What Lies in the Woods: A Novel

I'm a first timer reading this author and was not disappointed. Many of her paragraphs can be beautiful quotes. Her writing is very special. The story was unique and I will be reading more from this author. This was a fast paced easy read and I was very invested. Thank you for sharing your brain with us Ms Marshall

This was a a twisty and suspenseful ride. It was a tiny bit slow and I found myself getting board but then all of a sudden everything picked up speed very fast and then couldn’t put it down. It was an enjoyable read that kept my focus for the most part.

I loved it all. I haven't read a good mystery in a long while. It was a great pallet cleanser with great twists.

The story is mostly interesting. Kind of a fun read. Better than most true crime style mysteries, but not the best. Has a Sharp Objects type of damaged female protagonist. But she, Naomi, is unlikeable and never develops. I'm not religious but she needs God.She's also horribly unintelligent and never once in 20 years questions anything about arguably the most impactful moment of her life. You may spend a lot of time screaming at her in your head and telling her to wake up. In real life, sometimes it's not your fault the trauma you encounter, but it is your responsibility to yourself and others to get better. Naomi never does.The story has some twists but they were incredibly easy to see coming. Ever character in this book is a bad person. You can pretty much assume everyone is guilty because that's what their actions and statements convey. Its like watching a boxer telegraphing a punch. You know whats coming too soon and wish there was more mystery.Spoiler ahead:Actually, the only good person was Ethan. Its funny how Naomi blames him like he did something terrible, when in reality, he did the most to help her. Its ironic that she continues to blame him, despite her being a bigger liar. But like I said earlier, she never develops. Just continues to live in daily self pity, dishonesty, and self serving thoughts.

Once I started I was hooked... and the surprises kept on coming. I thought maybe I had it figured out, but that would've been too easy. Overall a good thriller and a little hint-- go with who you would least suspect. Good luck!

Loved it, I’m not sure if it is based off of a true story but it was well written and the characters were believable and I’m empathized with Naomi ♥️

This story was easy to relate to as I compare it to the slender man crime in Wisconsin. Three young girls play mystical games in the woods during the summer to pass the time. One girl gets attacked and left for dead, but who did it? The story does a good job of character building and turns in a direction some would not expect. I had a feeling early on, but changed my opinion many times through out. Definitely worth the read!

Loved every single page of this book, one of those books that you can't put down. So many twists and turns, that leaves you guessing what's next the whole time! So so good!

I haven read the book yet. The price was amazing. The amazon emails lead to an extremely low price book. Down loads was superfast

Loved it all, great twists and turn the whole way through. Didnt want it to end. 10/10 would recommend to a friend

Konnte das Buch nicht weglegen. Kann ich zu 100% weiterempfehlen

This book was amazing.While a lot of what was happening was easy to predict, the writing and the story made you constantly second guess yourself. You had to really go with your gut if you were going to make an assumptions, because you were left questioning if you were right, or if that was just what they wanted you to think.Overall, I inhaled this book and didn’t want to put it down.

**SPOILER ALERT** Well, this wasn't terrible but also not particularly good. I anticipated this read a lot and felt let down by the execution in more than one way. The writing isn't bad, it's more that it feels like it targets a younger audience, despite the novel's target group. Well, that and that I don't think the author did a good job at building up tension or write the few action scenes. And - and this is the most important point for me- I found this story unbearably predictable.Let's be real, I wanted to read this story bc I suspected from the blurb that Liv and Cass had been the perpetrators from the very beginning. If you're fairly acquainted with the True Crime Community, the whole set-up was a dead give-away. I had no problem with that. It was, in fact, the reason why I wanted to read this book. I was curious how the author would weave the betrayal and overall story around it, all with the appeal of a tight-knitted smalltown community where things got swept under the rug more often than you'd think. Unfortunately, the twists happened in a bulk whereas the middle of the book was entirely void of any progress. And those twists also weren't that good, though the ideas made sense. I just think that they weren't on the same level as other thriller twists. even if they're simple they can still show a massive effect if put at the right place and used for the right plot point.Another thing that I really didn't vibe with were the characters and their constellations. They were a bit too cliché and I've seen them multiple times already. Naomi as a main character felt like the author wanted to write an unlikable, broken character bc we see so little of them, but couldn't quite pull it off. Take Courtney Summers, for an example. I don't think that female characters have to be toned down or be more likable to be good leads, but you need to write them well, which is where Summers excels at. She shows through her girls' actions and thoughts that they are difficult and doesn't need to write multiple times "I am so broken, I'm a mess" like Kate Alice Marshall did in this novel here.I think it's a very okay-read, but nothing inventive, original or ground breaking. I have hopes that Marshall writes more thrillers and makes a good progress here, bc there really is potential.