The Lying Woods is a pleasantly twisty ride, but leaves us wanting more from its story

Ashley Elston’s The Lying Woods is a twisty family drama full of some shocking surprises. Yet readers may be left craving more from its premise.

Ashley Elston’s The Lying Woods is an extremely solid novel. It’s a blisteringly quick read, thanks to its compelling story and nonstop surprises. And it’s so so close to being great. The story is so focused on weaving its narratives of past and present together, that it ends up giving some of its most interesting elements short shrift.

The premise of the novel is intriguing from the jump. Owen, a privileged teen attending a fancy prep school in New Orleans, has his world turned upside down when he learns that his father has disappeared after spending years embezzling what’s likely millions of dollars from his company. His sudden, mysterious departure leaves the business — and the town’s worth of jobs it supported — in shambles and the residents furious at Owen and his mother.

Forced to sell all their belongings and move in with a less than supportive relative, he finds a job at local pecan farm, whose reclusive owner, Gus, is one of the only people who’ll even speak to him. As his summer of hard labor continues, Owen learns that his own father once worked at the same farm, and a series of flashbacks fill us all in on what once happened in the Preacher Woods, and how that story relates to the present day narrative.

The Lying Woods is plenty twisty, with lots of surprises and unexpected turns. You’ll find yourself surprised by what’s revealed. Elston is particularly skilled at narrative layering, and there are moments toward the end of the book where you’ll look back at the beginning and wonder how you didn’t put it all together for yourself. In the end, this is a largely satisfying read, even if some of the final moments may feel a bit too pat for some.

And though you may not ever read this story more than once, The Lying Woods is worth picking up simply for the way it keeps you guessing throughout.

The disappointing thing, though, is the novel doesn’t lean into some of the most interesting aspects of the mystery. Despite the fact that, early on, the story leads us to believe that Owen will uncover why his father did what he did, that doesn’t exactly happen. We don’t even really learn much about how he got away with his crimes, other than the fact that he… sort of just did. Maybe he was particularly skilled at embezzling, but the novel just sort of assumes that we aren’t really interested in these specifics, and that eventually, Owen wouldn’t be either.

This may be fine for some readers, but it also implies Owen is okay with having his entire life destroyed because he gets to get with the hometown girl he always sort of liked. And maybe that’s just me, but that’s not entirely the story I signed up for.

While the second flashback-based story is interesting, the most fascinating parts of the novel involve Owen’s attempt to reintegrate into the town and small world he thought he’d left behind forever. If you ask me, The Lying Woods didn’t spend enough time on the fallout Owen and his mother would face in the wake of what his father did. While death threats and Molotov cocktails thrown through a living room window are certainly exciting thriller elements, it’s the cold shoulders at restaurants and Friday night football games that make this a relatable story.

It’s every scene that Owen shares with the local boys who blame him for getting everything they wanted while their parents had to scrimp and save. It’s in these moments that Owen actually becomes a better person by confronting what he had and how he got it in the first place. Owen struggling to not get in fights daily, trying to understand the perspectives of these other students who are being awful to him but hurting themselves — that’s the real underlying emotional story here.

Reading more of those moments would have made some of Owen’s later decisions more impactful. It would have further highlighted some of the “outcast” parallels that the novel tries to draw between Owen and young Noah, and allowed us to see more clearly how the son is different from the father.  It also would have let us get to know some of the other town residents beyond Owen, his mom and aunt, and neighbor girl Pippa.

In short: I wanted more gossipy small-town drama and less threatening phone calls.

Elston also does a commendable job with several of the novel’s major secondary characters, particularly Gus, who owns the local pecan farm. By the end of this story, you will probably want to read a second novel focused on Gus’ life, because he’s basically perfect and a character you will definitely want to wrap in a blanket and protect forever.

You won’t regret reading this story. But you might wish that it was something a bit… more.

The Lying Woods hit shelves on November 6 and you can find it wherever books are sold.