After having her father poison by cider and her brother kidnapped by The Man of Sap, teenage Catalina takes to the woods to both rescue her brother and defeat this mysterious tree man named Johnny. Along the way she comes across many supernatural beings and creatures, even the devil himself. Teaming up with a handsome, young Paul Bunyan, Catalina is determined to succeed or die trying.

I was really intrigued by the title of this book along with the promise of American folklore. You really don’t get a lot of fiction revolving around Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. I had high hopes when I applied for this ARC on NetGalley and to be completely honest, I was pretty let down by this story.

I think Autumn Krause has beautiful prose and rhythm but the overall plot itself was lacking and many points of it felt unnecessary. I didn’t connect at all with Johnny and felt bogged down by his flashbacks. However, reading about Paul and Catalina running through the woods and meeting various cryptids wasn’t much better. This book is labeled as YA and horror. It’s feels like a slightly spooky mid level book. There really wasn’t a sense of suspense. Additionally, the pace in which the MC figured things was much slower than me, the reader. She has no idea of her familial connections to the situation.
You’re telling me a teenager doesn’t know her father’s or grandmother’s first name? But does know her mom’s? There was also nothing really showing her connection to her brother. It was said many times but I didn’t feel at all emotionally attached to her finding him. The way the problems were solved in this book also felt much too easy and convenient. Maybe this would be interesting to a preteen but this held no value to me.

Before the Devil Knows You're Here is a haunting reimagining of Johnny Appleseed set in the rugged American west in 1836. Catalina, the young Mexican-American protagonist, has her life upended when the cursed Man of the Sap kidnaps her younger brother. Recently orphaned Catalina takes it upon herself to follow him and save Jose Louis. Along the way, Catalina meets Paul Bunyan, who is also hunting the Man of the Sap.

Overall, the story was quite compelling. Catalina is a determined character struggling to save the only family she has left. There were some really cool, creepy elements to the story that I enjoyed. The writing is also very good overall.

I think any complaints I have with this book lie with its pacing. The last 10% was such a fun and unique ride, but far too short. I would have loved to see that developed a little differently. The premise was very unique, I wish the pacing had been better.

That being said, I do think Before the Devil Knows You're Here is worth adding to your fall TBR this year!

3.75/5 stars rounded up to 4

I wanted to love this story, and I see all the great reviews, but I felt "meh" about this book the entire time I was reading it. I mostly kept going bc it was an arc but I was pretty underwhelmed.

The good:
- Excellent creepy, gothic, atmospheric vibes
- The writing is overall well-done and many of the descriptions of the world were poetic and vivid
- I loved the use of folklore throughout the story
- The author did a great job building up tension :to go with the haunted vibes

The bad
- There was barely any world building which made it hard to connect with the story. I know I like worldbuilding more than most--it helps me get my bearings--but this felt almost neglectful.
- I usually love dual/multipe POVs but I didn't find John's POV very captivating- which is crazy, because as the Man of Sap himself, he should've been way more interesting than Catalina. Most of his chapters felt like filler.
- The romance between Paul and Catalina was both unnecessary and weak. It felt like it was included just bc that seems to be required with fantasy books now.
- Several of the subplots were underdeveloped. Basically all of Catalina's encounters with fantastical creatures added nothing to the story other than creepy vibes bc of the physcial descriptions of the creatures. The encounters themselves were all a single scene where the creatures don't really say anything, they help Catalina for no obvious reason, and Catalina and Paul just never mention them again. We get no backstory and no explanation of why/how they came to be, or what they do.
- There are a loooot of descriptions that use similes and metaphors throughout this book. This works well at first but by the time I got halfway through, they felt way overused and some of them were ridiculous enough that I stopped reading to go back and reread them again. Some tigther editing would've been good here.
- After all the buildup and tension leading up to the final chapters, I felt letdown by the ending. It was anticlimactic and I still felt like I had more questions that weren't answered.

Overall, I think this author is promising but this debut fell flat for me when it came to the characters and the plot. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book early in exchange for an honest review.

Before the Devil Knows You’re here is a wonderfully written novel involving curses, deals with the Devil, familial love and loyalty, poetry and even a dash of romance. The prose was lyrical and enthralling; certain passages had me reading them repeatedly due to their almost-haunting quality. The world-building was both familiar and unique; the legends of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan intermingled with Faustian-deals and gothic horror.

The novel is split into two viewpoints: Catalina who struggles to hold her fragile family together in the wilderness following the death of her mother and John-known by some as the “Man of the Sap,”-who is forced to travel the land endlessly planting apples that bear a terrible curse. Both Catalina and John are engaging characters; Catalina is a young Mexican American woman hardened by her experiences with grief and responsibility and yet still yearning to be creative with her love and writing of poetry and its connection to her mother and her culture.

