Book Review: What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

 

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

   What Lies in the Woods is written by Kate Alice Marshal and is published by Flatiron Books. In it, we are introduced to Naomi Shaw, a survivor of the serial killer, Alan Michael Stahl. At just eleven years old, she was pulled from the woods of her hometown suffering multiple stab wounds. Her friends Cass and Liv were in the woods that day and escaped the attack miraculously.

  Many years later and Naomi hears the news of Stahl's death in prison. She also receives a letter from Stahl's son stating she lied and asks her why. Her memories are vague and she wonders if she did lie. But if she accused the wrong man of her attack, then who tried to murder her? 

  Traveling back home, Naomi is reacquainted with her childhood friends as they meet in light of Stahl's death. Along the way, she is approached by a true crime podcaster who offers to help her with her investigation into that day in the woods. What they find is a truth that may tear apart her hometown.

  What Lies in the Woods was entertaining and Marshall's writing kept me intrigued by the story. Naomi is a fine example of an unreliable narrator. I rarely believed her and questioned her sanity a few times. However, I found that the mystery was easily solved early on as I started piecing together the clues left by the author.

  I read What Lies in the Woods in part with the narration of Karissa Vacker. Her delivery of the story was entertaining. Since this was a first-person narrative, her performance felt realistic, as if Naomi was sitting down and relaying her story to me. Excellent work.

  Three stars later, I have to say this was a well-written novel with an entertaining cast of characters. But it was the easily solved twists that kept me from adding any more stars. This is a great reading slump novel that will boost your yearly reading totals.   

 Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.

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