Review of The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods sounds like outdoorsy horror, but titles can be misleading. What did I think of Sarah Alderson’s new book? Check out my Review of Cabin in the Woods!

The Cabin in the Woods by Sarah Alderson

To be published on July 6, 2022 by Avon Books UK. US paperback out in October 2022. (It’s possible that a 6.99 US Kindle edition will be available in July.)

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.

Synopsis – it’s a poem and no, I did not write it!

In a cabin in a wood,
A woman by the window stood.

Glancing out, she thought she heard
Footsteps, whistling, something stirred.

Hiding here, she fears the night,
For what’s done in the dark will come to light.

She must run fast to escape her lie
Or she’ll be the next to die…

Review of The Cabin in the Woods

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what a book is about, and in the case of The Cabin in the Woods, that is definitely true. (And that synopsis poem doesn’t reveal much….)

Yes, some of the action in The Cabin in the Woods takes place at a cabin in the woods, but I’d say this book is one part The Silent Patient, one part The Undoing and one part a movie from the 1990s. If I mentioned the name of the movie, it would be a spoiler. So I won’t.

So, what IS The Cabin in the Woods about?

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that The Cabin in the Woods is about Rose, a woman with a tough childhood who finds herself injured and hiding out at a remote cabin in the woods.

When Rose sneaks out to buy supplies, she sees a newspaper announcing that there’s a $50,000 reward out for information on her whereabouts.

Uh oh! What did Rose do?

That is all I will say, because the fun of this book is all the twists and turns.

There is revelation after revelation about who Rose is, what she did, and how she got herself in this predicament.

The fun of the book is trying to decide if Rose is a victim or a criminal. Will she get out of this situation alive?

What Else Has Sarah Alderson written?

You might recognize the author of The Cabin in the Woods, Sarah Alderson, as the author of The Weekend Away, which is also a Netflix movie. If you’ve read the book and/or seen the movie, come check out my Spoiler Post for the Weekend Away.

Alderson is also a screenwriter, and it shows in this book. It has a past/present narrative, which isn’t always something I love, but in this book it works really well, as we slowly find out why Rose is in hiding.

As I said above, the twists in this book are really nicely paced, making it a fun and suspenseful story. I can definitely see this one making it to Netflix as well.

The Cabin in the Woods would make an excellent beach read, if you’re looking for one of those!

If you’ve read this or have questions, leave me a comment!