The Woods are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins
Genre: Survival Horror
Reviewed by Emily, Teen Librarian at Kinderhook Library
Rating: 6/10
The Woods are Always Watching is one of those books that I remember thinking sounded interesting when I read the review, and then promptly forgot everything I read about the actual story. The cover stuck with me more than anything: the haunting trees; the understated, slightly off text and color of the title. I saw it was available on Libby on an evening I was taking a long drive, and thought I’d listen without rereading the summary. I knew going in that the book would be a scary story, but I wasn’t sure what type (Would it be ghosts? An axe murderer?), and I think that not knowing actually made me like the book more.
Recent high school graduates Neena and Josie just want one last best friends adventure before Neena leaves town for college in another state. On a whim, the two girls decide to go on a three-day hike in the Pisgah National Forest, a real place in North Carolina that covers mountains part of the Appalachian Trail. Neither of the girls have experience backpacking, nor do they have cell coverage–but they do have equipment and some basic training from Josie’s brother, an experienced hiker.
I won’t lie; I didn’t actually like the first half of this book. I was on a three-hour drive, and just waiting to hear where this book would go, thinking there was a decent chance one or both of these characters would die by the end of the story. The first part is built up like the start of The Blair Witch Project; people arguing in the woods and making mistakes that have definitely led to real world deaths in the wilderness. Then, three hours in (and about ten minutes from my destination), things took a horrifying and extremely gross turn.
One of the girls is injured (I won’t give away the details), and everything that I had thought seemed off in the first half started coming together. Little details suddenly started making sense, and while I still couldn’t piece together the mystery of just what was lurking in the woods (not for another chunk of the book anyway), I was fully engaged trying to figure it out. My three-hour return trip was basically me alternating between coming up with theories on where this was going, and then shrieking at my dashboard because of the body horror (again, extremely gross turn with that injury).
The Woods are Always Watching is basically a horror movie in book form. Sitting at just over 200 pages, this survival horror story is good for readers looking for a short but satisfyingly spooky read.