This horror/thriller follows a group of friends 20 years after one Halloween night changed their lives forever. When Scott Dwyer calls out of the blue to invite the fractured friend group back together, they are all a bit wary of returning to Redford. But each of them - Jennifer, Corey, Traci, and Mark - agree to come and honor the memory of their recently passed friend, Steven. As the group begin to reminisce about their teenage years, Scott breaches the vow they made to never speak of that one night.

We get a good mix of characters - but I found them to be on the caricature side of the spectrum. While the group hadn't spoken in many years, I didn't get a good feeling that they were ever really friends. Even in the flashbacks, it felt like more of a gathering of acquaintances rather than an established friend group. We get a brief introduction to most of the characters before they gather together but I wanted more time to establish their characters now so the comparison between then and now would be more clear. There is some substantial character change during the ending climax but since I didn't get a good sense of the characters to begin with, this change didn't hit me the way I think it was meant to.

The horror elements in this were spectacular and there were so many chilling moments. There are 2 timelines in this story and the past timeline, where we are seeing what happened that night in the woods, reminded me of All Hallows by Christopher Golden. We get the creepy people in the maybe haunted forest and a group of friends who are trying to be logical about it all but also aren't sure what they are experiencing. There's also a fair amount of gore in the last 25% or so of the read which I wasn't really expecting but I think worked well given the escalation with the plot.

I think the standout element by far is the tension Triana was able to craft. While the dual timelines do alternate, we get pretty big chunks at one time. There isn't a whole lot of back and forth that would normally help to build tension through the structure of the book so the meat of the story really needed to do the heavy lifting. As we get more reveals, the tension amps up because each reveal has some pretty far-reaching consequences. These aren't just "oh, X did Y" type of reveals. It is "X did Y which means that A and B ended up C which would mean..." type of reveals. There's also a good amount of interpersonal tension with the friend group and the fallout of that night in the woods. We get multiple POVs so tension is built that way as well where we see certain characters and their internal thoughts or desires.

The ending lost me, which is a real shame. Plot-wise, the ending was actually was a little off the rails but in a way that I usually like. However, I found the plot development to clash with the character development. There were certain characters that felt like they had complete personality shift in the last 30 pages or so which didn't work for me. I also found a bit of the explanation/reveal of the ending to be a bit info-dumpy in a way that made it feel rushed. Like we could have had this information woven into the scene a little more but instead it felt like the reader was being pushed toward the ending before I was ready for it.

Overall, I enjoyed parts of the story but it didn't quite come together perfectly for me. Fantastic horror elements and tension building but the characters and ending ended up feeling a little misaligned.

Overall, this one has a lot of the stuff I've come to love from Kristopher Triana. The prose is beautiful and compelling; the characters are authentic in their flaws and strengths; and the feelings of dread were masterfully navigated. However, this one seemed watered down in its extremeness. The gore was more standard-issue and that took a little away from the experience. For those who aren't fans of extreme horror, this is a great way to check out one of horror's best authors without getting grossed out.

That Night in the Woods was my first Kristopher Triana novel and I'll definitely be circling back for his other books. I enjoyed the writing, the creepy cover and the atmosphere. I can easily recommend this to readers for spooky season. Outstanding work on this novel.

4.5! So first and foremost go ahead and add this to your Halloween/October reading list right now, because it is perfect for that. This book was incredibly creepy. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it takes a hard left. I enjoyed the backstories of the characters (all in their forties) as I felt like it made the characters' insecurities, traumas, worries etc. that much more poignant and as someone knocking on 40s door, I really related to them. I also think it helped with parts of the book that were revealed towards the end that I shall not spoil. My other favorite part of the book was the mid nineties Halloween nostalgia. This really is the perfect read for spooky season. And if you’re wanting to start reading Kristopher Triana but are nervous about the levels of extreme, this is a great opener. There’s plenty of gore and horror, but not as much as many others. This book comes out on October 7, just in time for Halloween! Thank you to NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for this wild ride of a great book!

2.5/5 stars for this creepy horror story that showed a lot of promise, but was uneven and clunky in execution. Thank you to NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for the chance to review this book.

What to expect if you pick this up: That Night in the Woods starts out strong. We’ve got a cast of characters who were all teenage friends, now in their early 40s and trying to forget a traumatic night they spent as teens in the Suicide Woods in their hometown. One of the group has recently died, and they are all coaxed into coming back home to pay their respects. What happens from there takes us back and forth from past (that infamous night) to present, as they uncover the grim truth behind the Suicide Woods. The premise is great. In execution…I had some issues. The writing was inconsistent and clunky at times. The events of the night as teenagers wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, not because the events that transpired weren’t potentially scary, but because the writing wasn’t. And when the truth is revealed, just doesn’t come together well. It feels rushed and ill-explained. The very end didn’t make sense to me either - the character involved behaves in a way totally contradictory to the way they were in the rest of the novel. I wanted to like this. There were times I enjoyed the story, especially the character development. But ultimately it just didn’t work for me.

