It Waits in the Woods

After reading the second book in the series “Creature Feature”, I had my hopes and expectations high for this one and that resulted in a huge disappointment.

Wanted a better ending.

Part of the Creature Feature Collection from Amazon.

This one follows a girl going into the woods to look for her missing sister and investigating a local legend.

This was so suspenseful and I absolutely recommended the audio version as it really makes you jump.

I enjoyed this short creature feature story by Josh Malerman. It had a simple yet effective narrative that blended quite a few familiar horror tropes into a small page count.

Amanda disappears in the woods one evening, and the town believes a creature out of an urban legend has taken her. Amanda's body was never found, so after three years, her sister, Brenda, takes a trek out into the forest to search for her.

I would give this a 1 out of 5 in terms of scares, but a 4 out of 5 in terms of tension building. It reminds me of a good X-files or Twilight Zone episode. It does not linger for too long and flips the classic phone concept on its head. Most stories like these have to showcase how the main character's phone breaks right before any type of peril takes place, but this book embraces the technology and makes it part of the story. Bravo!

This is story 3 of Amazon's short story collection Creature Feature. I love that these releases include the kindle and the audible version for each. 
Malerman has been an auto buy author for me since Bird Box, but man does his mind work in mysterious ways. In this story, the main character is obsessed with film making, and much like with basketball in Daphne, that obsession and the description of it can often overpower the other things that are going on. I personally think he uses this technique to ground his characters in a very personal trait, but it's hit or miss, and this one was borderline. 
Brenda was supposed to be paying attention to her sister, but she wasn't. So when she disappears, her parents blame her. Three years later, old campfire stories don't sound so crazy anymore. Brenda has to know. She has to make sure. A bridge in the woods that moves? Why not. 
Personally a 4/5* for me. 

3.5 ⭐️