Book: Into the Dark, We Go by D.G. Woods
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 5/5
What a debut. At about 50 pages in, I stopped to double-check this was a debut novel because it’s that assured. I tore through it in one evening: the prose is smooth, the characters have real dimension, the atmosphere is properly unsettling, and the breadcrumbed clues keep you guessing without feeling cheap.
Most people love June, and I do as well with her adding the perfect dynamic to the quartet of being the snarky nineteen-year-old goth chick who secretly has a heart of gold, but having Nellie as the lead makes the story hit harder. Her guilt and abandonment issues drive messy, very human choices. We see a lot of themes of grief and loss in the book, but I just wanted to praise the book for the spot-on depiction of the quiet, insidious ways a parent can emotionally manipulate. It’s subtle, grounded, and painfully realistic.
Thriller and horror threads are woven together here, but it leans more thriller in tone. The ending satisfies while leaving just enough unanswered for a potential sequel. A perfect spooky-season pick! 🕯️🖤
Thank you to D.G. Woods for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.