The cover and description pulled me into this as it gave off 'I know what you did last summer' vibes and overall, that is what I got! This had more of an air of YA despite the characters being well into adulthood (something I already knew based on reading reviews) so going in knowing that it made it much easier to enjoy the story for what it was.

Adults returning to their home town to face a tortured past is a favourite premise of mine so it was easy to say yes to That Night In The Woods. The synopsis hooked me in but the story is so much more than what you'd initially expect from it.

Told from the perspective of the living characters, Jenny, Scott, Mark, Corey and Traci we're sufficiently introduced to each character in present day before reuniting them and switching between past and present timelines to discuss and relive what happened that night.

When a group of teens decide to spend Halloween in local 'Suicide Woods' the terror unfolds at a rapid pace. Triana leans into the unreliable narrator, who can be sure what's real on a cocktail of acid, weed and alcohol? Not everybody who enters these woods will leave, and those who do will not be the same.

As adults their lives are all falling apart, every one tainted by what happened, each holding onto their own secret.
There isn't a lot of development for the five main characters and aside from Corey I didnt particularly like any of them. They are all pitiable and at times a bit pathetic, with little to no real care for eachother.
This didn't detract from the fun I had reading, That Night In The Woods is a plot driven novel and quickly picks up pace. When the death of Steven calls the old friends home OF COURSE they venture back in. It's time to find the truth of Suicide Woods.

I do suggest you go into this expecting a little silliness. Characters who forge on no matter how much blood they've lost, adults who think about nothing but sex and popularity. TNITW isn't far removed from a YA goosebumps style story, you wont find any deep reflections.
Violence, gore, body horror and shrieks from the darkness between trees kept me transfixed and I finished the book in two sittings. A great read for Halloween season. I look forward to reading more from Triana.

Incredibly eerie and perfect for a spooky fall read. I loved all the twists and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Thank you so much for the chance to read this!

I ended up not finishing this book. I have enjoyed this authors previous books, but I ended up not wanting to finish this one.

That Night in the Woods, follows five former friends—Scott, Jennifer, Corey, Traci, and Mark—who reunite in their hometown to honor the memory of their late friend, Steven. The only reason they agreed to meet is because they all owe a debt to Steven for something that happened on Halloween night. But it doesn’t take them long to realize they should have left the past behind.

The synopsis of the story and the cover of the book really drew me in. I liked getting to know the characters in the beginning and looked forward to the friends reuniting so I could figure out what the mystery was. You know? To actually find out what happened that night in the woods! But I was hugely disappointed when I got to that part. I wasn’t sure if I was reading an adult horror novel or Goosebumps by R.L. Stine.

None of these forty something year old adults acted their age. Maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t have went and if I did, once things got a little too uncomfortable I’d have left. Hooking up with past loves wouldn’t have been on my mind, and I damn sure wouldn’t have went back in the woods for anyone or anything. The host was pretty creepy and I don’t know why none of the friends were picking up on that.

What really irked my nerves was the indestructibleness of a certain character. Just absolutely unbelievable that a person could move about the way that they did with all their injuries. And the ending made absolutely no sense. There’s no way that character would have gave in like that.

Honestly I was pretty bored reading this and had to force myself to so I could give it a review. I’ve read that this author has other great books so I’ll check them out but this one wasn’t for me.

“When we forget old friends, it is a sign we have forgotten ourselves.”
– William Hazlitt

I’m so sad to say that this book just did not pique my interest more. It sounds amazing, but I was constantly checking the page count as I was reading, thankful to see it diminishing as I reached the end.

It’s a slow start, molasses slow, and the characters all feel superficial for the majority of the story. A group of friends gather in their old hometown for the memorial of a deceased friend (let’s bang y’all instead of actually mourning). The have a jointly shared trauma from their pasts; a night of horror spent in the Suicide Woods nearby. We get flashbacks to the night Halloween of 1995 and those are definitely creepy, but also kind of puzzling. The friends in present day, despite all their fears and misgivings, decide to GO BACK into those same woods. Obviously, things aren’t chill there, shit goes down and crazy stuff happens!

The ending- ummm what was that??? The only character that seemed to express raw emotion just decides to give up and accept their fate? No no no!! This just ruined the entire story for me and left me feeling so disappointed.

Overall, there are a few chilling moments, but it feels like the characters need work (a certain blue eyed character with morals their whole life suddenly dgaf about their friends?! Howwwww?!?*trying to keep this spoiler free*), things with the continuity of the plot seem off at times (ex: how did Corey see Robin at the river acting bizarrely when she was still with Steven in the forest elsewhere?).

