Small-town folk horror featuring a cop mom doing her best (probs could be doing better tbh) to keep her family together. after the death of her son, her life, along with her husband and two daughters' lives sort of never recovered. When a body shows up in the woods, everything really starts to get creepy and weird.

This novel brings folk town lore and family drama to deliver one pretty scary story. I really enjoyed this book, the kids were so creepy and it gave me the same vibes as the movie Smile. The characters weren't perfect but I think they were likable enough and you could easily see yourself falling into the same mistakes they did.

Overall, I really loved this story and thought it was executed really well and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to dive into a horror story that will literally give you chills.

This book was creeepy!! I really enjoyed it a lot. The book grabbed my attention from beginning to end. It has very complicated characters, supernatural elements and lots of surprises.

Wowww, Nowhere is one of the best while also most terrifying books I have read this year. This did give off vibes of The Outsider, Mare of Eastown, but also I would say even the horror of Chuck Wendig. What happens if you can't trust your family? If your children aren't acting like themselves? If your innermost horrors are coming alive and consuming the ones you care about most? Nowhere is the eerie feeling of walking through a dark forest and waking and realizing it was a dream, or was it?

A terrifying horror story a dark page turner.A debut that made me look forward to more by this talented author.#netgalley #atriabooks

This was a solid horror debut. I appreciate that it did not hold back from going very dark and very grim. I did think it lagged a bit in some of the interpersonal/character building, it felt like a lot of conversations or internal glimpses were very repetitive and didn’t build in a very interesting way. Other than that, solid writing.

This book definitely gave me early Stephen King. A mixture of horror, addiction, and interpersonal conflict it reminded me a lot of The Shining. The religious, small Appalachian town was a great setting for an creepy tale and the religious aspects melded well with the folklore. This is a very fun Halloween read and would appeal to lovers of the supernatural and true crime. There have been a lot of eye centric violence in horror novels recently and I am here for it!

*Spoilers ahead*


I really enjoyed the beginning of this novel and couldn't put it down. As I read more though, I became less interested. The description of the novel is a bit misleading, as the original crime is mentioned once and then maybe two or three more times. It is not a murder investigation novel, but more of a paranormal novel. While it was enjoyable, I do feel misled by the description. I didn't like any of the characters, and wasn't a fan of the ending. Some things felt abrupt when they shouldn't have, such as the townspeople completely turning on (and trying to kill) the main character and her husband. While it's established that the couple is not liked by the townspeople, the vitriol they show at the end of the novel is intense. Overall, an interesting read. I just wish it were a better story.

What a hard book to rate. I might be editing this a bunch, who knows. I will need to reflect on this novel.

This was an incredibly well written novel. The characters are rich and the emotions are vividly felt. The creeping horror feeling and atmosphere of impending doom were gripping. From this perspective, this novel is clearly worth 5-stars. If you are a horror fan (like me), this might be just what you are looking for.

That said, I personally didn't like this novel that much. I feel like it was a really good novel, but it just didn't connect with me. I liked the reading experience, didn't love the novel. There were a lot of plot choices/directions that I didn't particularly like. The ending in particular I didn't really enjoy, even though I objectively recognize that it is likely a good ending. I also didn't like the many POV's that were used in the novel. I understand why it was done, to show the reader more of what is going on, but I disliked the result of this approach for the protagonists.

So I am thinking 5-stars for this being a great novel, and 1-star for the fact that I personally didn't like it. So what is a reviewer to do? Lol...

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Bizarre, creepy, dark, and mysterious, Nowhere was a strange one that had me thinking about it after I finished the book. This book touches on death, sexuality, marriage, loss, guilt, blame, grief, and addiction to name a few. Plus, it contains Appalachian folklore which makes for a truly unsettling book.

Police chief Rachel Kennan is still reeling from the loss of her son while her husband, Finn grapples with his own guilt after his alcoholism led to the accident which caused their son's death. Both are together for the sake of their daughters, but this family can't take much more.

A gruesome discovery has Rachel's investigative team going where few dare to go, and the forest begins calling to their children......

Again, this was a creepy and bizarre one. While it is sinister, I was all over the place with my feelings on it. I liked it, then I didn't like it, then my interest was piqued, then my interest waivered. One thing that did work very nicely was how the author created atmosphere and tension. It set the mood and created the something-is-very-wrong vibe in the book. The sense of unease and dread that flowed throughout the book was a very nice touch. The creepiness of the forest was stellar.

I really wanted to love this one but it was lacking that little bit of something that would have pushed my review higher.

