What Waits in the Woods by Kieran Scott

Source: I own a copy
Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Mystery

Oh, My Gosh!  I thought the book, "What Waits in the Water" was good. This put a whole new spin on stalkers and mental illness. I truly didn't see what was coming straight at me. The story builds up in layers. All the way through I kept thinking, so ____ is the killer, only to find out I was wrong. The story starts very uniquely. You have someone in a mental facility telling you the doctor keeps asking them "why". They believe the answer is very obvious. So you don't know the gender of the person in the mental facility which is why I didn't see their identity coming at me. Everyone was suspect.  You have three girls going on a camping trip. Callie is new to the group and trying to push herself out of her comfort zone. The other two, Lissa and Penelope have been best friends for a long time. Then you have Jeremy, Callie's boyfriend who has tagged along.  This makes Lissa's boyfriend Zach upset. He decided to prank them and show up anyway. Then there is Ted, someone they just met who tells them he will lead them to his cabin where they can call their parents. Someone in this group is lying. When the first person is killed, the others must try to figure out who it is before they all lose their lives.