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!

One of my favorite books of all time is Stephen King's IT. A part of me things I didn't enjoy this book as much as I should have because I took too much time comparing the story line to that. Teens who reunite, a trope that's obviously been used again and again, did not work as well as it could have for me.

I've heard good things about Triana's work, so I'll probably look into it, but That Night in the Woods fell flat for me. I had a hard time connecting with the story, in large part due to the fact that most of the characters bothered me. The majority of the story seemed to focus more on descriptions of them than the actual story, and by the time anything happened, I had already checked out.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I got this book as an ARC on NetGalley and really enjoyed it! A reunion of old friends to put to rest a traumatic event that tore their friendship apart 20+ years prior, only to end up re-living it again.
A little gory for those that may not like that sort of thing but the details and descriptions were so good!
Little tidbits of secrets spread out along the way kept me interested but I felt that the ending felt rushed and lacked depth. It just kinda, stopped.
Overall, I liked it!

Review Copy

THAT NIGHT IN THE WOODS was a really tough book to rate. I absolutely loved it to start. It reminded me of IT; the coming together of old friends at the death of one, the small town and, for some, the rekindling of feelings.

But, due to the formatting of the book, I had to read it on my laptop and was unable to highlight and save phrases to remind me what I wanted to say. At this point, I'd like to point out that there were errors that I hope the editor points out to the author. They may not seem important, but he thought important enough to write them, I hope they get corrected.

The ending was chock full of Triana type horror and gore. Was it out of place? I'm still not sure even after waiting and sleeping on the novel before writing the review. I wanted to give WOODS five stars, but wasn't sure it deserved it even though I read it practically non-stop. I finally settled on four stars and wished again for the opportunity to give partial stars,

In spite of whatever problems I saw, THAT NIGHT IN THE WOODS is a must read, especially if you are a horror fan.

First off thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this arc.
This is a quite the slow-burn. It does pack a punch at the end but ultimately found the pacing off throughout the story. I felt the author did more “telling vs showing” which at times was tedious. I found the horror in this one a bit lacking for a good chunk of the novel as well. There were two great sections that were page-turners, but it wasn’t enough for me. I also just personally didn’t like the direction the ending took.
There are multiple POVs but this is not done in a jarring way. I did initially like the characters and building tension. Additionally, I enjoyed how the story reminded me of Stephen King’s IT (a friend group going through something terrifying/traumatic then and now) - the flashbacks were not confusing or needless. Ultimately, I will check out more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for this ARC.

This is a story about a group of friends reuniting and reminiscing about "that night" in Suicide Woods. They were teenagers at the time, but decades later, none of them have forgotten the terrible events that took place. They were all reluctant to come back together, and with good reason, because what they thought was a memorial for a member of their group turns into another night they'd never forget.

Kristopher Triana is the real deal. It's been 15 months since I've Gone to See the River Man. No, I did not check my Goodreads list for that number, I just now divide my life into "Before River Man" and "After River Man". No lie, I still think about it probably once a week.

I was so pumped to read this one. The first half is all the stars and the second half is not quite as strong, but overall, it's solid. It's perfect storytelling, even in the parts where the story itself is a little chaotic, if that makes sense.

My main complaint with books by authors I love is always wanting more, and this book is no different. The end works, but felt a little rushed, but that's probably more of me just not ready to part ways with another Triana story.

I received an ARC of this book (thank you NetGalley) and I am SO glad I did. This book is basically “It” meets “The Blair Witch Project.” A group of friends reconnect after twenty(ish) years to finally receive some closure about a horrific night they experienced when they were teenagers.

The way Triana develops his characters is fantastic, I feel like I know each of them. Knowing so much about the characters really solidified the decisions they made. It was refreshing to see characters act in a way that is realistic in their circumstances.

Parts of the book felt a little slow, but once the action started it didn’t stop. Full of twists and turns I was constantly trying to guess what is going to happen, and most of the time I was wrong.

This book is the perfect horror book for anyone looking to be scared. Definitely take this one on your next camping trip!