Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
I had mixed feelings about this book. I am not a huge fan of horror. I did like the storyline about the couple mourning the lost of their young son and how they both tried to cope with it, It was creepy so I would recommend it to people that are into this genre.

In "Nowhere," Rachel, a mother, takes on the role of Chief of Police in a small town, alongside her family who has recently relocated. Unfortunately, they struggle to fit in, and strange occurrences unfold, revealing unsettling truths about the town that no one was prepared for. Following the tragic loss of her young son, Rachel immerses herself in her work while her husband, Finn, battles alcoholism and guilt. Drawing inspiration from folklore, this haunting narrative explores themes of family, grief, and the deep-seated fears. It's an extraordinary book that I wholeheartedly recommend. Be sure to check the trigger warnings before diving in!

Thank you, Allison  Gunn NetGalley, for the ARC. I leave this review voluntarily and happily. Also, thank you publishers for your hard work!

This book is full of emotions. Hate, grief, sorrow, guilt, and the list only continue to grow. It certainly had me shedding a tear at the end of this book. The atmosphere was very dark and unsettling. If you don't like hate against the lgbtq community, there is mentioning here and there and just anger towards one of the main characters. There is a lot of death once you get into the action. Reading this book it makes me realize how much more I'm getting into Folklore horror. It's very interesting and makes you wonder if things like thiscouldbe out there. There is a lot negativity between the spouses in this story, so if that's a trigger, look away. The pacing is rather quick if you get into it. I definitely could have finished it in a day if I had the time.

A rather horrid death has happened in the woods, and it seems that's only the beginning. Is this the start of a killing spree? Or is it something far more sinister? Children are going missing, and if you believe in the old tales, there is something far darker than a person kidnapping children. Where are all the children going and what's going to happen to the town?

I truly enjoyed this book, even with such negative emotions throughout the book. It all sorts itself out in the end. This isn't exactly a creature feature, but it's definitely along the lines of something dark, disturbing, and it's ready to make you suffer.

This was an enticing story about a mother's relentless love and desire to find answers. It was a fast paced story with the answers we all need, right when they are needed most.

Wow this was really intense. I loved the way the author gave us characters that were so difficult, so unredeemable and made us root for them. The horror elements were great. The second half really dragged though. It became very repetitive and frustrating. But I did enjoy this overall!

Nowhere started off a tad uneventful but it steadily crept into a high speed train of action and horror. I genuinely might have a nightmare or two tonight. There have been an influx of creepy kid books as of late but Gunn did it with finesse. Not only were the horror aspects of this book done well, the suspense in this book was also top tier. I genuinely never knew how this story was going to end. Honestly, in hindsight, I can’t imagine a better ending. The hopelessness and depression our main couple feels in palpable from start to finish.

This was creepy! Much more on the horror side than I was expecting. But it kept me entertained. Didn’t love the ending, but still enjoyed the book.

Really glad I read this in one sitting on a plane ride, because I live in the woods and would be way too scared reading this at home it did get a bit repetitive around the 75% mark, but overall really solid, unique story! Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for something spooky.

Rachel is a highly unlikable main character that never really gets a redemption arc, and I actually really appreciated that.
Sometimes people just aren't great people and that's that.

Thank you to Atria books for is Advanced Readers Copy - coming fall 2025!

Nowhere
Allison Gunn

I can take you to heaven, but I'll have to kill you first.

This book will hit different for different people. It reminds me of when I got really into Labrinth songs. All I hear is the music and all I see are the videos I've seen filmed to it. It's not a matter of the material being different, its the experience that goes along with it that changes everything.

If you have religious trauma, if you have sexual orientation trauma, if you have an addiction that brought out the very bad parts of yourself that you wish never existed, if you've ever knelt on a kneeler literally or figuratively, this will hit different.

Rachel is the chief of a small Appalachian town, somewhere in the middle of NOWHERE. She is queer which she has always known but that she and her husband are just recently figuring out. He is a writer and is known around town for an article he wrote about the devastating ineptitudes of the town inhabitants. The article didn't go over well with them and it is part of what makes Rachel's difficult job, tenuous.

Rachel is called to the scene of a murder and I'll spare you the horrifying details. It left an imprint in my mind I still have not ironed out. On the scene she hears a song, lightly but distinctly and the more we hear about it the less we want to.

The Karma they have, their children pay for. The only way to really hurt them is through them. The only way to learn the lesson is to watch it play out in the ones you love. Because the perspective is different, it hits harder and sticks longer.

This book is described as a a mix between THE OUTSIDER and TRUE DETECTIVE. It does remind me of season one. It is the interesection where heaven and hell meet, where the Devil preys and God prays.

I cannot wait to see and adaptation of this which I'm sure is coming.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copies!

NOWHERE...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @atriabooks and Netgalley for my #gifted copy.

This is a book that will make you terrified of the woods! Grief is tearing Rachel’s family apart. In this small application town isn’t helping anything with knowing everything and everything. When girls start going missing, Racheal the police chief has to find them. But she also has a family she has to keep safe! The feelings of dread and tension kept me propelling through! I just needed to know what’s happening to these girls and was terrified! It pulls on your heartstrings as a parent. Such complicated feelings keep you reeling as they race to find answers that only get more complicated! You get this kind of sense of old folklore with the woods that’s make you always worried and just scared of it! There so much more going on too! This is a debut novel and I’ll be sure to keep up with Allison Gunns future books!