Others are enjoying this more than I did, so please read their reviews as well.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This was an interesting story, although it felt like it could have been told much more quickly. A tiny town, small-minded bigotry, and children disappearing. It has all the right elements. I did really enjoy the ending, so kudos to the author for that!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

The spooky factor here was fun and creepy; the character development, not so much. It fascinates me that Gunn lives in Appalachia and purportedly loves it-- the sense I got from the novel was that she kinda thought everyone was a jerk. The folklore element felt a bit pasted on, and not inherent to the setting.

Move over Stephen King, Allison Gunn is a horror author with a creepy new book! A small-town police chief named Rachel Kennan is called to investigate a strange discovery in the woods outside of town. At first, the unusual happenings are attributed to a local family of meth producers. As local people are reported missing, it becomes obvious that the odd disappearances are more than drug-related. Chief Kennan is still grieving from the loss of her son. Her nerves are frayed and her teenage daughter is determined to irritate her mother even more. The sheriff's office is contacted for help but dismisses the odd occurrences as drugs and coincidence. With outside assistance, Rachel has to begin investigating her town.

Something is in the woods. and as the search begins for two missing children, more strange events happen. Voices, noises, and apparitions all plague the searchers. Strange twists and turns keep the reader wondering what could come next. It is compelling reading that keeps bringing up more and more questions. The ending is intense, shocking, and mind-blowing. Remember to decompress after this ending.

Horror fans will enjoy the quick-paced look into small-town life where nothing is as it seems and you never, ever should go into the woods alone. My thanks to NetGalley, Atria Publishing, Allison Gunn, and Zakiya Jamal for the advanced reader copy.

I wanted so much to like this book. It’s exactly up my alley with a remote town surrounded by wilderness, and something night quite natural lurking out among the trees. Allison Gunn’s Nowhere had so much promise lackluster execution.

Nowhere’s point-of-view switches between a few characters but focuses primarily on Rachel and Finn, a married couple trying to hold onto their tattered relationship. The couple moved to small-town Dahlmouth with their three children so that Rachel could advance her career, assigned as the town’s chief of police. Things don’t go well for Rachel or Finn, they’re constantly ostracized by the town, their son is killed in a drunk driving incident, and their relationship begins to fall apart. Rachel ices out her husband and engaged in a number of affairs while Finn stays home, taking care of their children and trying to ease the guilt of being the drunk driver that killed their son.

When a mysterious hiker is found dead in the woods and the children of Dahlmouth begin to go missing, Rachel and Finn’s relationship implodes.

I loved the premise of this book (and the cover). It reminded me a lot of Sharp Objects and the Woods are Waiting, both novels that I enjoyed, so I thought I’d be able to add Nowhere to my collection of spooky, woodsy novels. Nowhere starts off strong with its mysterious, unsettling atmosphere. A pair of deputies driving through Dahlmouth, finding it completely abandoned, a hiker found gruesomely nailed to a tree in the woods. Already, Nowhere’s suspense it building, and just as quickly, it’s popped as Charlie finds herself consumed by the thing in the woods. While the scene sets the novel into the supernatural, it also removed all of the suspense. Now, the reader knows what’s out in the woods and what it can do. While the characters still have to piece everything together, instead of building my anxiety with that of the characters, I just felt annoyed that they weren’t piecing things together. Then when they’re told what’s happening, by Lucy, by the Wise girl, by Jeremy’s grandmother’s stories, they completely disregard it.

If you’ve heard me talk about books, my favorites are always those with strong, realistic, and driven characters. Nowhere felt very plot-driven. That’s not a bad thing; there are plenty of novels driven by the plot instead of the story. In horror particularly, characters tend to be shoved around by what’s happening to them, unable to stop the horror once its begun. The problem with Nowhere is that the characters are stagnant. They don’t do a whole lot of changing between the beginning and the end and when their opinions or thoughts or feelings do change, their emotions just don’t feel organic. So many of the characters are driven by anger and guilt, and frankly, it just made them unlikable. Jeremy was the only character that felt likable, and even then, had a few moments where he was also deeply unlikable. And just like novels not needing to be character-driven, novels don’t need to have identifiable characters either. It’s important to have characters with flawed or unlikable traits; it makes them more real and tangible. My only problem is that I had such a difficult time identifying with any of them. They all just felt so angry, so self-righteous all of the time. (I also have feelings about the fact that Finn would drink and drive with the children in the car, but then it turns out the monster in the woods actually made him crash, killing his son, and apparently that makes the whole thing all better.)

