That Night in the Woods by Kristopher Triana
Release date October 07, 2023






Several friends get together to mourn the death of their friend……or did they? They each have a secret that needs to stay a secret. I felt the book was well written until close to the end. It is definitely a character driven novel but felt rushed some at the end. Overall it is a well written book that pulls you in from the start until the finish.


4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for providing me with an eARC of That Night in the Woods in exchange for my honest review!

This may not have been one of the best horror novels I've ever read, but I appreciated the eerie atmosphere that this It-esque premise delivers. It never outright terrified me, which is frustrating, but it did build up a slow-burn dread that gradually reeled me in. I liked the chemistry between the characters, too, with Corey being an individual whom I felt particularly sympathetic towards. The third act is where the tension significantly escalated, which I adored. But I must say that I'm not wild about how the last few pages wrap up this tale. I get that this is very much a horror story-type of conclusion, but I still feel like it could have gone in a more satisfying direction. I also don't care for the ableist depiction of a minor character who gets introduced towards the end (if you've read this already, you most likely know who I'm referring to), especially since they're a villain. The book's usage of the M-word is gross, too.

Overall, I'm officially rating That Night in the Woods 3.5 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding down to 3 stars on Goodreads. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of Kristopher Triana's books.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC for an honest review. Spooky, realistic horror that keeps you captivated!

After the death of a friend five friends come together to mourn their loss. However their past comes back to haunt them as they recollect the past and their memories from high school. They thought they had escaped a particularly bad Halloween, but they were wrong, very very wrong. All in all this was a very solid read. It kept me and suspense and I wanted to keep going and going to my own sleep detriment. However this may be a me problem personally as I don't really care for this genre but I'm trying to branch out . This book will not be one of my all-time favorites however if you want a good suspenseful scare especially as a Halloween read then this is the book for you.

That night in the woods tells a tale both past and present, of a group of friends who spent a night in their local woods, known as the suicide woods due to several teenagers killing themselves there. Reunited in the present following the death of their friend, the group recounts what happened that night and how it still haunts them.

The book jumps between each member of the groups perspective, often within the same paragraph, that can make it hard to follow at times. I also felt that the characters were flat, typical stereotypes, such as nerd, slut, stoner, etc. I was excited to read this, hoping for a creepy time, but unfortunately the story didn't satisfy me. The pacing felt very slow, and I was itching for something to happen, and when it did? Eh. I also felt the inclusion of a Little Person was only to use them as a horrifying monster, and include a few slurs for good measure. Overall, I expected more. I didn't get a creepy vibe, the potential supernatural aspect wasn't really explored, and the ending was boring imo.

"That Night in The Woods" by Kristopher Triana is an intriguing and darkly atmospheric read that delves into the realm of horror. The eerie tone definitely immerses the readers in a chilling and suspenseful tale.
The plot is filled with twists and turns that kept me engaged throughout the book. I will say that at certain points the story began to be a bit predictable, which slightly lessened the impact of certain plot twists. Additionally, there were moments where the pacing felt a bit slow, making it harder to maintain my full attention. Triana's storytelling ability and eerie atmosphere make this book worth considering for those seeking a spine-chilling read.

This book was great really held my attention and didn’t go the way I thought it was going. I definitely want to check out this author’s other books.

When Jennifer receives a message from Scott Dwyer after twenty years without contact, her first reaction is one of excitement. Scott was her first love, and now that she’s in her forties and in the middle of a divorce, nostalgia for her youth gets the better of her.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I recognize that it's well-written and everything, but something was missing for me. Can't quite put my finger on it.

A group of "friends" with dark secrets. Their meeting quickly unravels and no one can be trusted.
The story lost bits and pieces closer to the end and became pretty predictable in spots.
Still overall enjoyable.

Provocative, Diabolical, Cryptic.

We follow the POV of five MCs when they were in their senior year of high school and now as adults in their 40s. Each of them has a unique personality and outcome after the trauma of high school Halloween gone wrong.
-Set in a rural US neighbourhood where the woods back on to most yards

🐕 🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
Captures the nostalgia of growing up. The friendship dynamics, reunion vibes, how what was once so energizing is suddenly stifling when revisited as an older adult. There are relationship dramas but it isn't the focus.

The horrors are likely reliant on caring about these characters and I did. The character development is excellent and not shallow or stereotypical. We really get to know them and although they are all very different they are recognizable, familiar, and I found myself getting attached to them in a way where I cared what happened.

No baiting or omission, all the characters are recounting their perspective of the past so we learn about it through different perspectives without repetition. Our MCs are just as confused and suspicious as the reader, so the current era storyline is extra impactful. The past storyline is arranged as a middle part and the tone changes to be much more experiential, so when we come back to present day, we really understand more of the subtle dynamics and fears. I love that it was done without relying on random zone-out-flashback scenes.

The writing style includes body language, sensory observations, and scene setting where I effortlessly felt like I was there. The dialog is witty, yet realistic,

I had a moment around the 70% mark where I felt SO let down. I recovered as the story progressed, but I can see how one could be bothered by the ending. It's not what I expected, but I still enjoyed it because IRL horrors are real.

Mood Reading Match Up 😈🌲🎃:
-Breakfast Club in the woods during Halloween meets Scream
-Nostalgic coming-of-age paired with swipes of melancholic what could-have-been romance
-Halloween season, "stay out of the woods"
-Hints of supernatural, Christianity, and cult horror
-Slow build (not slow-paced), character driven, fly-on-the-wall narratives
-Hints of suburban middle-age drama reliving teenage year flashbacks

Content Heads-Up: Suicidal ideation. Suicide. Alcohol Dependency. Confinement. Body Gore. Childfree-by-choice-with-child-by-force. Hints of religious abuse. Preteen sexual abuse.

