Eli North lives in rural Wisconsin in the small town of Shaky Lake where he grew up. After traumatic events during his service in Afghanistan, Eli is barely holding on separated recently from his wife and young so. living above an Asian restaurant, working for his sheriff mother, and looking at life through the end of a bottle. Eli cannot go long with a out a drink or several, and his sleep is riddled with PTSD nightmares. So, when Eli discovers the body of a young teen on the lake, things only get worse for him and his community.

Eli’s mother has the bare minimum of funds to police the town; when it is discovered that a teenage girl last seen with the boy is missing, an FBI agent comes in to help. As the investigation continues, it seems that the wealthy summer residents who all belong to the local country club may be involved. The opioid epidemic also looks to be related as well as a sketchy pharmaceutical company.

Eli’s inability to go more than a few hours without a drink obviously affects not only his mental acuity, but raises his family’s concern since he seems to be teetering very close to the edge of reason and the ability to function. The investigation helps remind Eli of his skills, prior to being deployed, of investigation and law enforcement from a previous job.

A fair amount of this story is one big pain fest because of all of Eli’s issues, the suffering of the teens' families, Eli’s mother and wife worrying for him plus the problems surrounding the possible drug related activities. This book appears to be the start of a series with indications that Eli is finally beginning to turn his life around after just about rock bottoming out. With Eli on the mend, hopefully the next story will focus more on a mystery to solve than his very difficult problems.

This is an amazing first novel! Amy Pease has woven an intricate, thrilling mystery, with memorable, realistic characters. Set in a small Mid-western resort town, the investigation of a murder reveals a hidden darkness within the town, centered on the opioid crisis, PTSD, and corporate deception. The main character, Eli, is determined to uncover the murderer, but as he investigates, he fights demons of his own, related to his deployment in Afghanistan. He is flawed, yet admirable for his determination both to solve the case and conquer his fears. Eli is definitely a character I won't soon forget! The plot is full of unexpected, yet plausible twists that kept me guessing throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed the book! Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for my advance copy. The opinions of my review are my own.

Decent read. Characters are interesting , but the storyline was just so so. Could see the end coming. my guess will be a series. Hopefully better story for the main characters.
Thanks NetGalley for advance book.

Thank you Atria and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

I have to start this out by saying I'm really impressed that this is a debut novel. It doesn't read like one. I really expected to pull up my Goodreads and see some other works under the authors name. So, job well done with creating this work.

This may be a tough read for some based on the topics within so be aware of that. It was a struggle to separate what Eli is going through at times, and I felt like I was drowning alongside him at times with his PTSD and need to drink away his memories. I think his parts were really well written and capture the true essence of just how hard it is to struggle.

I like the premise of the book and found it a little too believable. Which is scary. Because I'm sure things like this can, have and do continue to happen within the pharmaceutical world.

I do hope to see more of Alyssa and Jake...maybe this is a start to a series? Because their banter was fun. And I think their developing friendship was good for both of them. Plus, I mean, we still have some threads loose by the end. It will be a pleasure to read any further works put put by Amy Pease.

Northwoods was a good read. It excels at depicting life in small town America with an underfunded police department battling the epidemic of problems the country faces. The book is at its best when it focuses on the criminal investigation. However, it also spends a lot of time on the demons within many of the characters. The mystery serves up a twist at the end but longtime genre readers should see it coming. Hopefully, some of the characters will get the help they need and return for a new adventure. Thank you to Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Northwoods, gets you from the first page and you won’t be able to put it down. It’s a story of a son whose mother gives him a chance to come back from his drinking problem after his military experience. The mom is a sheriff of a small town, with one teenager dead from a drug overdose to another teenager who is kidnapped To the FBI agent that they call in to help with this case.. The inter weaving of the characters who live there will continue to bring this book to an end.
I love this new author and I hope she has a second book in mind, cause I would love to read everything she writes

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this E-arc for my honest review.
Excellent mystery that I couldn’t put down and touched on real life problems regarding drug addiction and pharmaceutical companies. Likable characters and would highly recommend to others.
Would like to point out that the author’s comment that skin cancer doesn’t kill people is false and is a trigger to some people. I understand the context as to why she made the statement but it was upsetting.

