This was a really really good book that I literally had to finish as soon as I could. I got this book because I was in the mood for a horror/mystery/thriller and this absolutely did the trick. This isn’t the first novel I’ve read by Darcy Coates either. I really enjoyed Where He Can’t Find You even though it was way too similar to Stephen King’s IT, so I knew I needed to give more of her novels a try. This one did not disappoint. 

You get a lot of paranormal vibes from this novel and it’s honestly super creepy. I’m literally laying in bed right now staring at my door and waiting for something to pop out and kill me (I’ll definitely be watching a Disney movie after I finish typing this). 

Basically, you follow four college kids who are lost in the woods after trying to rescue Eileen, who went missing several days before. The police had been no help, but eventually, they start to follow these people’s tracks to save them before it’s too late. All is not what it seems in the woods, though, and with traps, creepy messages, and monster sightings, I basically went through this book absolutely positive that no one would make it out alive (you’ll have to check out the spoilers to see if I was right). 

Darcy Coates absolutely engulfs you in her book’s world and, seriously guys, I can’t get enough of it even though I’m scaring myself silly. The characters are amazing. The writing is amazing. The vibe is everything you could ever ask for. Need I say more? 

Spoilers ahead. 

Once you find out that it isn’t actually a monster in the woods, I knew that Decker was the perp. He was the only one who could have done such a large scale thing without being noticed. Also, dude was super dismissive for anything dealing with the missing hikers and the case in general with Eileen. 

Omg I can’t lie, I’ve definitely let my fair share of virtual people die in zoo games and villager games. Can we kill them was such a… not innocent, I guess, but naive child thing to do in those games and Decker making that a point as to why he “lets people die” (because he is in denial and swears he never killed anyone) really stopped me in my tracks. It kind of threw me and made me think, “Am I a psychopath?” Obviously not, though, because I can’t even watch dog movies without crying but still. I think we all killed our virtual people in one game or another. 

And ughhhhh why did Carla kill Decker????? That’s not justice. Justice would be him going to jail forever and rotting. Death was the easy way out for him.

RIP Anna. I’m sorry you had to die because you were actually my favorite aside from Hailey. Hailey was just a badass posing as a dumb blonde and you can’t beat that (literally if Elle Woods was plopped into a horror novel). 

Semi-RIP Todd? Obviously his death didn’t hurt because we didn’t know him, but he was a creep and I knew he’d be the sacrifice that shows the group the ways of the monster. So yeah, bye I guess? 

Eileen actually still being alive??? Complete shocker there and actually felt unrealistic. Had it been a week? Two? Because it was somewhere around that timeframe and I can’t imagine that she would’ve lived that long. Regardless, it was nice that at least the groups’ rescue mission wasn’t in vain. 

Overall, reserve a day when you want to read this book because you absolutely won’t want to put it down. I’m highly impressed with the quality of this story and am soo glad it didn’t end up copying another horror story like Where He Can’t Find You. This book gets ALL the stars 🫶🏻. Thank you for a restless, terrified night 😂. 

Source: Audiobook from Audible

(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)