What Waits in the Woods by Terri Parlato: Untangling Mysteries in Hometown Shadows

Hey there, bookworms! So, "What Waits in the Woods" is the second Detective Rita Myers escapade. But guess what? You can totally hop into this mystery without having read the first one.

Esmé Foster’s a dancer whose dream career takes a nosedive thanks to an injury. So, she jets back to her hometown, Graybridge, to lend a hand to her pops, and boom! A childhood friend, Kara Cunningham, turns up dead near her house. Talk about spine-tingling! And the big question? Could it be a case of mistaken identity?

This story flips between Esmé's life and Rita Myers' detective hustle. Graybridge? It's got more layers than an onion—secrets, family drama, and Esmé’s past hits her hard when she recalls this seriously creepy figure from a car accident. I mean, goosebumps galore, right?

Characters here? Deep as the ocean! Esmé’s struggle to blend back into her old life feels raw and totally relatable. Rita’s hunt for truth in a close-knit town? Adds a whole lot of spice to the mystery game. But sometimes, it feels like things are moving in slow-mo, especially compared to the action in the first book.

Now, the ending? Hold on to your hats 'cause it's an adrenaline rush, but it might throw you for a loop. You might need to let go of the logic for a sec. But hey, Parlato’s got this knack for dragging you into this twisted hometown tale of mine.

Gotta give this one 4 stars! Heads up though: heavy stuff's in the mix—alcoholism, parental loss,drug abuse, abduction, and other sensitive topics.

Big thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for hooking me up with this wild audiobook ride! It was a rollercoaster dive into secrets and mysteries.

Thank you Net Galley RB Media and Terri Parlato for the audiobook ARC of “What Waits in the Woods”

This is the second book but can be read as a standalone. I was hooked from the beginning. Story is told in two person perspective. I really enjoyed this psychological thriller. Love the Writing style and the character development.

*3.5 stars rounded up*

What Waits in the Woods is the second book in the Detective Rita Mills series. This book follows the POVs of Detective Rita Mills and Esme Foster, who is returning home after an injury ended her career as a ballerina. When Esme's best friend from high school is found in woods behind Esme's home, Esme can't help but wonder if the murderer was looking for her. 13 years ago, a man showed up to the accident that killed her mother, and said he was going to kill her too. Is he back to fulfill his promise?

Although this book is more of a police procedural book rather than a mystery/thriller, I still enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the two different POVs and although it took me some getting used to for the narrator of Rita Mills, in the end I felt that it was a perfect choice for her character. This book was kind of slow in the beginning describing the past trauma of Esme's character and the beginning stages of the case, but soon picked up. There was a lot of suspects that made sense throughout the book, and I was pleasantly surprised that I had the ending completely wrong. Even though this book is the second book in the Detective Rita Mills series, this book can be read as a standalone.

What Waits in the Woods is out now.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for the opportunity to review What Waits in the Woods. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I didnt quite care for this book. It started slow and i just couldnt get into it. The narrators didnt do much for me either and that made it a struggle to get through. Overall i didnt really like it and i dont think i would recommend the audiobook to others unfortunately.

This was not good. If you like police procedurals there are better out there. The writing was choppy at best and incredibly repetitive. Esme was a dancer. Did you know Esme was a ballerina? Esme loved dance. She was a great dancer. Esme misses dancing. I can't.

What Waits in the Woods is a decent thriller with heavy police procedure. I don’t always love that in a book, but I enjoyed detective Rita’s character.
Esme returns to her hometown after her dreams of being a dancer are crushed by an injury. As she pulls into her childhood home she discovers cop cars and finds out her best friend growing up has been murdered in the woods behind her house. The suspect list in this book is crazy high. I feel like there were so many possibilities but I actually figured it out before the big reveal.
I really enjoyed the characters and this story. There was a lot going on, but everything tied up nicely in the end.
The audio for this book was good. The detectives voice was very deep, so I went a few chapters in thinking it was a male character. Whoops. All in all 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

What Waits in the Woods is the second book in a series by Terri Parlato, but can be read as a stand-alone.

Told from multiple pov, Esmé has been an inspiring ballerina for most of her life until a career ending injury. She returns home to find one of her old friends murdered.

It felt like there was a lot going on in the book, with a lot of filler and a rushed ending. I will say though, that I did NOT guess who the killer was.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for this advanced audiobook in return for my honest opinion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: 26 Dec 2023

I really enjoyed this follow up to Detective Rita Myers police procedural thriller! This is a solid story and I would highly recommend it, I would say that it could be read as a stand alone as well. I hope this author keeps going with this story! Great narration as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this mix of thriller and police procedural. The audiobook was great. I appreciated the alternating POVs of Esme and Rita. I enjoyed that this was fast paced, I didn’t want to stop listening. The twist really shocked me in this one! I will for sure be recommending this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Terri Parlato & RB Media for an audio ARC of What Waits in the Woods in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own and may not be reproduced (except quoted synopsis).

“When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.

Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity?

Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.

Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .”

I REALLY enjoyed All The Dark Places from last year so I was very excited to have the opportunity to advance read What Waits in the Woods.

