This was absolutely amazing and surprising read.

This book had so many twists and turns and I went into this book pretty blind. I loved the audiobook and the characters. The characters were messy and complicated in all the best ways. This gave me the same vibes of a real crime that happened and I loved it, I hope Kate Alice Marshall continues to write more adult thrillers.

I loved this audiobook. It was so well done that I couldn't stop listening and finished it in two days. The main character has a ton of depth and is well developed. The trauma she has from her past meshed was well represented. The twists in this book were also well done. I saw one coming but not the other. The resolution of the mystery I didn't see coming and it was exceptionally well done. If you love a dark twisty mystery this is a great one to check out.

This thriller took a bit to get into. I contemplated DNFing, but of course, with a thriller I always want to know the resolution so I kept going. Once it got busy, it really got busy. I felt like by the end you literally could not trust ANYONE! A thrilling read, but I think a bit too much deception and double crossing for my taste. I did really enjoy the narration on the ALC. And the Virtual Book Tour was good to listen to on the BOTM podcast.

This one kept me guessing. Some friends were playing a game in the woods, when one of them was attacked. They testified to put the attacker in prison. But many years later, questions and suspicions arise. Were they wrong all those years ago? Are they in danger now?

Absolutely phenomenal thriller. Not only was the drama and mystery on point, but the author recreated genuine female friendships as adolescents that had rippling effects through the whole novel. It felt disturbingly real in its humanity. The twists and turns of the story kept me guessing until the very last pages, and I certainly couldn't guess whodunit!
The narrator was fantastic in tone and pacing and genuine emotion behind her words. This is a very distressing novel at times and her inflection reflected the tone of the story very well.
Marshall has me hooked - this was a good one and I can't wait to read more!

Young friends attacked in the woods, two walk out, one does not, but does recover. As 11 year olds, they help put the attacker behind bars. Time passes, One of the three returns to the hometown after finding out the attacker has passes away in prison. But things go take a turn quickly and people are not who they seem. A great mystery filled with twists and turns until the very end! The author even throws in an unlikely romance just for kicks! A good 4 star read! Audiobook from Netgalley!

Truth Revealed

Riveting, suspenseful and shocking in its entirety. This story is fast paced and has a whole lot of twists and turns. You absolutely will not believe the ending.

Three eleven year old girls and one secret which will cause so much heartache and chaos in their lives. One traitor, a friend not really a friend, A hero not really a hero and the imposter that opens the wound.

An unfortunate discovery by three young girls, a fairy tale game, and unfortunate endings. A lie that turns into a secret. A secret that is buried until one needs to tell, one needs to find out the truth and one does not want it revealed.

Living with a bad secret for years makes it fester until it cannot be held any longer, but what if someone does not want the secret to come to light.

This was a story that you could not put down. The audio book was fascinating, the narrator was wonderful and it kept me holding my breath and guessing.

Thanks to Kate Alice Marshall for writing a great story, to Karissa Vacker for a wonderful narration, to MacMillan Audio for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the audio book to listen to and review.

What Lies in the Woods was an impressive mystery with a shocking ending. Kate Alice Marshall's writing is engaging and easy to follow. She reveals just enough information in each chapter that you just want to keep reading to find out what happened. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

This was an entertaining, well-paced read with lots of twists an turns. Though I didn't really connect to the characters, it was a fun read and I would be interested in seeing what this author comes up with next!

What Lies in the Woods is as much about liars as the woods. The three women at the center survived an attack as children, one being stabbed 17 times. When the man they identified as the killer dies many years later in prison, they return to each other to deal with what they have been hiding all of these years.

The story was familiar to me, but well written. I think the characters were very hard to get to know. After the first 25% of the book or so, that didn’t matter so much. I can dislike characters. They came off as either abrasive or annoying. Still, I enjoyed listening to it. Sometimes I would lose which character was speaking, which is a pitfall of audiobooks.

Netgalley ARC Review

What Lies In The Woods follows Naomi and her two childhood friends. 22 years prior, these three children were forced to confront a serial killer and help put him away in prison following an attack on Naomi. However, they have been keeping secrets all these years and they are about to come out.

