review: the Lying Woods by Ashley Elston

Owen Foster has never wanted for anything. Then his mother shows up at his elite New Orleans boarding school cradling a bombshell: his privileged life has been funded by stolen money. After using the family business, the single largest employer in his small Louisiana town, to embezzle millions and drain the employees' retirement accounts, Owen's father vanished without a trace, leaving Owen and his mother to deal with the fallout.

Owen returns to Lake Cane to finish his senior year, where people he can barely remember despise him for his father's crimes. It's bad enough dealing with muttered insults and glares, but when Owen and his mother receive increasingly frightening threats from someone out for revenge, he knows he must get to the bottom of what really happened at Louisiana Frac--and the cryptic note his father sent him at his boarding school days before disappearing.

Owen's only refuge is the sprawling, isolated pecan orchard he works at after school, owned by a man named Gus who has his own secrets--and in some ways seems to know Owen better than he knows himself. As Owen uncovers a terrible injustice that looms over the same Preacher Woods he's claimed as his own, he must face a shocking truth about his own past--and write a better future. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review

Review:
I was totally expecting a creepy, paranormal thriller with The Lying Woods. As I re-read the summary now – I can say that it’s pretty accurate but the cover just has a spooky *you will die if you enter the woods* vibe. This book isn’t that – but I was pleasantly surprised by how well this mystery/family drama was written.

Owen’s father vanishes after embezzling millions from his fracking company in a small Louisiana town. Think Enron. As the top employer in town almost everyone living there is touched by this – either by losing their retirement, savings or the residual business that the company provided.

Owen is a student at an elite boarding school but is forced to move back to the town in question with his mom and live with an aunt because they have nowhere to go. His father left them with nothing – their possessions about to be auctioned off to pay off the debt and they are left under a cloud of suspicion as to whether they (especially his mom) were co-conspirators in the deception, if they are still in contact with the father and more importantly – if are they hiding any money.

The town is not happy to have them back and there are threats made. Bricks being thrown at the house, threatening notes and phone calls - particularly towards the mom.

Owen starts out as an angry young man. Angry at his dad for leaving them broke, angry at having to move back to small town without all his little luxuries He gets into fights with the local kids and it’s completely understandable. But the way he rebounds is awesome! He has a chance to go back to the boarding school but instead stays with his mom and hunkers down, getting a job, joining a sports team. I absolutely adored this kid.

This is a hard book to discuss without spoilers so I’ll just say this…

The Lying Woods is told with a dual timeline. The present and from a summer in 1999 when Owen’s parents met and fell in love. Both timelines are fascinating and the way the author ties them together is brilliant.

I've read so many mysteries that either have a convoluted journey or a lackluster payoff. Nether is the case here. Both timelines are riveting and worth the emotional investment.

One other thing I want to note is how well the characters were written. Owen isn’t a petulant/know it all brat. If he encounters something dangerous or suspicious HE GOES TO THE POLICE. OMG that made me happy! Owen's mom isn't a story placeholder. She's very much part of the story and present as a parent despite also being a victim. The townsfolk are angry and hurt but react in surprising and nuanced ways. The characters from the 1999 story line – welp…I can’t say much about that but it was heartbreaking, twisty and completely plausible.

I’m one of those people who figures out the twists on page one without even trying so this is a difficult genre for me to enjoy but Elston managed it. All while getting me so wrapped up in the family and emotional drama of these characters just as much as the mystery.

I loved it and I’ll be checking out this authors back list right away!