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.

This was SO GOOD! The artwork is beautiful (gory- but fantastic). I love how Horvath contrasts the cute, quaint village of animal people with the gruesome nature of serial killers. The plot surprised and captured me and I finished this in a single sitting. I can’t wait to see what this author creates next.

This is a review I am not sure how to write. The description on Amazon says it best: “Richard Scarry's Busy Town meets Dexter”. Thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for an arc of this graphic novel. This is a dark and somewhat graphic comic, so read with that awareness, but it was one I enjoyed as someone who likes mysteries and thrillers. It’s a great mashup of genres with such detail in the illustrations.

An interesting enough plot, but really wasn't what I was expecting. All the characters being animals was kind of weird, and it's never really explained why "real" animals exist at the same time. It's also really boring when the "baddie" end up being someone you've not even met in the series before.

Just wasn't a big fan, and I didn't enjoy the art style at all.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

Disney meets serial killers in this cute but creepy story about a serial killer bear who is on the hunt for a different killer who's murdering people in his hometown.

I gave this volume 5 stars. The art style is amazing. The story is creepy and intriguing. I'm very excited to read more from this author and see more from the artist. My husband's really enjoying it, too.

What if a Richard Scarry book met the TV show Dexter? This is the vibes that this graphic novel gave me. I loved it! What's better than a peaceful town with humanoid animals suddenly struck by gruesome murders? The pacing was done well and the illustrations were gripping. I loved that any time we are seeing Sam's thoughts they are written on what appears to be torn notebook paper. This was just really well done. More of this please!

Samantha Strong an adorable brown bear has one rule, don't murder the locals only city folks. So when people in her town start dying gruesome deaths she panics, she needs to find the killer before the police discover her secret.

"This town's not big enough for two psychopaths, not to mention one so reckless.”

A serial killer bear? LET’S GOOOOO!
This was so good,I really enjoyed the art it was super cozy and the fact that the story was dark and graphic just made it that much more perfect!

I do wish this was a little longer, I wanted more details about Samantha. Overall this was super fun to read and I’m definitely going to be buying this when it’s released!

Thank you to NetGalley and to IDW publishing for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Sam is a small town upstanding citizen and serial killer
But has a very specific rule, never kill in town, always in the forest between the town and city.
During the towns 200 year anniversary parade, the body of a citizen is revealed and the town is sent into a panic.
Sam must now uncover the killer all while trying to hide her own crimes.
Described as a Dexter x Richard Scarry, i 100% agree!
It was gorey, captivating, jaw dropping, murder mystery!
With beautifully creepy artwork and an amazing storyline, you wont be able to stop reading!

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.
This graphic novel has been described as Richard Scary meets Dexter. Which is pretty accurate, though there is no worm in an apple car.
Just saying.
It seems that Patrick Horvath was chilling on day with his beverage of choice and then thought “what if Dexter was really a bear named Samantha”. Or maybe, like with Jim C. Hines’ story of a werewolf, he had been watching too much kids’ programs.
Either way, this was really good.
It is too Horvath’s credit that he does not make Samantha good, and in fact, the beginning of the book, it becomes quite clear that she is not a good serial killer. And that makes the graphic novel a bit better. You are rooting for Samantha, as far as you can, because she is the lesser of two evils.
But Samantha is also self-aware, which makes her interesting. The stakes are real, and the plot is tight. The book works, and because it does not soften Samantha or saddle her with a family, it works better for me than the Dexter Showtime series did (sorry, didn’t read the books).
What also works is the Richard Scary type atmosphere because the graphic novel does raise some questions that will get a reader to think about issues surrounding civilization and the wild. In this sense, Horvath makes good use of the animal fable idea.
If you like mysteries, serial killers, or want a Redwall that is more adult and lacks the food, this is the book for you.

What a wild mix of Dexter and Happy Tree Friends. I’ve never read a horror graphic novel before and this one did not disappoint. The juxtaposition of the adorable characters and illustrations with the murder scenes was really creative. I did find it confounding that there were pets and wild animals in this world when all of the characters were animals. It felt a little like Cars in the sense that racing in Cars world is the equivalent of running track in the human world. But other than that, this was a gruesome quick read with some very adorable characters. I loved the mole family and the turtle so much.

"Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees" is a psychological horror/thriller graphic novel. What happens when two serial killers collide in a sweet, picturesque small town? It gets messy. I was wondering if the art style would out me off, but actually it helps to create a darker atmosphere by juxtaposing cute animals with a bloody, gruesome tale. Very impressed. Some scenes left me truly chilled.

This is a chilling insight into the mind of a serial killer, dressed up in wonderfully colourfully art. I enjoyed the brutality and violence, cleverly juxtaposed with small town charm and adorable characters. The story is well-paced, with moments of calm and introspection interspersed with suspense and action. Sam, the main character, is a scary villain and I liked the rest of the characters too. I find myself drawn to colourful comics, and the artworks in this book are stunningly vibrant, with plenty of small detail for a closer look. Definitely recommend this graphic novel.

My one criticism is, I just don't understand why everyone was animals. Maybe a Disney vibe to contrast the violence even more?

A unqiue and dark tale featuring a serial killer bear who finds murder relaxing. When another serial killer appears in town, she's in a rush to find the killer before anyone suspects her.

I wasn't expecting to be so invested in this book! I felt conflicted because I was rooting for Sam to not be convicted of the crimes she committed, but what about the crimes she already committed? Patrick does a great job of making us feel at home in this small cosy town and making us care for the characters. The illustrations are cute and something you'd find in a children's book, but the content is far from that. I'd recommend this book to adults or older young adults who love a good psychological thriller and mysteries