Thomas & Mercer
Published September 1, 2025
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing
Set in the Adirondack Mountains, this thriller is imbued with the sense of menace that many city dwellers feel when confronted with remote forest settings. But here it is not the wilderness itself, but rather the people who have headed to the mountains and forests of upstate New York, who are the threat. Hayley, who is most comfortable in New York City where she is surrounded by other people and knows the concrete terrain, has moved to the isolated home inherited by her new husband. Brandon, who grew up in that house, does not seem to understand how terrified the sights and sounds of the remote setting, combined with lack of a social environment, make Hayley. When another young, transplanted couple (Megan and Tyler) arrives on the property, the scene is set for what becomes an intense psychological thriller. The book screams along at a fast pace, propelled by a present-tense telling, so set some time aside to read it. I found it nearly impossible to put down, and I read it in two sittings.
The plot is quite complex and convoluted, with red-herrings sprinkled throughout. At several points, I thought I had it figured out only to find a clue several pages later that made my prediction impossible. In the end, everything comes together in a way that makes sense and also sets up the next book in the series. There is a thread of true crime podcasting in the book, a story line that is off-putting to me but will appeal to others. Fortunately for me, the fast pace of the book and the development of the characters took center stage while the podcasting fell into the background.
The four main characters are complex, which I appreciated, but their personalities were more of a patchwork than fully nuanced and integrated. The fifth character, Hayley’s longtime best friend from the city, Emily, was more of a plot device than a player in the plot. Similarly, the setting was well enough described that I could see much of the action playing out in my mind, but the writing about what is a beautiful landscape was not particularly evocative. Contrasting with the prosaic descriptions of setting, the authors filled the book with a tense, evocative, menacing atmosphere that pulled me into the pages.
There are some themes here to think about: privilege vs. hardship, the role of social media in creating unease and anxiety, the effects of isolation, and more. But any related deep thinking will have to wait until the book is finished, given the pace of the plot. As a reader, I also have been thinking about how the book being written by two people has affected the final text. Questions such as, “Was present tense used as a way to keep the writers’ focus similar?” and “Is the somewhat disjointed character development caused by two separate takes on the same character?” come to mind. Since the writers don’t give a clue as to their process in the acknowledgements, these are questions to ponder rather than answer.
In the end, although I liked the book quite a bit and enjoyed the short time I spent with it, there were some significant shortcomings. I am divided as to whether I am interested in following the series as it moves forward.