John’s story begins with love for his soon-to-be wife and a desire to provide for others that which only certain people could enjoy in the form of apples, but eventually degrades into an utter nightmare following selfish choices and multiple encounters with the enigmatic Banker. Both Catalina and John’s stories intertwine when her father dies abruptly and the Man of the Sap appears and takes her brother Jose Luis away with him, forcing her to venture on a journey to retrieve him at any cost.

Following one of John’s unusual birds into the forest, Catalina encounters a young lumberjack named Paul, a young man on a mission of his own to hunt for John and together they confront frightening and unique beings as their journey eventually leads them from their own world into a nightmarish version of hell.

Both Catalina and John are forced into difficult situations due to both their personal choices and the Banker’s manipulations. Nevertheless, both possess fortitude and a desire to thwart his plans regardless of how hopeless the situations appear. Paul is a more minor character contrast to Catalina, yet his compassion and willingness to continue the trek despite his own curse made him an interesting character.

Jose Luis was unfortunately not as developed beyond being more of an opposite to Catalina in the beginning; softer where she was more cynical. The Banker was a loathsome being and any potential pitiable aspects were swiftly erased when it was illustrated how far he would go to “win” in a situation when John wasn’t bending to his will.

Much like the apples often mentioned within Before the Devil Knows You're Here, I devoured the novel fairly quickly and thankfully suffered no ill side-effects beyond being captivated by the story and yearning for more once it ended. Thank you very much to NetGalley, Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink, Peachtree Teen and Autumn Krause for giving me access to this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

For the publisher: this review is being posted on my Goodreads account on September 24th.

3.5/ 5 Stars

Before the Devil Knows You're Here is a dark retelling of Johnny Appleseed infused with curses, true love, loss, and the eternal hunt for a good cup of coffee. This story is told from the dual perspectives of John, the Man of Sap, and Catalina, a young girl reeling from the loss of her father and the abduction of her brother.

Catalina grew up knowing never to eat apples and to fear the Man of Sap. When her father dies from poisoned apples, the Man of Sap arrives and steals her brother. Determined to find her brother, Catalina embarks on a journey into hell to save him. On the way, she finds Paul, a strong, mysterious man, who is hunting the Man of Sap as well. Together, they unravel the mysteries of the Man of Sap, the Banker, and contracts for souls.

After reading other reviews, I offer what will likely be an unpopular opinion. This was a book I wanted to love, and on the surface, I did enjoy the story. The writing was a struggle to get through. It felt like the author wanted this to be poetic and deep, filling it with simile after awkward simile. The characters also lacked depth, and the relationship between Catalina and Paul felt forced. Had I not received this as an ARC, I likely would have DNF'd.

Wow!!! This book was great! It was beautifully written and kept me interested until the end! I haven't read a lot of ya folklore books, but now I'm going to have high standards after reading this one. I also love the cover! Very unique, and the teens at my library are certainly going to gravitate towards this cover!

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐧 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞

Apples, Faustian deals and American folklore. From the very beginning, I was fascinated by these cleverly written bits and pieces. The writing and storytelling are so atmospheric and lyrical.

Catalina is a fierce heroine and her quest to save her brother when he goes missing leads her to some very dark and creepy forests.

There’s two timelines, one for Catalina and one for a figure representing Johnny Appleseed. It is such a unique take on the familiar folktale. The chilling descriptions of Sap Man will not be easily forgotten.

There’s familial bonds, curses, second chances and romance. Think vibes of Dante’s Inferno, devilish bargains, enchanted apples and poisonous curses.

This was such a unique story, filled with Americana lore and beautifully written words. Definitely a great choice for a moody, Autumn read.

Publish date: October 3, 2023
My rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you @peachtreeteen, @netgalley and @autumn__krause for the arc. 🍎

3.5 stars -

I stumbled upon this book and the aesthetic was everything. It was dark and gothic with multiple aspects I could appreciate. I loved that there was Mexican culture involved, the idea of a retold folklore, and all the little snippets of fantasy.

The reason I couldn’t give this book five stars was simply because it was hard to follow at times. I loved the story itself, but it felt like it jumped often. The beginning was so thrown together, I wish it could have had more. I wanted more description and involvement of the characters so that I could actually care about what happened to them. It came all at once and then expected you, the reader, to be involved. Otherwise, it’s a great book and the author shows promise in her other works.

Great book, just a very captivating story. The atmosphere was wonderful and the writing took my breath away at times. I'll come back to this author for sure.

I wanted to love this book. However, the writing through me off. Some parts were beautifully written and then some parts were very awkward to read. The plot is a large build up and then I felt like the ending didn't do for me what I wanted. Also, foreshadowing made the ending pretty predictable.

However, the parts that are written well are really good and kept my interest.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the arc!

The first beautiful thing about this book is the cover, that captured my interest immediatly.
John’s story was the most interesting part. I was always looking forward to read his povs.
At first I didn’t like Catalina, but in the last chapters I began to appreciate her.
The book is short compared to others in the genre, but those 200 pages are perfect to narrate well the story. More would have been boring.
The banker is the most interesting character, and I would have loved to know more about him.