Holy moly this was so very creepy! I really enjoy/am terrified by the folklore of the Appalachian area so this one scratched that itch well! There were parts that seemed like they didn’t need to drag as long as they did, but overall I really liked this book!

This book was dark and full of gore. Not scary to me but definitely dark. I enjoyed the writing and the story telling in the book, I also like the slight nod to Roanoke and the missing village. I wished for a happy ending but towards the end knew that was not coming. Highly recommend for fans of American Horror Story, horror movies, and dark history.

I wanted to like this one so bad! Creepy forest kids?? Yes! But Rachel’s character was so unlikeable, it was actually unbearable to read her POV. I kinda wish I would have DNF’d this one.

I ended up really liking this one! I was expecting more of a thriller and the vibe is more horror to me, but I enjoyed it anyway. Rachel is Police Chief of a small, conservative, Appalachian Virginia town. She is still struggling with losing her son in an accident and has an unemployed alcoholic husband. They are pretty much still together for their surviving children. A body is found in the woods and then children begin disappearing. The woods are a character on their own, Very creepy and great spooky atmosphere. I did not particularly like Rachel or any of the other characters, but that sort of fit with the story. The characterization was good. This is a slow build, but worth it. I would read more from this author!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Allison Gunn and Atria Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Facebook and other retail and social media sites upon publication day of March 25, 2025.

_Nowhere_ by Allison Gunn is a dark and atmospheric horror read told from multiple points of view. Police chief Rachel Kennan is focused on her job to help with her grief of losing her son, and lives in a small town in Virginia with her husband and two daughters. When a disturbing crime takes place in the forest, Rachel and her family must meet their grief head-on and endure the mysteries of the town and surrounding woods.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had an interesting premise and complicated main characters. The beginning of this book was well-paced and intriguing, but as the story continued, the pacing was inconsistent and I found myself distracted. Rachel was a hard character to root for, and I found the region and side characters to be a bit stereotypical.

Overall this was not for me.

“Those woods… they wanted her attention, wanted to absorb her into the darkness until the world forgot her name. Wanted to steal her breath and return the forest to complete stillness.”

Rachel Kennan, a police chief of a small conservative town ridden with issues of substance abuse, is tasked with solving a mystery after a body is found in the woods. Plagued by her past and current imperfections, the situation gets more and more personal as she eventually is fighting for her family and her sanity.

‘Nowhere’ definitely had that creepy, unsettling vibe that I love in horror novels. It was slow to set that up in the beginning and then ramped up in the end to a suspenseful and chaotic mess. I liked that this story gave us a lot to dissect - complicated and flawed characters that are sent to judgement by a monster that represents likely some very real hatred in this world.

I struggled a bit with the dialogue in the book and the pacing. But I was surprised with how much overall I ended up enjoying this, especially with the switching POV. The ending definitely kept me intrigued! I’m excited to read Allison Gunn’s future work!

Title: Nowhere
Author: Allison Gunn (Debut Author)
Publisher: Atria
Genre: Mystery Thriller, Horror
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
My Rating: 3.3 Stars
Pages 304

Rachel Kennan is the chief of Police in Dahlmouth, Virginia which is a small Appalachian religious town.
She and her husband Finn- an unemployed journalist as well as their two daughters are suffering the loss of their son 8 year old Aiden who died in a car accident.
~It seems Finn’s alcoholism had something to do with the car accident.

Rachel and Finn have given up on working on their marriage. The only reason they stay together is for their two daughters. When a series of crimes happen one after another, Rachel's investigation reveals a terrifying force from the forest that wants the town's children.

I was draw to this story as I was born and raised in wild n wonderful West Virginia-
As I continued to read I knew this wasn’t my usual read but I was hoping it would work- as the ‘Author’s Note’ got my attention.

Debut Author Allison Gunn is a researcher, writer, and tarot reader with a penchant for all things whimsical and strange. Allison has extensively studied marginalized communities as well as folklore.
She tells us in her “Author’s Note” that her own life is the foundation for this story.
She hopes that is anyone is encountering a similar situation that they will find comfort in knowing they are not alone – you are strong and will escape your own Nowhere”.

Ms. Gunn is currently resides in the wonderfully weird land of West Virginia with her twin daughters, precocious pup, and one seriously troubled tabby.

Want to thank NetGalley and Atria for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 25, 2025.

This book was spooky. I started reading this at night and it had me creeped out. The atmosphere is fantastic. I was completely immersed and intrigued to find out what was going on throughout this story.

Rachel and her husband Finn are still grieving from the loss of their son when Rachel gets called out to a crime scene in the woods. There is a very mysterious death and children start to go missing.
There is a lot of mystery behind all of the disappearances and tensions rise as everyone starts to become uneasy.

The characters are extremely unlikable but it doesn’t make the story any less good. In fact, I think it might make the story better. I appreciated the glimpses of real life drama within this story. The characters were incredibly cruel to each other and it made me see how marriage really might be for some.

I was engaged in this story till the very end, and this certainly is not a story where you will have any sort of happy ending. If you love dark, mysterious, scary reads then you will probably love this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book. The writing was great and the characters were well developed. I hope to read more from this author in the future.