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.

I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

I used to read a lot of YA – even as an adult – but lately, I feel a huge disconnect with it unless it’s fantasy or occasionally sci-fi based. I had high hopes for this one, and while it had me eagerly turning the pages through the first half, it kind of lost me in the last half.

The story follows a group of troubled teens who find themselves in a dangerous situation. The book begins with foster kid Devin Green waking up to find herself the victim of a planned abduction. Devin and a handful of other teens are taken to a remote location in the Idaho woods and dropped off. Two counselors meet them and tell them that they are part of an outdoor therapy program, which consists of a 50-day hike through the wilderness with the intent of helping the teens break their self-destructive habits. The counselors go missing a few days into the hike, leaving the teens to fend for themselves. It’s not long before they start to see weird shapes in the woods – shapes that have human forms and faces – and they quickly realize that they are up against something inhuman and will need to rely on each other to survive.

One of the things that worked for me was that the author does an excellent job of creating a sense of tension and mystery from the very beginning. From the kidnapping to the unknown intent of the counselors, the secrets around the program and the isolated setting – I was definitely creeped out at first. The dynamics between the characters, particularly the interactions between Devin and Sheridan – an overly bitchy teen – add extra tension to the story.

As the plot progresses, the relationships between the characters evolve, raising the stakes as danger sets in and alliances are formed. Things really elevated when the counselors disappeared, leaving the teens to fend for themselves, and when the creepy figures came into play, I was all in – but then things really slowed down for me.

After the initial setup, the plot began to feel repetitive. We get an idea of what the teens are up against, and then the tension was set aside, and we got several chapters of character development that – while helpful – really hampered the forward movement of the story. I also felt that the final battle was expected and a little anticlimactic, and I wasn’t a fan of how everything was tied up in a pretty bow at the end, though I realize that this is YA, and that is kind of expected. I also recognize that this is more of a me issue and not necessarily a bad thing for the average reader.

I both read and listened to this one, and I felt that as far as the narration goes, Lindsey Dorcus did a great job of portraying each character, matching their personalities perfectly.

This one started out really strong for me. The atmosphere is creepy, the characters engaging, and the mystery pulled me in – but then it slowed down too much, and I lost interest. Fans of YA fiction and thrillers alike will likely love this one. For me, it was just okay.