The Woods Are Waiting is one of those Southern gothics drenched in history, folklore, and blood. Cheyenne Ashby is an Ashby, a member of a family whose potions, spells, and sacrifices have protected Blue Cliff, a small town in the Appalachian mountains. Their home is outside of town in the center of a forest that seems so real I almost write “forest who…” The forest is a malevolent and haunting presence in the town and in everyone’s nightmares, for generation after generation of Blue Cliff children have been taken and murdered there.

Cheyenne was called back to town by the local sheriff who keeps an eye on her mother who seems to be deteriorating. She left five years earlier after three children were murdered in the forest as had happened generation after generation. When she left the town, she left her best friend Natalie and her lover Jack, who understandably are a bit untrusting of her resolve to stick around this time.

And it’s understandable because another child is missing and the man convicted of murdering those children five years ago has been released, exonerated by DNA evidence. If he’s innocent, then the killer is still among them.

The Woods Are Waiting is a good Gothic mystery. There are strong elements of the supernatural that can be as easily explained as human action, so there is always this uncertainty. Cheyenne seems to believe whatever happens, it’s by human agency, but even she wonders from time to time. The writing is lushly descriptive and the woods succeed in become a presence that is more than their physical being.

The weakest element is the characters. They are pretty flat and Natalie is downright inexplicable, engaged to the repugnant Hunter, I cannot conceive how that woman tolerated that arrogant and cruel man for 5 minutes, let alone years. The class distinctions are so rigid and seem completely foreign. I grew up in a small town, there are not enough people to be as class exclusionary as Hunter’s and Natalie’s parents are. No matter what, Natalie seemed to have enough character and judgment that her engagement to Hunter has no credibility. And of course, why would Hunter be engaged to a woman he thought was worth so little?

Still, the mystery was engrossing. I was disappointed that the resolution and discovery of the truth was mainly of the DC-villain variety with the evil villain narrating their obsession from start to finish. I also think Cheyenne and Natalie did not live up to heroine status in the end, crying and hoping for external salvation in the end. But what really brought the book down the most in my opinion was the last sentence. It is such a tired trope. It is the horror story analog of a rim shot. Ba-dum-tiss.

I received an e-galley of The Woods Are Waiting from the publisher through NetGalley.