So, the suspense is gone, the characters forgettable, the storytelling needs to be real solid to keep a reader engaged. Like I said at the beginning, I really loved the premise of Nowhere (and I still do!). That said, there’s a number of loose ends that are flying in the wind. I found myself asking through the last half of the book, what happened to the Wise girl that Rachel and Jeremy left abandoned in her trailer? I waited for Rachel or Finn (but mostly Rachel) to show any sort of emotions about two of her children dying. I waited to see the Sheriff’s reaction to find out that all of Dahlmouth had died or why he wanted to keep the file Michelle gave him to himself. I wanted to know what happened to all the bodies; it seems the deputies didn’t find them, but the hiker and Lucy’s bodies were found, so why not the rest of the town too? Especially those that didn’t die in the woods. I waited for literally anyone to realize the error of not giving offerings to Nowhere, to recognize the errors that they’d made. I found myself constantly aching for answers but being left behind.

The real redeeming point for Nowhere is that the ending is real solid. Definitely my favorite scene in the whole novel; I found the ending to be a good closure on Rachel and Finn and the story of Dahlmouth. The ending called back to the opening scene, giving the novel two nice bookends. It brought back the suspense, the uncomfortable unsettledness that the book had when I’d just cracked it open for the first time.

If only the entire novel could have kept me as enraptured.

A Haunting Journey into the Unknown

Allison Gunn's Nowhere is a captivating blend of mystery, horror, and character-driven storytelling that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Set in a small, Appalachian town, the novel follows Rachel Kennan, a police chief grappling with personal tragedy and a series of disturbing disappearances.

Gunn skillfully weaves a chilling atmosphere, drawing inspiration from local folklore and the haunting beauty of the wilderness. The tension builds steadily as Rachel delves deeper into the mystery, uncovering secrets that threaten to tear her family apart and shatter the fragile peace of her community.

What sets Nowhere apart is its exploration of grief, redemption, and the enduring power of human connection. The characters are complex and relatable, each struggling with their own demons. Rachel's journey is particularly compelling as she navigates the challenges of her profession while confronting her own personal loss.

The pacing is well-executed, with a balance of slow-burn tension and heart-pounding action. The supernatural elements are introduced seamlessly, adding a layer of dread and unease to the narrative. Gunn's prose is evocative, painting vivid pictures of the Appalachian landscape and capturing the emotional turmoil of the characters.

Nowhere is a must-read for fans of horror, mystery, and character-driven storytelling. It's a haunting and thought-provoking novel that will stay with you long after the final page.

I completly agree with the. blurb on goodreads saying its like the outsider and mayor of kingstown put together. As soon as the book started I knew I would want to try and :"solve" the case before Rachel the police chief. I can imagine how the loss of a child would make you throw yourself in your work and then all the issues with the rest of the family. I really enjoyed how atmospheric this book was ive been starting to enjoy books like that more and more now that fall has arrived. I also love virginia so thats always a fun part of it for me. I wanted bigger thrills and twists tbh I felt like something was missing but the ending was really good and tied everything together. At least for me.

This is one of the most terrifying books I've ever read. It kept me up at night and gave me nightmares. I Loved It.

Creeped me the ##ck out. Gunn does a brilliant job using the woods as a villian. I loved every moment. I could have finished in a sitting but gah it was so creepy I needed breaks.
A family struggling with the tragic loss of a child becomes the target of whatever lurks in the woods. Their oldest daughter and her friends bring it into town - starting a whirlwind demise.

The characters’ inner monologues were so disturbing, bitter, and angry that it made this almost hard to read. However that means it was very well written! No one comes off looking good in the book but the atmosphere created was incredible.

The start of the book was gripping and extremely descriptive; however, the more I was introduced to the characters themselves, the more distant I felt to the story. I feel the characters were shallow and I couldn't connect with any one of them.
I feel the main character, Rachel, a police chief and mother, lacked a lot of personality and responsibility.
There was a -a lot- that was mentioned about each person's characteristics and demeanor that wasn't fully explained in order to make them likeable or to make me care about their role in the story.
There were a few punctuation errors and wording that I, personally, would have done differently, but overall, it was a very easy read.

A body was found in the woods and children go missing. A little girl with almost an extra sense - It screams campfire horror story and reads like i am being told one; however, the slowburn made me not want to finish it at all.
Having to force myself to the end took away any "wow factor" that could have been.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to share my opinion and for my free advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.