Summary: Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. She’s shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she’s dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they've all been enrolled by their parents in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways—and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness—they’ll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say. It doesn’t take long before things start to go wrong. When the campers wake up to find both counselors missing and all their gear left behind, they realize they are stranded and left to fend for themselves. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other—and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive.

Thoughts: Before I read this novel, I knew nothing about wilderness survival therapy, which is an extreme form of outdoor programs to try to change troubled teenage behaviour. There are some accredited and highly regarded programs in the US, however there are many more unaccredited and very dangerous programs which capitalize on parental fear and frustration to charge exorbitant fees while neglecting or abusing teens. For a shocking and informative expose, read Jon Krakauer’s article “Loving Them to Death”.

In What the Woods Took, Ethan and Liv are not abusive, however they are woefully unprepared for the dangers that lie in the nature reserve. Each of the teens has a sad and difficult history along with a damaged relationship with their parents. I cannot imagine the feeling of betrayal that a teen would feel while being forcibly removed from their own home in the middle of the night with their parents’ consent. Before starting the novel, I had no idea there was a supernatural element to the story so the source of the danger came as a bit of a surprise. However, it fit the underlying themes of the novel extremely well – betrayal by family members, not feeling able to understand or trust those closest to you and figuring out your own identity in the world. This is my second novel by Courtney Gould and I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Where Echoes Die. It is a tense, provocative read and I highly recommend it.