Oof, this one definitely creeped me out. I knew it would be dark, but the illustrations of the murders were more grisly than I anticipated. I think I was expecting a higher contrast between the cuteness of a town of animals and the serial killer plot, but it was more so about small town familiarity. It was interesting how the identity of a carnivore played a part in the story. Beneath the Trees was a surprisingly quick read, and ultimately it felt a little rushed at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this arc. Sadly it was not the comic for me.

I saw the first issue on Hoopla and was super interested in how this would play out, especially with the clear layout of Samantha's life and the world building that I didn't hesitate to request the rest of the story. However, the more I read, the less I cared about the twists and reveals. While I can look back at the first half and see all the build-up towards the ending, it still felt lacking. I had liked how almost everything went wrong gradually and then all at once, but the resolution went too fast as well. Mostly just a pacing issue for me and it wasn't something I could ignore.

“Live, laugh, shed blood”
4☆|5

Don't murder the locals. It's rude and it disturbs the peace. Therefore, it is Sam's — serial killer in a small town — first rule. But one day, a resident of her lovely town is murdered… This town is not big enough for two psychopaths, she needs to find — and stop — them.

What a fun graphic novel! I don't know what I expected when I picked up this book, but it certainly wasn’t to be that amused from this reading. This book qualifies as horror — there are multiple graphic gore elements — but mostly as mystery. And it was really fun to read! I loved trying to guess who could be the murderer or even the next victim.

This book is short, around 150 pages, and yet it is more than enough to get attached to characters, especially the side characters that end up being murdered. And even for the main characters, I really like them, their motivations and stories! To that, you can add a really well-crafted story, which makes it hard to put the book down.

And all that can be found amongst a charming art style, which gave nearly cosy vibes to that murderous story. The murders were bloody and gruesome but next to that, we had a pretty and soft art style with really well-used colours. The fact that all the characters were animals was also a nice point, and the artist drew them very well.

The only negative point that I can point out is the fact that the end happened a bit quickly, but it wasn’t enough to take away the satisfaction provoked by the reading of this graphic novel and it is easily comprehensible considering the length of the book. All in all, it was truly a unique reading and I do recommend it a lot!

Thank you to Netgalley and IDW Publishing for sending me this arc, all opinions expressed are my own <3

TW: blood ; murder ; dismemberment ; gun violence

READ THE WHOLE SERIES! The storyline is fantastic and has a great twist :) I absolutely loved this! What a fun way to tell a thriller story. The author took Calico critters and turned them into psychopaths and I am so here for it. The artwork was so lovely. It was gory but not over the top. I loved seeing the thoughts going through Samantha's mind along with what other townspeople were saying. Also, Cherry got her karma. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-copy of this graphic novel!

I really liked the artwork in this graphic novel. The cutesy artstyle really offsets the dark story. I enjoyed the story and particularly liked the choice for the protagonist. While I didn't mind the ending, it did feel a bit rushed. I think this was a great debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
What a "cute" book! The illustrations are really good and the storyline is dark but hilarious.
The reader must have a somewhat morbid sense of humor to enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

To whoever said that this is reminiscent of Dexter.....you are totally right! Loved the plot twist, and even though everything was pretty gory, I still highly enjoyed this comic! It's definitely demented but also super fun at the same time. I would watch more of Sam's escapades anytime, if they chose to extend her story!

This book can be eerily disturbing, but I couldn't take my eyes off the page. This was a very interesting read. From the beginning we know who the main serial killer is, she uses killing as a way to cope with all the stresses in her life. However this story quickly turns into a murder mystery as a new serial killer comes to town. Samantha is now determined to find out who her new rival is before the cops can discover her secret.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this and will be picking up a copy as soon it releases. 💕
It was well written and I really enjoyed my time reading it.

Rating 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What if we take an adorable, Zootopia-like town full of animals, add serial killer gore at the level of Saw, & add a layer of Twin Peaks weirdness? Plus a twisty mystery, solid writing, & a beautiful, almost dreamy art style?

The result is Patrick Horvath’s Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, truly the most unique comic I have read in quite some time. The vibes are cozy, cute, mysterious, & very gruesome & you’re quickly pulled into the story of brown bear Samantha Strong & the horrors impacting the small town she calls home.

I had picked up this comic when it first started & eagerly refreshed my library app for the next issue, so I was grateful to receive an arc of the complete volume of this story, which comes out in September. Did I request the arc partially because I didn’t want to wait to find out what happens? Maybe! But then that’s just a testament to how much I enjoyed this story. I gobbled this up in one sitting & it ended in a way that felt complete. You don’t turn the last page feeling unsatisfied or teetering on a cliffhanger, which is honestly refreshing for me as someone who forgets a comic exists if I have to wait for the next issue. This is a great one & done (but I wouldn’t be upset if the world Beneath the Trees expands a bit).

Thank you to NetGalley & IDW Publishing for providing a digital advanced copy for review. And for giving me my favorite new phrase, “Live, Laugh, Shed Blood.” All thoughts & opinions expressed are my own.

Imagine a bucolic little town, populated by adorable anthropromorphic characters living thier best lives. Then add an adorable bear to run the hardware store who also happens to be a serial killer. Sam knows not to kill where she lives but then someone else does and she needs to learn who before the lacluster sheriff and townsfold learn her secret. Loved this!

