What the Woods Took

Two strangers wrest 17-year-old Devin Green from her bed in Portland, Ore., while her foster parents stand aside. After a 10-hour van trip, Devin learns that she’s been enrolled in wilderness therapy and must spend 50 days trekking through the Idaho backcountry with four other teenagers to “learn about establishing healthy routines.” Though she tentatively befriends fellow Portlander Ollie Baker, Devin is continuously needled by Sheridan West, whose combative attitude slows the group’s progress at every turn. When their counselors vanish and the teens find themselves stalked by strange creatures that wear faces from their worst nightmares, the group must rely on one another if they want to make it out of the woods alive. Via close third-person narration that shifts between characters, Gould (Where Echoes Die) concocts a harrowing story of trauma and metamorphosis with a potent mix of real-world therapeutic abuse, supernatural shape-shifting paranoia, and wilderness survival. Depictions of the power of connection and love in the face of hardship ground the otherworldly happenings; the simmering romance between Devin and Sheridan is a standout bright spot. Characters cue as white. Ages 13–up. Agents: Jessica Mileo and Claire Friedman, InkWell Management. (Dec.)