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Thursday, March 9, 2023

Review: What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication date  January 2023
They were eleven when they sent a killer to prison . . .
They were heroes . . . but they were liars.

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.

I was really looking forward to What Lies in the Woods.  I have enjoyed this author's YA books and was eager to see how she faired writing an adult book.  In this one, Naomi survived a brutal attack when she was eleven.  She and her friends put the man responsible away.  ow hs has died and she returns to her hometown because she has always felt something was wrong about what really happened that day.

I'll admit, I didn't really love this one.  It was kind of slow and boring for most of the book. I called the major reveal very early on. I had a hard time connecting with Naomi.  She made some questionable decisions, especially regarding one particular character after she learned the truth about him.  It was weird and creepy. I won't give away anything, in case you still want to read it.  It was OK, but not as enjoyable as her previous books that I have read.


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