I really wanted to love this book and I think the writing style and story were very good. However, this resembles a true crime case so closely that I figured out the twist in the first 20 pages. After that, I just found it fell flat for me. I do think if you were not knowledgeable about the true crime case, you would find this book interesting and twisty. But, for me, I just couldn't sink into the story and just kept waiting for what I knew was coming to come.

Rating: 3 stars

This is my first book by this author, and I really enjoyed the twists and unexpected ending. I didn't see things coming.

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall is a dark and twisty mystery about a group of friends who share a secret. A secret that is built upon secrets, and a secret that they will do anything to protect. The story will leave you guessing and wondering about what actually happened and what is true until the end.

This story was complex, and I think it was well-structured in a way that kept you guessing until the end. My only complaint would be that it was perhaps too complex, and the resolution that explained everything at the end felt long and drawn out. But I appreciated a story that wasn't fully predictable, and I think this one is a great option for anyone that likes a dark story with some unexpected twists and turns!

Highly recommend the audiobook of this spooky one, which twists and turns with just the right balance of figure-out-ability, in my opinion. You'll feel smart and stupid at the same time. The MC was giving "not like other girls" a little, but can you blame her, she's been through it! And her pain never felt sadistic. It all came together in the end. AND it doesn't indulge in flashbacks, though the characterization felt very real. I enjoyed greatly.

☕️𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬☕️

Favorite thriller of the year so far (albeit it’s only January😂)

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

Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes.

And they were liars.

For decades, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods—no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.”

THIS BOOK IS GRIPPING. And dark and so screwed up. Kinda culty. Kinda magical. Definitely terrified of young girls now haha I loved it and all of the novels wild twists. Absolutely ate it up.

Naomi is a trauma survivor who returns to her hometown after the man she accused of stabbing her 17 times as a child dies of natural causes in prison. She begins to realize that her memories of the event may not be reliable, and when a podcaster starts questioning Naomi and a death occurs, Naomi begins to unravel the threads of a 22 year old personal history.

For some reason I've been reading a lot of thrillers lately, and this is probably one of the best. Like many thrillers, it suffers from common thriller tropes (albeit minimally), but actually has a plot with characters that I thought were (for the most part) believable. I was never bored reading it, and I really empathized with the main character (for many reasons).

If you're looking for a fast-paced, unputdownable thriller for a camping weekend, the beach, a long flight or winter night at home, What Lies in the Woods is a solid investment; I probably could have stayed with this one for one sitting.

Great audiobook narrator!

This book was so well written, I felt like I was living through it. The plot twist was pure perfection and the mind games!!! I highly recommend this one to all thriller lovers

4.5

This was my first book by Kate Alice Marshall, but it won’t be my last.

This is Marshall’s adult debut and it has so many elements I love: small town secrets, an amateur sleuth, and a past crime that may or may not be connected to current events. In this case our “detective” is Naomi Shaw who, at age 11, was stabbed and left for dead by a serial killer… or was she?

I loved followed Naomi. She was brash and jaded and fully aware of some of her less admirable qualities but she was unapologetically herself. She’s also openly bisexual and there’s a moment in the story where she’s reflecting on a childhood friendship and thinks something along the lines of ‘in hindsight that was pretty gay’ which I found deeply relatable.

The plot itself is twisty and though I guessed at most of the reveals, I still found the ride enjoyable. Partially because I liked being in Naomi’s head and partially because I liked the atmosphere Marshall created and liked the bits of humor she threw into her prose.

This book was narrated by Karissa Vacker, who is quickly becoming a favorite narrator for me. I like the way she distinguishes character voices and I find her tone to be very soothing. I highly recommend picking this book up!

This was an excellent thriller that kept you guessing and on the edge of your seat! I figured out a few things early on and the reveal was one of my many theories but I enjoyed the story getting there. This was my first book by this author and I will go back and read her backlist.

I requested this book because it was narrated by Karissa Vacker who is always excellent and this was no exception, everyone has a voice and the emotions she brings are fabulous! I also want to thank her for helping me discover a new author!

4 stars

I received this book from the publisher Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

Loved the narrator for this book! Found them to be engaging throughout.

Although, I pretty much guessed right away “who dun it,” I was surprised by the motivations of one of the characters.