A Delightfully Disturbing Debut: Carrie Lee South’s In the Woods They Wait
A review of Carrie Lee South's horror debut that explores the emotional elements at play in the book.
We partner with Bookshop for all our book links. Any purchase you make through our links helps support Darker Times.
The wilderness is home to so much we cannot see. Thick forests, caves with unending depths, and trails that fade into overgrowths house what does not wish to be perceived. But what about the human emotions we would rather hide within our own being? Our sense of guilt, regret, and anger? The human body only allows for so much camouflage, and Carrie Lee South’s debut novel, In the Woods They Wait, offers a glimpse into the convergence of setting and character, exploring the atmospheric horrors of what would prefer to remain hidden.
Guilt is a fickle component of humanity, especially as it pertains to mistakes made in our youth. This specific kind of guilt has the power to dictate the rest of our lives, nearly acting as a haunting specter riding shotgun to every decision we make. In the case of Audrey Figg, the main character of this novel, she is forever affected by the disappearance of her younger brother, Benny. Audrey quite literally dedicates her life to the state park, working as a park ranger and roaming the same trails that stole her brother. Carrie Lee South’s crafting of Audrey’s character is extremely haunting, not because she works in a place that houses unsolved mysteries, but because Audrey is haunted by the fateful day she last saw Benny. Maybe ghosts and ghouls don’t linger over her shoulder, but the actions she took (or didn’t take) are never far from her mind, nearly living and breathing creatures themselves.
Carrie Lee South
Now, In the Woods They Wait is best entered with as little information as possible, but there’s a compelling argument that we can define this book as a ghost story for the reasons mentioned above. Ghostly narratives can rely on a singularly haunted location, but in this instance, the vast wilderness proves to be equally terrifying in a very specific way. Rivaling Aubrey’s deeply affecting character perspective is the horror lurking physically unseen, pulling every string of Aubrey’s trauma. We don’t know what exactly happened to Benny, only the fallout of his disappearance, and the repetitive nature of these unsolved mysteries with an inability to stop them from occurring.
With another child going missing under similar circumstances, the threat of whatever is to blame for Benny’s fate is no longer distant, bringing the fear of external horror right up to par with Audrey’s internal strife. The combination of Aubrey’s characterization and such a harrowing setting makes for one hell of reading experience, fraught with tension, suspense, and deeply affecting atmosphere.
Perhaps most impressive of all is South’s full tilt into horror on so many fronts as evidenced by the book’s conclusion. No punches are pulled, and every opportunity to showcase the brutality of what lurks in the wilderness is fully taken. This is a debut that isn’t concerned with shying away from harsh truths, gore, or the monstrous; In the Woods They Wait is refreshingly bold.
Intense, frightening, and deeply impressive, Carrie Lee South’s novel explores the nooks and crannies of the current horror genre, delivering a delightfully disturbing debut.
In the Woods They Wait is on shelves now from Little Brown Books.
Help support Darker Times–become a paid subscriber today!
Book Synopsis
Fifteen years ago, Audrey Figg’s little brother, Benny, vanished on a family vacation to Devil’s Den state park, a day that split her life in two. Now, Audrey is a park ranger in the very same woods with expertise in wilderness search and rescue. Audrey has found a rhythm to her days: training new rangers, tending to injured hikers, protecting the backcountry, and still, searching.
When a little girl, Ivy, suddenly goes missing on the trails, Audrey can’t help but notice the similarities to her own brother’s case. As Audrey widens the scope of her search, she begins to believe Ivy wasn’t merely lost; it looks like she was taken by something—and maybe Benny was too. Yet the closer Audrey comes to answers, the more old memories push to the surface. Audrey is haunted not only by her brother’s loss, but a terrible secret from that day. A secret she has never shared with anyone.
Read more on the publisher's page here.
And if you'd like to hear Carrie speak about the novel more, you can listen to Anna's interview here.
A review copy of the above title was sent to us from the publisher. Opinions are our own.
Comments ()