The Woods Are Always Watching

The Woods are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins is meant to be a horror thriller but unfortunately there were just too many holes in the plot and twists that one could see coming from miles away to be in any way believable or realistically frightening. Two girls go backpacking in the woods, they have never even camped before yet off they go. The trip is their farewell to summer and to each other as one is leaving in a few days for university in California.

I actually found the first part of the book when it was just the girls suffering through the hike with blisters and heavy backpacks and feeling uncertain as to the route, or how to set up a camp site more interesting than the later part of the book when their stalker made himself known to them. Josie and Neena had been best friends for years but this trip had them fighting and arguing as they hiked. Neena felt guilty about leaving, Josie felt she was being left behind and abandoned. With their constant whining and bickering their friendship is strained to the limit. Of course all that goes out the window when a couple of random psychos appear on the scene.

The Woods are Always Watching is a fairly short book that I think should have been longer so that the author could have developed her characters more fully. The plot felt very cliched and overdone. I was disappointed that this story didn’t give me the chills in any way, instead I was left feeling frustrated and angry about the time I wasted on this book.

Okay, as someone who loves to camp and hike, this book totally gave me chills!

Not only does the crummy conditions of a strenuous hike test the strength of two best friends, but poop really hits the fan when things go from bad, to worse, to horrifying.

Once it begins to grip you, it really grabs on! I finished this book in a day, because I couldn't put it down. Thank you for an amazing journey!

Thriller-wise not bad, but suffered from a severe lack of motivation on the villain's part. Why were they evil? Unclear. I was not impressed with the Bear Ex Machina. in addition to the human horrors this book was horrifying from a camping safety perspective. The girls were far too inexperienced to be doing a hike like this, and the fact that an experienced camper like Josie's brother let her go is unbelievable to me. Even without the introduced hazzards of humanity the trip alone was already putting them in mortal danger. They went to sleep wearing the same jeans they had hiked in (never get into sleeping bag wearing sweaty clothing, much less cotton sweating clothing), they werent drinking enough water, they didnt follow bear protocols, and they were relying on their phones to keep a charge for gps...the list goes on. I know its easy to judge the actions of others when Im not in the situation myself but Im still gonna judge.