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

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.

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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