Northwoods is a terrific book. It's also a bit of a trojan horse since it's a tale about dealing (or not dealing) with trauma. It takes an excellent mystery about a death at a Wisconsin lake resort to tell a story about a vet, Eli, who is wrestling with the after effects of war.

It also tackles the opioid crisis and an underfunded small town police force with a sheriff, who happens to be Eli's mother. There are a lot of 'big' topics in the book, but they're used so well as the backdrop and the setting for the story that nothing feels preachy or inauthentic to the storytelling.

The writing is strong and I developed a real attachment to Eli, Marge and other characters. We're seeing Eli at his worst, but he still manages to be a compelling character that I was completely invested in even as he makes choices that will cause harm. Many of the chapters focusing on him felt like a character study and relayed how easy someone can fall down and struggle to get back up. I'd get so lost with him that I'd momentarily forget about the wider mystery and it's investigation,

I really loved this one and look forward to more from this author. She writes with such compassion and heart, plus the mystery was complex and well done too.

This book was provided to me via Netgalley for an honest review.

Wow! A mystery set in the woods. Strong female characters. Fast moving pace. Plot twists. What more could I ask for? I loved this book, a definite 5 star read for me. Northwoods does deal with some very heavy subjects such as the opiod crisis, PTSD, and loss of a child.

I hope this will be the first of a series featuring the Sheriff's Department near Shaky Lake.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC of Northwoods in exchange for my honest review!

I had no idea what to expect with Northwoods, but I was intrigued by the premise of a murder mystery set in rural northern Wisconsin. (My extended family is from Chicago and has often vacationed in northern Wisconsin towns similar to Shady Lakes, where Northwoods is set.) I could not have been happier with having taken a chance on this impressive debut novel!

Northwoods is like Dopesick…but with Murder (with a touch of The Firm thrown in). Pease does a masterful job of creating a flawed protagonist (Eli North) that we feel compassion for (and possibly relate to ourselves in some ways) rather than compiling a bunch of traits from the DSM-V (which often feels like the case for a thriller’s Flawed Narrator). The mystery and the twists are perfectly set up/adequately foreshadowed, but many of them kept me guessing throughout the book. The Big Bad is hinted at pretty early on, but Pease’s storytelling is so gripping that this book kept me turning page after page just so that I could see how everything unfolded and How It Gets There.

I’m so glad that there’s going to be a second book in this series. Pease concludes the mystery at hand nicely but hints that there’s a lot more evil and darkness lurking around Shady Lakes that we’ve barely scratched the surface of.

Small town story with a tiny police department yet a town with a death and a missing teen. The story is involved with drugs, secrets, PTSD, divorce and addiction. That is a lot to cover in one book but it actually is a pretty good tale.. A surprise ending. I liked the book.

Big thanks to both Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Northwoods, by Amy Pease. Expected publication January 9, 2024.

The Northwoods of Wisconsin may be a vacationer's paradise, but amidst the fishing trips, campfires, and Paul Bunyan festivals, something sinister is taking place. What has Eli gotten himself into? He's barely able to take care of himself, so how is he going to solve a murder that has ties to America’s opioid epidemic?

I liked this book a lot and I'm amazed Northwoods is Ms. Tan's first book! The character development was believable and the storyline was so interesting. This is not just another book about PTSD or the opioid crisis. I absolutely loved Eli's mom, Marge, and my heart went out to her son, Eli.

I definitely recommend Northwoods and would love to see it developed as a series!