Format: Digital advanced review copy from Cemetery Dance Publications and NetGalley

5 stars

Kristopher Triana really does write with a golden pen. This is a slow burn novel in the way they are meant to be done. Nice and perfectly paced, not a word wasted, and just enough there to keep you turning the pages without getting bored.
Triana is also one of the most poetically descriptive authors I’ve ever read, example:
“the trees creaked in the wind like rusty hinges on a cemetery gate”
“the leaves sung of death and hatred”

The tone, mood, atmosphere, and dialogue is all masterfully done. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading one of his books, this would definitely be a great one to start with.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of That Night in The Woods by Kristopher Triana.

Holy cow, horror indeed! It has a very 90's style canvas of multiple friends gathering together over the mysterious thing that traumatized them all when they were in HS. Now they are going to get to the bottom of what actually happened.

Reading this book felt a little like being in a maze, you had no clue when or how it was going to zig and zag. Sometimes the early descriptions dragged on, muddying the waters of the plot. However the story took zany turns that I did NOT expect, but somehow it works. It definitely has a lot of gore and fear, a great read for Halloween!

Now this was disturbing In all the right ways! I am a suckered for the "old friends reunite to face secrets of the past" and I loved that this had a horror spin in it rather than just the usual domestic noir thriller. And what a horror it is. It doesn't go too over the top n I didn't feel there was unnecessary gore thrown in for shock value, this just relies on good old fashioned story telling and a slow build of a very tense and creepy atmosphere. There is a marked change of pace towards the end and things really go crazy but I think it worked in this context and made the whole story that little bit more intense

Here we have a group of teens in the woods, drugs, demons, death, long buried secret(s), and the bad decision to come back together as adults in a reunion experience - come on you know it’s going to end up terribly wrong. Alternating timelines, multiple POVs and a few twists I did not see coming but which make the whole thing even more messed up. The last 25% of the book feels like where all the crazy and action come bubbling out of the pages and you’ll either love it or hate it as it does feel like a shift from the rest of the book. I dug the crazy spin out. I had also heard that a lot of Triana’s work can be pretty high/intense gore, but would not necessarily say that for this one. The level felt right for the story. Could totally imagine this being a movie. Recommend.

Read via #NetGalley with expected publishing Oct 7, 2023 by Cemetery Dance Publications.

A well written, slow build up book. I hadn’t realised that it was a horror story - an effective horror story too.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

As teenagers, Scott and his friends had a traumatic experience on Halloween in their town woods, nicknamed The Suicide Woods. They grew up and grew apart and never really talked about what happened that night, or waht they saw. Now, as adults, Scott calls each of his friends back home for a reunion and for them to confront what really happened that night. And to do that they need to return to the woods.

I know its a little over done at this point but the whole trope of, friends grow up and return home to confront an evil they faced as kids, never fails to draw me in. Its always a nice balance of nostalgia followed by growing dread as the horrors of their past resurface.

I really loved most of this book. I loved the time jumps between the past and present and reading about the group when they were close and seeing the gulf this unknown tragedy created between them as adults. Once things got spooky they really got spooky! Not, "I'm afraid to go to bed after reading it" scary. But I definitely wouldnt want to read this book alone, outside, at night. Certain things that happened were predictable but not in a way that made the book boring. I found it satisfying that I was able to pick up clues in the book that helped me predict where the story was going.

However, I found the ending frustrating, not even the whole ending just the last chapter. And it wasn't frustrating in the way some books end and your asking yourself, "How did it end like that??", I was just left disappointed.It felt like the book had completely changed directions and characters were making choices that made no sense.

Triana continues to be one of my absolute favorite authors with his new novel “That Night in the Woods.” In this story, a group of friends who share a dark past reconnect after two decades. Together they try to unravel the mystery of what happened long ago in the Suicide Woods.

This book plays on one of my favorite tropes— dark & troubled past; and I love how the author executes it throughout this story. With a strongly developed cast of characters and a twisty, dark plot, fans of Triana are going to love this one!

4 ⭐️

Jennifer receives a message from her first love Scott, who she hasn’t been in contact with in 20 years. In the middle of divorce, his message finds her with excitement and nostalgia. Scott invites her to his house, back in her hometown that she’s purposefully put behind her. She accepts his invitation and returns to her hometown with mixed feeling after hearing about the death of their old friend. Once she is there she soon finds out it is not just a reunion for the two of them, but a reunion of their old gang. With a dark secret they all share, they’re about to face the truth about what really happened that night in the woods, once known as Suicide Woods.

Spooky season is already among us! Bravo Kristopher Triana 👏🏽 Way to give me chills on a sunny day in July. That Night in the Woods makes you nostalgic to old Halloween, making you crave those chilly autumn nights, and doing things you’re not supposed to do in the spirit of “fun”. Overall, I enjoyed this book and it’s going to be a banger when it reaches the shelves. Even more so around Halloween. There was a change in direction I did not see coming but honestly… this is good. If you like getting scared and unexpected twists, I recommend this one right here. I will getting myself a physical copy when it hits shelves!

Happy Reading 📚

Thank you NetGalley, Cemetery Dance Publications, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and Members' Titles for the ARC, and giving me the chance to read and review it honestly.

I was absolutely horrified, triggered, and traumatized by this book. All the things I want to be in a horror novel. It was gory, disturbing, and had all the things I feared.

I loved every second and couldn’t stop thinking about it until the very end. I’m not prone to an unhappy ending but I absolutely hated the direction the end of the book took. However, the end didn’t take away the rest of the book and this would be an absolute horrific Halloween read!

This is now one of my favorite thriller mysteries of the year! I’ve never read anything by this author, but he comes highly recommended, and I will be reading more of his work. This book was totally creepy and atmospheric and had me on the edge of my seat, the entire time!