As a fan of CSI and "murder" centred movies, I was looking forward to reading this seemingly cute graphic novel about a serial killer being at risk of being exposed because of someone else's crime.
Did I fall in love with the story? No, but it was fun. I wish the mystery of the small-town killer had been more drawn out but it was still enjoyable.

The art for this was incredible! The art was well drawn and just gorgeous! The storytelling kept you hooked through to the end of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing!
I LOVED this comic so much. It is so creative and unique. I have never read anything like it. The art style is cute and looks so wholesome. However, the art style is the only thing wholesome about it! To see a serial killer story set in a world similar to Richard's Scary Busy Town is hilarious. It was gory and violent. I also loved the mystery aspect, and near the end I gasped! It is a fantastic debut graphic novel that draws the reader in, and keeps you gripped to every page! I hope they continue this series because I want to follow along with our cuddly bear Samantha and her homicidal tendencies.

If you're looking for a delightfully fucked up little story to read, Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees is for you!

Set in a world full of anthropomorphized animals, it gives off Berenstain Bears or Richard Scarry vibes, especially with the setting of a very close knit small town. Samantha is the local hardware store owner, beloved by the town and has many friends. She just so happens to need to go to the nearby Big City every few months to kidnap a random person, take their body into the woods, and murder and dismember them. Just to quiet her brain, of course. When a local man is murdered and his body found in a gruesome fashion, Samantha realizes there's another serial killer in town and she needs to stop them before the cops accidentally stumble upon her.

The juxtaposition of the animal characters, the warmth of the small town and the soft color of the artwork vs the unhinged gore of the murders taking place is what really works here and elevated it from Yet Another Serial Killer Story to something special for me. The growing dread of the town's inhabitants as more bodies pile up, the focus on some of the townsfolk as more bodies drop, exploring Samantha's relationships with others - it all makes for a great good time.

I would say the only negative for me here is how things are wrapped up in the end. The discovery and climax seem to happen in one single issue and it blows by so fast that it was almost unsatisfying.

Still, I had a good time with this comic - at least, as much of a good time as one can have when see-sawing between cozy smalltown vibes and gory murder. Very much recommend this if it's up your alley.

Content warning: I'm not kidding about the gore. There's some gruesome shit in here, but it works so well in contrast to the overall artwork choice.

4 stars - It was really good

Samantha Strong is an upstanding citizen and a small-town serial killer with one cardinal rule: Don’t murder the locals. When someone starts murdering in her small-town though she sets out to figure out who it is and stop them before her own secrets get revealed.

This was a very interesting story with great artwork. Samantha is a serial killer who has been killing for over 20 years but hasn’t been caught because she follows set rules and hides her kills in the woods where no one will find them. This is told from Sam’s POV as she goes about her normal routine of working and taking a monthly trip to the city to kill before a second killer interrupts her quiet life. I actually really enjoyed Sam’s story and how she worked out who the other killer was, and how she dealt with it in the end.

I enjoyed the mystery of finding out who the killer was and their motivations behind the kills. This was just a very unique and fun graphic novel about serial killers. It is reminiscent of the show Dexter but I think it was more enjoyable, especially since they are all anthropomorphic instead of just normal humans.

Overall, if you like reading horror graphic novels and like stuff about serial killers, I suggest reading this graphic. It was a great story that also has great artwork.

TW: graphic death and dismemberment;

Theres something about cute animals behaving as humans, living their daily life and brutally murdering each other lol. This reminded me of Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow series because of the murder mystery in a town of animals, and Busy Busy Town because of the illustrations. It is gruesome, it is funny, and theres just something weirdly fascinating about it that makes you like the story and get sucked into it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

I got an ARC of this book.

Where do I even begin with this one?

The art was both jaring and soothing. It was interesting to see the anthropomorphic animals, but then seeing actual animals in the same panel was weird. The first kill happens, then zoom out to an actual bear walking by. It was strange. It was more jarring than the killing was. I was very amused. It took me right out of the killing, which might have been the idea since the MC is not the bad guy in this one. She may be a serial murdered, but she is controlled and has rules. She is the hero-ish of this story. There wasn’t as much killing as I had hoped, but the killings that did happen were perfect.

The story is something I am not normally a fan of. I am not a fan of muder mysteries. I couldn’t care less about who did it. I just don’t. The way this book was sold as being Richard Scarry meets Dexter is what sold me. I needed to see that childhood classic mixed with one of the few murder shows I have watched more than a handfull of episodes of. It worked in a twisted way. It didn’t feel like it was trying too hard or the mix was odd. It just worked in a really weird way.

There were not as many animal puns as I was expecting, which made this feel more adult which worked well. I missed the animal puns, but I think keeping the tone more serious was a good move. This book will stay in my mind for a long time. It is unique and wild.

Overall, I loved this book. It was everything I wanted and then some. I have already started recommending it to friends and to the people in my graphic novel class in school. You gotta try this.

This well written and beautifully illustrated graphic novel is dark and surprising even when you know what is coming. I don’t know if it is the visuals or the cuteness of the characters committing the murders or both, but it is kind of shocking!
A great concept and very original.

Oh boy, oh boy, this was excellent. A fascinating debut comic wherein its Busy Town-esque setting has one too many serial killers for the comfort of, well, its other serial killer.

Fascinating characters with a delicious attention to detail where a lot of questions are asked about human nature and its pitfalls. The art is perfect, and I had no issues with the pacing; others mentioned the ending felt rushed, but I heartily disagree. I devoured this in an afternoon and would highly recommend it to any horror fan.