The Woods are Always Watching

 

The Woods are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins  YA

(from Amazon)  Bears aren’t the only predators in these woods.  Best friends Neena and Josie spent high school as outsiders, but at least they had each other. Now, with college and a two-thousand-mile separation looming on the horizon, they have one last chance to be together—a three-day hike deep into the woods of the Pisgah National Forest.  Simmering tensions lead to a detour off the trail and straight into a waking nightmare … and then into something far worse. Something that will test them in horrifying ways. 

(My Review)

So, I really wanted to like this.  I really enjoyed There's Someone Inside Your House, so I had high hopes for this book.  The first half, is really Neena and Josie hiking in the woods.  You get their inner dialogs, showing their relationship - how they got to where they are, and how they feel about where they are going.  You do get lots of foreshadowing of the creepiness and horror that takes place in the second half of the book.  I was a bit frustrated at the two girls.  They were novice hikers, and they did not really show any fear of the obvious red flags.  I mean, I would, wouldn't I?  Where the first of the book is pretty slow, although not really boring, it escalates pretty quickly in the second half.  The descriptions of the injuries are pretty...graphic!  The descriptions of a lot in the second half of the book are pretty vivid.  You can see and SMELL things pretty clearly.  I thought overall it was a pretty good read, and I would recommend it (but, not to my son, because I still want him to go camping/hiking with me).  :-)