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Yellowjackets meets Girl, Interrupted when a group of troubled teens in a wilderness therapy program find themselves stranded in a forest full of monsters eager to take their place. Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. No stranger to a fight, she calls to her foster parents for help, but it soon becomes clear this is a planned abduction—one everyone but Devin signed up for. She’s shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she’s dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they've all been enrolled in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways—and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness—they’ll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say. Devin is immediately determined to escape. She’s also determined to ignore Sheridan, the cruel-mouthed, lavender-haired bully who mocks every group exercise. But there’s something strange about these woods—inhuman faces appearing between the trees, visions of people who shouldn't be there flashing in the leaves—and when the campers wake up to find both counselors missing, therapy becomes the least of their problems. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the teens quickly realize they’ll have to trust each other if they want to survive. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other—and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive. Atmospheric and sharp, What the Woods Took is a poignant story of transformation that explores the price of becoming someone—or something—new.
Enjoying a lot so far. Very readable, very 👀. We'll see if Gould can stick the landing but I read like half of it in one sitting, which is always a good sign.
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0**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**
Actual rating: 3.5
Courtney Gould presents her third novel, What the Woods Took. A YA queer survival horror, readers follow five "troubled" teens who have been sent to wilderness therapy. It doesn't take long for the adults to go missing, leaving the teens to find for themselves in the woods. When they start to see impossible things, it becomes difficult to know who to trust and what is real. Told from the perspectives of Devin, a lesbian foster child who has been kicked out of one too many schools, and Ollie, whose dad accuses him of stealing his grandmother's pain pills from her cancer treatments. What the Woods Took pulls no punches and puts the entirety of the kids' lives into question.
Content warnings for mentions of kidnapping, sexual assault, homophobia, drug abuse, death of a loved one, body horror, emotional abuse, and more. Please read with care.
While there are five teens in the wilderness therapy program, the story told is really the story of Ollie, Sheridan, and Devin most of all. I felt it was interesting to have less weight given to Hannah and Aiden except through the lens of the other characters. This choice, in part, makes sense for numerous factors, but still sits a little awkwardly for me. Gould does well with creating real discord in the group and creating a real threat to survival, but there is a feeling of plot armor that is inherent for our main three characters.
I have learned that I likely should consume these types of stories via audio, since I tend to struggle with becoming initially invested at the start of the story. I did read this book entirely via ebook and found that the pace picked up about a third of the way in.
I would not hesitate to recommend this book to the target demographic or to fans of this type of story. I am grateful for the opportunity to read this book early.
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