What Waits in the Woods

Kieran Scott (AKA Kate Brian) was one of my favorite authors growing up, so when I found out she had a book I hadn’t read, I put it on hold at the library and snuck it in pretty quickly. What Waits in the Woods is of the same vein as a lot of other Scott/Brian books I’ve read, and I was intrigued. It’s a little spooky, kind of scary, makes me never want to camp ever, and wow, I’m glad I read it.

What Waits in the Woods take places in, you guessed it, the woods, over the course of several days. Callie, her boyfriend Jeremy, and her two friends, Lissa and Pen(elope) are hiking, and Callie’s never been on a hike this long before. Which means, of course, her friends feel the need to mock her for not breaking in her boots and tease her with stories of crazed serial killers, like the Skinner, in the woods waiting for them. So Callie’s freaked out, to say the least. It only gets worse when she becomes sure that someone is following them, leaving clues like broken dolls and knives in trees for them to find. And then…due to a broken bridge and a misstep, they’re lost, off the trail and on their own. Can they trust the stranger that stumbles upon them and offers to help? Has someone actually been following them? Where are those terrifying laughs coming from in the middle of the night?

This is a book about friendship, relationships, mental illness, stupidity in the woods, and more. It’s spooky and thrilling and yes, I kind of suspected the person of interest, but I was still intrigued by how it played out. Who can you trust? Frankly, no one, but that’s beside the point. This reminded me of some of the aspects of Private and Privilege series, which is how I suspected the suspect, but this is a great book if you like spookiness in the woods!