by Sarah Langan
First published 2009
Lois Larkin leads her class into the woods for what should be a routine field trip. Her mind wanders to her fiancé's recent betrayal as the students explore. When it's time to leave, she counts heads and realizes James Walker never made it back to the bus. The boy has vanished somewhere in the dense forest. News of the missing child sends shockwaves through Corpus Christi, a quiet town unaccustomed to such tragedy. As search parties form and parents clutch their own children closer, something else stirs in the woods. The forest holds more than just a lost boy. Whatever lurks among the trees poses a threat that could consume the entire community. Lois must confront not only her own guilt over James's disappearance but also a growing menace that turns her mistake into the town's nightmare.
Genres: suspense, mystery, horror, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: supernatural-threat, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Corpus Christi
414 pages · Kindle Edition · HarperCollins e-books
Content warnings: child-death