choice for this book. She does a good job with the voices, differentiating the characters.

5/5

🎧 Narrated by the always fantastic Karissa Vacker 😍

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

When Naomi gets a the call that her almost-killer is dead, she’s expecting to be relieved. Instead, she feels a complex array of emotions, dragging her back to that convoluted day and to the town that almost took her life. Naomi, Liv & Cass were part of a near (VERY near) death experience years ago. The entire town knows every detail of their story, but no one, including the girls, knows every secret from that day. With Liv on the brink of telling their secret, what will Naomi do to uncover the truth on her own? And are these secrets worth killing for?

Okay WOW!!!! This was the best thriller I’ve read in a while and my first 5⭐️ read of 2023!!! I didn’t predict the ending at all and there were tons of twists throughout that had me like 😮😮😮 !!! A lot of thrillers have basic and simple language, but this book read like poetry — with beautiful, descriptive language — and cut like a true, gritty thriller. Naomi’s character was complex and difficult, just like the truth of her worst day. I was suspicious of every single character at different times throughout and that, to me, is the mark of a great book. Easy to follow, fast paced, and atmospheric! It was perfection!

This was a solid psychological thriller. Twenty-Two years ago, three girls were playing in the woods when one was stabbed seventeen times. A man was put behind bars for the crime. Naomi, the girl who was stabbed, received a phone call letting her know that this man has died in prison. Naomi decides to return home to reunite with her two other friends. As they go down memory lane, secrets begin to come out. The past is dug into and brought into the future. I was absorbed into this audiobook right from the beginning. Some twists and turns I did predict, while others I did not at all. This began as a slow burn, but the pace did pick up about 25% through. Naomi was a reliable character, which tends not to be the case with psychological thrillers. I really enjoyed the narrator as I think she brought a lot to the story. I will be on the lookout for the next Kate Alice Marshall book!

One of the best thrillers I've read in a long time!

What Lies in the Woods will keep you up at night, both because you will want to keep reading it until you find out what happens, and because you will be scared of things in the dark around you.

I highly recommend this book to all mystery/thriller fans. You will not be disappointed.

3.5 stars; Out now!

I liked this story. I felt that Naomi was well-written as a pretty damaged person (understandably). There are some decent twists here, and there are many; some most seasoned thriller readers will see coming but I still enjoyed how they played out. I thought this was beautifully written. Some of the descriptions put me right in the woods with the girls. I see reviews mentioning that the beginning dragged a bit but didn't notice that myself, perhaps because I did the audiobook rather than ebook? (shrug)

I thought the narrator did a great job of distinguishing between characters within a scene (especially male characters) except for a few times when Naomi and Cass were talking and I struggled to keep straight what was Naomi's internal thoughts, her dialogue vs Cass's dialogue. Overall though no big issues from me.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media via Netgalley for the early audio copy to read and review.

Happy Pub Day to 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀 by Kate Alice Marshalls!

𝘏𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬!

This is my kind of thriller, I was hooked since the first chapter and it didn’t let go until the end. It was dark, twisty, clever, intriguing and fantastic. I loved every page, all the stars.

Thank you NetGalley and
Macmillan Audio for this gifted copy.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

Awesome read. Page turning. Loved the twists and turns. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Thanks NetGalley for the audio eArc.