THE DARK BETWEEN THE TREES - Fiona Barnett

4.5 stars

What a neat concept for a horror (speculative?) novel centered on the deep, dark woods. Come for the split-timeline horror pitch—stay for the creeping tension and seriously trippy finale.

Concept: ★★★★★
Pacing: ★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★

The Dark Between the Trees is a novel I've put off reading for quite a long time. I'm not completely sure why, but the core idea is that I thought I knew what this novel was about. Let's clear that assumption right away: I did not.

This is one of those nebulous stories that sounds really vague and predictable from the synopsis. A group of people disappeared into a supposedly haunted woods in the long-ago past. Today, a group of people head into that same woods to see if they can discover what happened to that lost group.

Dun dun dun, it's about to get dark real fast. (And we don't think that present-day timeline group of people are going to have a good time.)

On the surface, that IS what this novel is about. Two timelines, two groups of people, two ventures into the deep dark with unexpected trials awaiting them.

But let me be both vague and yet, hopefully, more interesting—this novel takes us to some interesting places. I found myself captivated by the tension and anxiously eager to see where this plot was heading. It's a taut, bare-bones plot with a great sense of ominous atmosphere. And its ending is truly quite cool—can't say it's something I've read before and it's very unique in its particular level of execution (or at least, it was new to this reader).

Is it a mystery/thriller? A horror novel? An unexpectedly speculative/magical adventure? All of the above?

...Yes and no. This hybrid beast is all of the above, and I think that's partially why the ratings for The Dark Between the Trees are so lukewarm. It's not enough of a mystery, not enough of a horror, not enough of a resolution. It just is. It's a lingering, half-formed, folkloric kind of thing.

If you like weird little tales of the dark woods, check this one out with an open mind. It's pretty cool.