I found this to be a legitimately thrilling thriller! There are a lot of players considering the length of the book and it was a bit to keep up with but overall it wasn’t too bad.

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to listen to the audiobook and I absolutely love the narrator! It was the perfect narration for this story and I really have no complaints there - it was a great addition to the story!

It’s an interesting idea for a story as well. A young girl manages to survive the attack of a serial killer - her testimony puts him away but the thing is, she doesn’t actually remember any of it. We find ourselves in small town world as this book progresses and it feels real (at least from my own small town experience) since small towns do tend to protect their own at all costs.

I really did enjoy this book. My only real complaint is the amount of players to keep track of and it turns out almost every single one is important. That could be an audio exclusive issue though -

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

3.5 stars

Short and sweet review time…

I was excited to listen to the audio version of this book because @karissavacker is my favorite narrator. She does a fabulous job, as always, of bringing the story and characters to life. I also chose this as my January @bookofthemonth selection, so I sometimes switched between the audio and physical versions.

A small town with a decades old secret sets the scene, and there are thrilling twists and turns along the way. I guessed the ending pretty early on, so that was a bit of a bummer for me. I like to be surprised.

All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

My thanks to @macmillan.audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

What happens when what you thought you knew about a tragic event turns out to be a lie? Naomi Shaw is about to find out. At age 11, she was viciously attacked while her two friends were hiding nearby, but what they say they saw and what she remembers aren't clear. They're adults now and secrets from that long ago summer are starting to bubble up and threaten the peace they've found in their lives. The writing is atmospheric and the oppressiveness of the Pacific Northwest rain forests create a creepy vibe that enhances the storytelling. The mystery unravels at a nice pace and the ending still held some surprises.

The audiobook narration does a good job at capturing the characters and I found that the pacing perfectly matched the flow of the book.

I am an absolute sucker for a small town that has secrets on secrets on secrets, and this one did not disappoint! I love Kate's storytelling and the way that she perfectly weaves the past and present. I can't wait to read more from this author - I see she has YA and MG titles and I want to check them all out!

And I just need to let it be known that I absolutely adored this narrator and will definitely pick up other books that she does!

Big thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the audio arc!

In the small town of Chester, the news of gossip and events travel like wildfire. Naomi, Liv and Cass were 11 when tragedy struck their best friend trio. While playing a game in the woods during their summer break, Naomi is violently attacked. All three girls are traumatized but have identified the same man as being responsible. The girls have several secrets they're keeping... is the identity of the killer one of them?

I really enjoyed this title. I felt like the narrator did a great job differentiating between character voices, so the dialog was easy to follow. It definitely held my attention; I was dying to find out what happened next! Several twists and turns were unexpected, but I did end up guessing part of the major plot twist early on. Overall, I'd definitely recommend this title to anyone who loves mysteries or thrillers.

I really enjoyed this twisty thriller. 3 young girls sent a killer to prison, Was he the one who attacked one of their group? What happened and who was at fault? After many years the man they sent to prison has passed away. This brings up a lot if feeling and even more questions.

This book was ok. At times I thought I thought it had potential to be better then it ultimately was. The main reason that I found it to be just ok is that none of the characters were likable and I figured out where the book was heading almost from the beginning.

There were a lot of twists in this book; a few of them were quite obvious to me and some were not. I like how Kate Alice Marshall was able to tie everyone's story lines together and I look forward to reading more of Kate's books in the future.

Karissa Vacker did a great job of narrating this novel and I will definitely look for more books narrated by Karissa in the future.

I was approved for an eARC via NetGalley.
This is my first book by this author, and I am officially a fan! This is the story of three girls who experienced something horrific during their childhood. They put a serial killer away for life, but now they have to face some secrets that they tried to bury. I loved the atmosphere of the small mountain town in Washington state, I liked the character development, and the way the story ended. I think this thriller would be perfect for fans of Riley Sager or Ruth Ware. Overall I gave this book 4 stars because I felt like the pace lost steam in the middle, and because I guessed the twist.

This was such a ride! I absolutely loved this thriller from start to finish. I did guess a few of the reveals, but how they were revealed and the motives were not what I guessed at all. I absolutely loved the true crime podcast element to this. I thought the characters all felt very real, and that this story actually seemed plausible. None of the twists were out of left field, they fit with the story and weren't just for shock value. Kate Alice Marshall is an absolute master of storytelling and I cannot wait to read more from her.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my review copy!

Naomi and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, were attacked in the woods when they were 11 years old. Naomi not only survived the vicious assault that nearly ended her life, but her testimony sent the serial killer to jail.
While their small town thought they were heroes the girls had secrets of their own.
A fast-paced intriguing read!
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook narrated by Karissa Vacker.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book is wow. If you love true crime and thriller this is for you! The whole time we have so much sympathy for our main character. Her life is simply a mess and she’s just trying to figure it all out. One bad thing after another just keeps happening. But it all finally comes together once it all crashes down.

This story reminds me a lot of the true crime story of slender man. We all know the creepy pasta stories about slender man, but the true crime one that actually happened is even scarier. If you know that story, you’ll feel the same about this one.