All The Dark Places was marginally better, but this one is good, too.

Told from alternating POVs between Rita and Esme.

The story was captivating and followed a quick pace. It is absolutely binge-worthy and I highly recommend!

I enjoyed the audiobook, it kept the story flowing at points when I had a hard time sticking with the pace of the story. It was a little slow and for me there were too many characters to keep up with but overall it was a good book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in advance of publication.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. I loved the audio of this book. It's in a series but can be read as a stand alone. It was a fast paced police thriller.

Esmé has returned to her hometown of Graybridge on the heels of her friend Kara's murder. Detective Rita Meyers is on the case, but with a whole small town of suspects anyone could be the killer even Esmé's brother or one of her old friends.

This book wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but it wasn't the best either. I didn't really love either Rita or Esmé, and this felt more like cozy mystery rather than thriller suspense. It certainly wasn't edge-of-your-seat. The story seemed to focus more on the personal lives of the protagonists, while the murder investigation took a backseat. I guess I just expected solving the murder to be at the forefront of a mystery story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Christina Moore and Leah Horowitz were fine narrators.

Immerse yourself in this captivating mystery that skillfully weaves a tale of suspense and unexpected twists. The narrative unfolds with a perfect blend of tension and unsettling events that will keep you hooked.

While the unconventional approach to the thriller genre adds a unique flavor, there's a longing, felt by some readers, myself included, for a more detailed exploration of police procedures. Although the novel touches on investigative processes, a deeper dive into the complexities of law enforcement could have enriched the overall storytelling experience.

Nevertheless, the mystery at the core of the novel is expertly crafted, showcasing the author's ability to maintain suspense throughout. Despite the desire for more insight into police workings, this book remains a compelling read that will satisfy mystery enthusiasts and leave them eager for the next enthralling tale.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. In addition to this audiobook, I had a physical copy gifted from the publisher, and I tried both forms of the book, but could not engage with the story.

I liked that it was the second book to contain Rita Myers because I loved her character in All the Dark Places by this author. Unfortunately, I did not love the narrator for Rita. I don't mean to be insulting if that is the narrator's real voice, but it felt really forced and deep, and it kind of ruined Rita's character for me. I did like the narrator for Esme though.

I think for me, there wasn't enough backstory early enough about the characters, so I couldn't entirely get into needing to know why/how Kara was murdered.

Although it wasn't for me, I think other thriller lovers will enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for this ARC.

Unfortunately What Waits In The Woods was a miss for me. I felt the pacing was very slow for this book and I found myself wanting to stop listening. I enjoyed both of the narrators, but I didn’t enjoy Esme as a character. I enjoyed Rita and her POV, but I felt like it strayed too far away from the murder investigation and too much into her personal life.

Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media and Terri Parlato for the ALC!

When Esme Foster left her home in Boston, she followed her dreams of being a professional dancer and never looked back. Now, over a decade later, an injury forces her to end her dancing career and she knows it's time to return home to help take care of her sick father. But her return coincides with the unthinkable - her childhood best friend Kara is found murdered in the woods behind her house. Not only is Esme shocked but she increasingly becomes more and more anxious. The nightmares she has of a man threatening to kill her don’t help. Detective Rita Meyers is on the case and she intends to solve it.

“What Waits in the Woods” was one of my most anticipated reads for this month, so I was thrilled to get an ALC! Told from the dual perspectives of Esme and Rita, the story was extremely character-driven. I really appreciated Esme’s perspective as a young adult, trying to find her place in her childhood hometown after being gone for so long. I found it incredibly relatable; the idea of starting over in the place you grew up and finding that everything is so different is something I think a lot of people can relate to. Esme’s relationships with her family and friends were all explained and bit by bit, secrets came to light. I also loved Detective Rita’s perspective; I always enjoy police procedural type stories and Rita’s was a bit of that mixed with her no-nonsense personality. I could totally see Rita in a series, and while this book worked great as a standalone, I really want to go back and read its prior installment, “Dark Places”.

This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

DNF at 55%. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were good but the book itself was too slow to hold my interest. I kept hoping for something exciting to happen that would suck me in to the storyline but it never did. I’m sure this will be a favorite for some but it just wasn’t the book for me.

3.5+ stars

This book was okay. Partially, my lack of enjoyment was my own fault; it was advertised mainly as a thriller/suspenseful mystery, which it was, but I didn’t read closely enough to realize that it was the second in a series of cop drama/mysteries, and while I’m fine with multiple protagonists, I don’t tend to love those that focus on cops/detectives in that way. I almost DNFed the book closer to the beginning, but I kept going, and it did get better. However, elements of the story seemed to remind me too much of other books in the genre from the past few years, so it didn’t feel fully original. I didn’t love or hate this one, but I probably won’t continue with the series, nor do I intend to go back and read the first one.

I did NOT see that twist coming at the end, which is one of my fave things! I was in for this wild ride from the get-go. This book pulled me immediately kept me gripped the entire time. I can't wait to read another book by Terri Parlato!

#WhatWaitsintheWoods
#NetGalley