This week’s Horror Book Recommendation is THAT NIGHT IN THE WOODS by Kristopher Triana. Published in October 2023, the book is on the bestsellers list for Occult Horror and Dark Fantasy Horror.
Customers who bought this book, have given positive reviews and described the book as a thrilling read. Many found the mystery compelling and praised the author for making the slow burn technique work for his book.
There was however a negative remark regarding the author’s dependence on using horror tropes to tell the story and the rushed climax.
Quick Book Review of THAT NIGHT IN THE WOODS (based on sample)
Nostalgia can be a good thing. It can bring up past memories and fill you with happiness. Unless of course, the happiness is short-lived and leads to something sinister.
The book opens with the introduction of Jennifer, who has just been divorced and is shocked when she receives a message from her ex-boyfriend Scott. He is still good-looking according to his social media profile and he is still very much single. Jennifer, who wants to move forward with her life, replies to him and begins messaging him.
We then meet Corey and Gretchen, a couple who is having a disagreement on spending money on collectibles. After the argument dies down, Corey is surprised to see a message from Scott too, but it is the content of the message that stuns him. Steven Winters is dead.
Next, it is Traci and Kordell who are discussing Scott’s email and the fact that Steven is dead. Initially reluctant, Scott manages to convince her to attend the funeral.
Then we meet Mark, who clearly owes people money and is dodging bill collectors. When he learns that Scott had called for him, his reaction is more than surprised.
Eventually the friends all meet up at Scott’s place and Jennifer is less than thrilled to see that instead of reconnecting with Scott on a one by one basis, she has to meet her old friends as well.
There is something going on and the author cleverly hides it in the narrative. You will think that it is about high school friends reconnecting after a long time, but at the end of the every chapter, there is a subtle hint towards something foreboding going on.
Scott seems just a little too eager to get the gang back together…
The story flows smoothly and the characters are drawn out effectively. In a few paragraphs, we understand just how these characters behave and how they think.
The building suspense will make you want to read further. The book seems like a definite page-turner.
THAT NIGHT IN THE WOODS Plot
When Jennifer receives a message from Scott Dwyer after twenty years without contact, her first reaction is one of excitement. Scott was her first love. Now in her forties and in the middle of a divorce, nostalgia for her youth gets the better of her.
Scott invites Jennifer to his house in Redford, the town she grew up in. It’s a place she’s tried to put behind her, for not all childhood memories are sunny. When she accepts Scott’s invite, she struggles with mixed feelings, especially when she learns of the death of Steven Winters, one of her childhood friends.
Scott invites three people from their past to honor Steven’s memory—Corey, Traci, and Mark. But the group is more than old friends. They share a dark secret that has troubled them for decades. Now it’s time to face their traumatic pasts. Together, they must unravel the mystery of what happened in the patch of forest behind Scott’s house, a place once known as Suicide Woods.
From the author of Gone to See the River Man comes a chilling novel that reminds us that old ghosts are the ones that haunt us most.
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