An intense thriller

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall is a thrilling mystery filled with secrets, twists, and buried trauma. As children, Naomi and her two best friends survived a brutal attack in the woods, and their testimony put a serial killer behind bars. But years later, Naomi starts questioning everything she thought she knew. Returning to her hometown, she is determined to uncover the truth, but what she finds is more dangerous than she ever imagined.

What an exciting thriller! I found myself genuinely tense multiple times, which doesn’t always happen when I read thrillers. Throughout the story, I came up with several theories, but not all of them turned out to be true. There were definitely some twists I didn’t see coming, which kept me hooked.

I really liked Naomi as the main character. She felt grounded and engaging. Having been through so much trauma, I truly felt for her and admired her determination to uncover the truth. The story doesn’t dwell too much on inner monologues, which helped maintain a steady pace.

Why 4 stars instead of 5? While all the loose ends are tied up by the end, the final stretch felt overwhelming. Too many revelations happened in a short amount of time, making it hard to process what was actually true. It was a bit over the top. That said, it was still a very exciting read!