(Audiobook): Fantastic narrator for this intense mystery!

The audiobook version was fantastic and had me riveted! The narrator varied her voice for the different characters and kept these variations consistent throughout the story! I'm impressed with the narrator and loved the mystery by Kate Alice Marshall! 5 stars!

What Lies in the Woods is a psychological drama about Naomi, a woman who was attacked in the woods and left for dead when she was eleven years old. Two of her friends witnessed her attack, and they all identify her attacker as a hotly hunted serial killer who was busy in their region. But now that they are adults, commiserating over the untimely death of the killer they fingered, we find out that they lied. The big question we need to answer is “about what?”, and it seems like the answer is "so very, very much".

Between you and me, I couldn’t stand Naomi’s character. I didn’t care much for her two friends, Cass and Olivia, either. If I’m being honest, there wasn’t a single character in the book I really enjoyed getting to know. Everyone was neurotic, abrasive or angling to get their own, and they were all untrustworthy in their own unique ways. It was exhausting trying to keep up with the drama they continued to create for themselves.

Not one of the characters was particularly memorable.

As for the narration, I started having a hard time distinguishing the male characters from each other -- either Karissa Vacker isn't all that good at performing male voices, or the author didn't do a very good job of giving them distinct personalities. Either way, they all seemed kind of limp and less than fleshed out.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a chance to listen to and give my honest thoughts on this audiobook. I really wish I’d liked it more than I did. While I might try another novel from Kate Alice Marshall, I wouldn’t go out of my way to find one.

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall is an amazing thriller!! I was so excited to read this one when I saw that Karissa Vacker narrates the audiobook. She’s one of my fave thriller narrators. Right away her voice fit the book and main character perfectly. This book is about Naomi, who was almost murdered in the woods when she was young. It was great how her secrets from the past crept up to the present and we were kept guessing along the way. I loved the true crime podcaster side character. I was hooked into this book and couldn’t put it down. I finished it in two days. I would definitely read more from this author in the future especially if Karissa Vacker narrates.

What Lies in the Woods is a solid, page turning thriller about Naomi-a girl who survived a serial killer and who has grown up with that haunting her.

Naomi was one of several eleven year old girls who played I. The woods that summer long ago, and they have secrets. When the convicted killer dies in prison, Naomi is not comforted but rather she becomes more afraid than ever. When one of the grown up girls commits suicide, the mystery comes back to the forefront and strange things happen again.

I loved that this book is full of twists and turns, red herrings that are plausible and believable, and the haunting truths about childhood, mental health, and our desire to see someone punished for bad things- even when it might not be the right person. I highly recommend this for fans of A Flicker in the Dark. This is a well written thriller and I’ll be back for more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Dedication: “For all the wild girls who search for magic in the woods.”

The author of six novels for younger readers, “What Lies in the Woods” is Kate Alice Marshall’s fiendishly clever debut thriller. Narrator Karissa Vacker has a beautiful voice and a wide vocal range which enables her to read the entire novel’s diverse cast.

Marshall writes beautifully and is a masterful storyteller. She is terrific at keeping the narrative and dialogue fast-paced and tense, and Karissa Vacker is terrific at delivering it.

The first page of Marshall’s novel contains one of the most evocative paragraphs I’ve read:

“There is a wilderness in little girls.

We could not contain it. It made magic of the rain and a temple of the forest. We raced down narrow trails, hair flying wind-wild behind us, and pretended that the slender spruce and hemlock were still the ancient woods that industry had chewed down to splinters. We made ourselves into warriors, into queens, into goddesses. Fern leaves and dandelions became poultices and potions, and we sang incantations to the trees. We gave ourselves new names: Artemis, Athena, Hecate. Conversations were in code, our letters filled with elaborate ciphers, and we taught ourselves the meanings of stones.

Beneath a canopy of moss-wreathed branches, we joined hands and pledged ourselves to one another forever—a kind of forever that burns only in the hearts of those young enough not to know better.”

Naomi, Olivia and Cassidy were 11-year-old friends, playing in the forest in Chester, Wash., when Naomi was attacked and stabbed 17 times. She lives to identify the man who hurt her and the girls’ testimony helped put away a serial killer, but now 22 years later someone wants to tell the truth about a secret worth killing for.

Any novel that has twists and turns cannot really be written about; it needs to be read.

A huge thanks to @macmillian.audio and @netgalley for the ALC.

Oh.my.goodness. This book. What did I read? This was good! So dark, so twisty, so scary! This one kept me on my toes. Absolute stunner. If you’re looking for a creepy read, pick this one up!

4.5 rounded up
Loved the various storylines and relationships. Kept me guessing. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Thank you so much Macmillan Audio for reaching out to me to review What Lies in the Woods! This was a super fast paced, drama filled thriller. While I listened to this one very quickly, it unfortunately fell flat for me despite my high hopes in the beginning of reading it! I sadly was able to figure out the twist too early on, there were really no likeable characters and lots of the plot just seemed too far fetched for me. It wasn't a terrible read, just not my favorite for a thriller.