What Lies in the Woods: A Survivor’s Suspenseful Tale

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall was published in 2023.

Our Sleuth: Naomi Cunningham, 31, is a wedding photographer in the Pacific Northwest, and her job is the closest she’s allowed herself to come to happiness since a brutal knife attack nearly killed her when she was 11.

The Setting: Most of the story takes place in Chester, a small former logging town in Washington state. The action bounces back and forth between the summer of the attack twenty years ago and present day.

The Premise: As the novel opens, Naomi learns that the man she helped convict for her attack has died in prison. She hurries back to her hometown to meet with Cassidy and Olivia, the two girls who were with her in the woods during the attack. They’re all hiding secrets about that day, even from each other, and Olivia pushes to reveal some truths. When Olivia dies soon afterward, leaving what looks like a suicide note, Naomi refuses to believe it. She’s determined to get to the truth behind her friend’s death and uncover what really happened that long-ago day in the woods.

My Take: This was a fast-paced twisty tale that kept me in suspense until the final page, which I turned in the wee hours of the morning. Naomi, whose scarred face broadcasts her past, was tough even before the attack — deserted by her mom, raised by an alcoholic and neglectful dad, there’s little wonder she engaged in fantasy games in the woods. Her experiences throughout the novel make clear how much of a survivor she is. Naomi heads a wide cast of characters in a small town run by money and infested with lies. In particular, we see how mistakes that adults made in the past threaten Naomi and her friends today.

Opening Lines:

There is a wilderness in little girls.

We could not contain it. It made magic of the rain and a temple of the forest. We raced down narrow trails, hair flying wind-wild behind us, and pretended that the slender spruce and hemlock were still the ancient woods that industry had chewed down to splinters. We made ourselves into warriors, into queens, into goddesses.

Heads Up: It’s a traditional mystery, not a cozy, so some rough language and themes throughout. But there’s little gratuitous violence.

Of Note: While this is the author’s adult novel debut, she’s written a number of young adult suspense novels and that experience comes through here.