You can find my review on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63358513

This was absolutely great! I loved the way the story got woven together: the man of sap telling his story of the past, and following Catalina on her journey to go save her brother from the man of sap. The setting is dark, but not too dark that it becomes overbearing. The folklore combined with the horror aspect of it was very well done.

100% recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House/ Peachtree/ Pixel+Ink books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of The Before the Devil Knows You’re Here in exchange for my honest review.
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What an interesting concept for a book. The horror story of Johnny Appleseeds origins. While a unique idea, I think it was executed very well.
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It got right to the story and development unfolded as you read it. The fmc was likable, smart, and brave. I like that when she was acting unkind she owned up to her mistakes and apologized.
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I haven’t seen enough reviews or discussion on the fact there is a love story in this. I’m more so a romantasy fan, so I appreciated this element and I think the two characters had chemistry.
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Her trip to and from Hell was cool, I like that it wasn’t drawn out and again she was very smart!
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I don’t often to “horror” in a traditional sense, so somehow the fact that the bodily horror in this is done with natural (tears of sap, carving into bark, etc) and some supernatural creepiness like the ghosts/bride.. it all worked for me. Definitely gave me the creepy unsettling vibes that I normally miss out on with this genre.
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Lastly, a happy ending! I was worried for a little bit there. Be still my heart with the library he made for her and that Paul and her brother stuck together.
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Overall I think people looking to read something different and intriguing, that is a quick and palatable story, this is worth giving a shot!

3 stars

I wanted to love this because I like when authors use folklore tells in their stories because most of the time, it infused those stories with this otherworldly sense that it's very engaging and entertaining to read but... although this book has those elements, the world building was so underdeveloped that I just couldn't connect with the story.
I love dual povs or multiple povs, but here I feel that although it was necessary, it took some of the protagonist to both characters. I feel like if we got John's pov, being told through Catalina's, it would have been more enjoyable. I don't know, but It just didn't work for me.
Also, the romance felt like an afterthought, and some subplots or some of Catalina encounters with fantastical folks gave no depth to the story because they happened, and then no one talked about it again.
Still, I feel like the author nailed the horror part amazingly, and for that, I gave it 3 stars.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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

Before the Devil Knows You're Here follows Catalina, after her grandfather suddenly dies and the ominuous Man of Sap shows up and steals her brother.

This book was beautifully written. The prose was spectacular and really gave the whole book a spooky, gothic, Grimm fairytale vibe.

I did feel like the pacing was a little off for me and some things felt too cliche. The other big problem was the formatting on Kindle. I'm not sure if something went wrong in the download but it made it difficult to read the book.

Overall this was a great spooky read and I look forward to more beautiful writing from this author!

I sent this ARC to my kindle and wasn't able to read it at all due to formatting issues. The text was terribly misspaced. Example:

"P

A LINGERED FOR TWO

DAYS "

Which makes it incredibly hard to read the book. I wasn't even able to get through the first chapter.

3.5*
i really liked the writing but i thought the plot twist was very cliche and the ending was underwhelming

This is my first time reading a book from this author and I absolutely will be coming back for more of their work. I cannot stress this enough; this book has to be one of the most beautifully written books I've read in a minute. It was a short quick read filled with page after page of words that captured the story so eloquently.


It had everything I loved; horror, a strong women/character, good POC representation, informative, and a very good plot/story with a hint of romance. This folkloric fantasy filled with Latin American realism and deals with the devil was such an amazing journey to read. I will definitely be going back to read this gain and again. This book was such a surprise to me, I didn't think I would love it this much, and it quickly became one of my favorite reads of this year.


Thank you to Holiday House/PeachTree/Pixie + Ink and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Before the Devil Knows You're Here is one of those books that could definitely have benefited from being a series instead of a standalone.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed Before the Devil Knows You're Here, especially the relationship between Paul and Catalina and the world's lore. Especially the lore. The lore made the novel interesting and provided a dark tone that I always enjoy. I found the man of sap interesting and someone you can't help but feel bad for, even as they make awful and stupid decisions. I could definitely see myself really enjoying this novel if it was just a bit longer and had more time to flesh out the characters and the world.

That being said, there were definitely a few things that I wish had been done a bit differently. The lore and mythical creatures were all kind of smushed in the last half of the book and treated as commonplace. This would make sense if that was the theme throughout the book, but the man of sap (the most important mythical creature) was characterized as something out-of-this-world and strange, so the shift felt drastic and was not explained. My biggest complaint, however, is that the ending felt very rushed. What I felt like should have been an entire second novel ended up being only a few chapters. I really feel that there was a lot more that could have been expanded upon to make this world and this story great.

I did enjoy Before the Devil Knows You're Here (hence why I rated it 3-stars). There were a few things I think could have been done better, but overall I thought it was an enjoyable and unique read. I recommend this novel to fantasy lovers who enjoy standalone novels and folklore.

Thank you NetGalley and Autumn Krause for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.