I have a cabin on a like in northern Wisconsin so anytime I see a book that has a setting in Wisconsin or on a lake it goes to the top on my TBR list and this debut novel did not disappoint.
Eli North is a tortured man who handles his PTSD from serving in Afghanistan by excessive drinking even while on the job as a Sheriff in the small town of Shaky Lake. The only reason he was able to get this job is that his mother is head of the very small Sheriff's department. Before his deployment he was a very good investigator for the US Wildlife and Fish Department but that position disappeared 6 months after he came back from his deployment. Between the breakup of his marriage and losing his job he is an emotional wreck along with his PTSD he drinks excessively to forget.
A body of a teenage boy is found in the lake and it sets into motion an investigation into opioids that will take the Sheriff's department and FBI all over the north woods to hunt for the killer and they learn that there is much more going on than just a murder of a teenage boy.
Some of the names of the towns in this book are familiar and some are made up but either way Amy Pease has captured the idyllic feel of northern Wisconsin in summer as a vacationer's paradise with its small little towns and resorts but has added a suspenseful story to this setting. At times I felt like I was on the deck of my cabin on the lake watching the events unfurl.

When I finished the book I felt that there were still some loose ends to the story and I am happy to say that there is another book in the works so I am looking forward to reading about Eli, his mother and the other characters from this story.

All in all, a great debut.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this debut novel from Amy Pease. In a twist, the old sheriff is a she and she's trying to be a lifeline for her son, a veteran who suffers from PTSD. The characters are realistically drawn and you can't help but be drawn into the characters' struggles. This seems like the perfect set-up for an ongoing series!

Thanks to Atria Books for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley.

3.5 stars

This is a great debut by Pease. A well done mystery with well developed and interesting characters. I love small town mysteries, and I suspect this will become a very popular series going forward.

My newest favorite author next to C. J. Box, William Kent Krueger, and Jennifer Chiaverini! Thanks to NetGalley for the early preview, publisher Atria, and especially Wisconsin author Amy Pease for this remarkable mystery. The characters feel like our next door neighbor in this small town. Eli with his PTSD, and his mother , the sheriff, trying to the mysterious death of a young boy. All the words are so descriptive, drawing us into the families whom drugs and the companies using us. Looking forward to having this book at out PDC library, as we promote Wisconsin authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book pre-publication in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very compelling, dark and twisty debut work from Pease. What I liked best about it is that it excites me to think that the main characters become part of a series of stories where they experience new adventures in each book. Make no mistake, this is not lighthearted fare. It’s a murder mystery with further reaching complications.

Afghanistan veteran Eli North has a problem. A former US Fish and Wildlife investigator who returned from active duty suffering from PTSD and flashbacks, he’s not himself. He’s working for his mother, the local and well respected Sheriff, in their small town. Most days, actually all days; Eli can’t get through the day with his sobriety intact. Sometimes with drastic consequences. What he also is, though, is a smart and thorough investigator. When the body of a local teenager is found in a boat at the lake, compounded by a missing teenager girl (she had been with the boy), solving the mystery becomes quickly complicated by the effects of a local pharmaceutical company’s latest discovery.

Eli is a wonderfully flawed character, his intense PTSD flashbacks cause him to self-medicate with alcohol. He’s a mess. His wife has abandoned him as a result and he has a strained relationship with his son. He needs help but seems determined not to find it. Eli’s mother, Marge North, is kind and intuitive and excels at her job. She offered him the job as her investigator to help him adjust gradually to civilian life. It’s proving to be a challenge.

Although not fast-paced, the suspense is strong and the sinister plot builds to a climax. It’s definitely a strong story line and with the well-drawn characters would make a great first book in a series.

Great book with interesting plot. Character development good too. Characters are flawed and have secrets not yet told. Plot ends well but leaves bigger issues open. I hope this means a sequel or better yet a series.

Seriously good and quite believable small town crime/mystery novel! Solid characters, well plotted, good pacing. Trigger warning for veterans and those experiencing PTSD. A rare five star rating from me, especially because of the deft handling of what panic attacks are like/how they feel/how they rule ones world until you get the right kind of help.

I was impressed with this book. A murder mystery set in northern Wisconsin (my home stomping grounds), I found the plot to be believable and interesting. The character development of the main character, Eli, was very good. The cast of other characters, especially Marge, was also well developed. This was a solid effort by a new author. I sincerely hope she continues this series, as there were many pieces left unsolved for future books.