They Fear Not Men in the Woods
It’s well documented that I love a creepy forest (This Haunted Valley, Nowhere Land), and They Fear Not Men in the Woods has me once again reminding you, when you’re in the woods, If you heard something, NO, YOU DIDN’T!
Told from the perspective of Jen Monroe, who returns home to her small Washington hometown upon hearing that the remains of her father - whose disappearance has haunted her for six years - have been found. There’s only one problem - she doesn’t believe he’s dead.
Her father was a forest ranger who, on the day he went missing, promised he would take her on his next trip to a newly discovered grove of hundreds of years old trees the following week (in a location which has no trail cut to it and would be impossible to find on her own), as she grew up sharing his love for the land and passion for preserving it.
Though no one believed her, she was convinced he was still out there, and returning home for his mockery of a memorial service gives her the chance she needs to look for him one last time.
Her ex-boyfriend, son of the owner of the biggest logging company in town, convinces her (mostly because a. He won’t take no for an answer and 2. He has the camping supplies she didn’t think to bring) to take him and a group of their friends, including her best friend Miranda and a new woman in the otherwise all-male group, Sunny - to whom she finds herself inexplicably attracted, though she typically prefers men- along.
Using her father’s journals and her memory of the bits of the location her father had shared with her - and some unexpected help from newcomer Sunny - Jen leads the group - composed primarily of employees of Chaz’ family’s logging company - into the forest where she intends to finally learn the truth about what happened to her father.
They Fear Not Men in the Woods by Gretchen McNeil has a relatable, imperfect, and funny narrator in Jen, has elements of folklore, supernatural, and survival horror, touches on environmental issues and family trauma, and has some genuinely horrific moments. I hope McNeil, previously known for her YA work, continues to write more adult fiction like this.
Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Pub. date: 9/9/25
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