Yesss, I will still keep reading books by this author, but this was a doozy for sure.

I am thankful to NetGalley, the author, and Cemetery Dance Publications for a copy.

Five childhood friends are brought back together in their old hometown after the death of one of their number. 25yrs ago a Halloween night in the local woods where several teens at taken their own lives, ended badly and they have not spoken of it since, until now.

An old school horror with the friendship group feel of It. The woods are creepy, the tension mounts as the POV splits from past to present to tell the story. This is a slowly building creepfest and was a quick fun read.

However, I found the sexual dynamics irritating, not in the teens but in them as adults, they revert back to how they were as teenagers and it made them seem a little pathetic, maybe that was the point and the ending was meh!

Nevertheless it was a pleasing creepy tale and the scenes in the woods were atmospheric and chilling. It felt nostalgic and 75% of the story was a great spooky read.

That Night in the Woods is the perfect Halloween read. From the first couple of sentences I was absolutely hooked. There's something about Triana's writing that immediately captivates you.
We're following a group of high school friends who reunite over a friend's death. We learn about their traumatic night in the woods through present and past timelines and follow them as they try to survive.
All of the characters in the friend group felt real and they each had their own redeeming qualities which made you want to root for them.
There were quite a few scary scenes that had me questioning why I was reading this at night.
If you're a fan of body horror, slashers and cults, this is the book for you .

Great read with an old-school horror vibe. This is the first novel I have read by this author but I will definitely check out his other titles.

This had roots in old school horror and kristopher shows hes not just a talented extreme horror author but can deliver the slow burn spooky just as well as the gory, taking well known tropes and giving them the *triana treatment* I enjoy small town horror (did you know?? ARE YOU NEW HERE?) and pair that with creepy woods and a friendship group? Ya girl is home ☺️ I enjoyed the characters and think they take center stage in this, for me the ending was slightly disappointing but I think this would make a fun read for October, a read that will make you nostalgic for those 80s halloween vibes!

That Night in the Woods is a wild ride of a horror story that screams Halloween. The story follows a group of old friends coming together 25 years after a Halloween night that went terribly wrong. The first half of the book follows two timelines and takes its time fleshing out all of the main cast of the characters. It’s a steady build-up to what happened on that Halloween with a pace that felt like climbing the first hill on a rollercoaster. I enjoyed the amount of detail that went into each character and liked each one, particularly Jennifer and her extreme thirst for her former beau. There’s something mysterious about the woods and the mild hints that all was not right in the town were genuinely creepy.

The first half of this book gave me horror blockbuster vibes with Don’t Fear the Reaper blaring, it was a great set-up. Once the story of what happened in the woods was finished, that middle transition trying to set up the last half of the book slowed to a crawl and the book started to drag a little bit. While I like complex group dynamics filled with past love and betrayal, everyone was just so horny. It was amusing at first but all the lamentations about wanting to sleep with other characters eventually became repetitive.

I was glad when the second half finally picked up and it was pretty action-packed, dipping into extreme horror slasher territory which I loved. The reveals are surprising but also mildly disappointing, I would have liked a little more payoff from the build-up and I felt the story was a little too shaky with it’s reasoning. The ending completely lost me and strangely felt anti-climactic. A shame after such a strong start, so it left me feeling pretty middle of the road with this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Cemetery Dance Publications for the ARC of That Night in the Woods by Kristopher Triana. This book definetly has a creep factor and a good one to read with Halloween coming up. Old high school friends get together after many years apart to remember one of their friends who passed away. The last night they were all together was horrific, as they were lost in Suicide Woods on Halloween and all had experiences with some scary demons.
3.5 stars

Nobody does horror the way Kristopher Triana does horror. Another gloriously gory, gut splitting, nightmare of hellish proportions! This is a perfect spooky season read, it even has jack o'lanterns in one of the creepiest settings. Demons, mayhem, murder cults...what's not to love? As always Triana brought us a terrifying hell ride that sends us 100mph into darkness without ever touching the brakes!

I did not finish this book. I DNF'd after around 50 pages because I could not get into the writing at all.

The plot had sounded interesting to me but the actual writing was cringey. The characters are all suppose to be middle aged but the writing makes them sound like they are barely in high school. I have never had any conversations where someone that age has spoken like that. It just was just so uncomfortable to read.

If the characters maybe had been younger, I could maybe have forgiven the weird language. They didn't even need to be middle age for the sake of the book so I don't get why he made them so old but wrote as if they were 16. I do not recommend.

This was a good, solid spooky story that would be perfect for spooky season. It definitely slowed down in several parts and lacked some of the plot development I was hoping for.