336 pages
Published: January 2023
by Flatiron Books
Read:
Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes.
And they were liars.
For decades, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods—no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.
Trigger Warnings:
Main Characters
- Naomi Shaw (Cunningham) – wedding photographer
- Cass Green – wealthy; Mayor’s daughter; now owns a lodge
- Amanda, Cass’s daughter that she had when she was a senior in college
- Liv Barnes – has a lot of mental health issues, wealthy
- Cody Benham – Pulled Naomi from the woods when she was nearly murdered, now a state represetative; was best friends with Cass’s older brother, Oscar
- Oscar – Cass’s older brother
- Persephone
- Kimiko – Liv’s mom; a biologist
- Marcus – Liv’s dad; an environmental lawyer
- Big Jim – Cass’s dad; owns the last operating mill
- Chief Bishop – new in town, she is an ‘outsider’
- Officer Dougherty – officer that has been around a long time, had thought he was going to become Cheif
- Ethan Schreiber – Podcaster focusing on true crime
- Mitch – Naomi’s ex
- Alan Michael Stahl – serial killer, charged for the attack on Naomi
My Review
Naomi was 11 years old when she was attacked in the woods by a serial killer. She is now in her 30s and back visiting her home town after finding out the serial killer has died in jail from cancer. She goes to visit the 2 friends that were in the woods with her when she was attacked. Her best friend, Liv, ends up dead of a supposed suicide. Naomi doesn’t believe she killed herself and takes it upon herself to figure out what happened – with the help of a true crime podcaster that is in town to cover her story.
This book had a very “Final Girls” by Riley Sager vibe. I was hooked even if the I had a hunch about the ending. Naomi seems like such a bad ass, never wanting to cover up her scars from the incident. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing who the bad guy is.
Dislikes
- The unnecessary amount of times that “the trouble with a small town is it doesn’t take long to get from one end to the other”… in some fashion. Not sure why this bugged me but it seemed repeated enough that it stuck in my brain
Spoilers
u003cstrongu003eWarningu003c/strongu003e: This section contains spoilers! Do not expand this section if you don’t want to be spoiled!
Naomi runs into Ethan in the woods when she is looking for Liv. They find live in the pond dead. It turns out she was shot and then left in the pond by apparent suicide.
Ethan is Alan Michael Stahl’s son (AJ Stahl). He changed his name when he turned 18.
In the end, it turns out that the Liv and Cass attached Naomi. Liv thought she needed to in order to sacrifice for the Goddess game, but then didn’t like the blood and stopped. Cass continued to stab her. Naomi was coached into saying it was Stahl that had stabbed her when she was recovering in the hospital.
Oscar had statutory raped Naomi when she was 15.
Cody ends up helping to cover things up because he had murdered “Persephone”. Persephone was actually Jessi Walker, a runaway that had come to their town and was working as a waitress. Everyone seemed to love her, but she was having an affair with Big Jim. Big Jim told her that he wouldn’t leave his wife, she made a scene. Cody came and got her, they got in an argument, she fell and hit her head and Cody left her for dead.
Cody shoots Cass in the neck and kills her when she wanted to kill Naomi.
Naomi gets shot, but is able to get away and call Ethan for help. Cody is arrested. Naomi gets out of the hospital and Ethan finally comes to visit her and she decides to do a podcast with him