How can you get into the spooky reading spirit? Well, I think finding a book where the gruesome setting is an American Halloween fair is a great start. Noelle W. Ihli’s The Thicket does not play around with its apt pacing, firm tension, and thrilling immersion, and if you are searching for a short but snappy read to add to your tbr for the spooky season, this is definitely one to look at.

Everyone will hear you scream. No one will listen. Norah can’t stop thinking about the night her brother died. She was supposed to stay with him at the Halloween carnival. He’d begged her to stay. But they’d fought, and Norah left him alone in the woods. That was before she realised there was a real killer lurking among the costumes and macabre props. When the carnival reopens just weeks later amid a media controversy, Norah decides to retrace her brother’s last steps in a desperate attempt to unravel what really happened that night. But the woods hold more than just traumatic memories. Before long, Norah begins to suspect that the killer’s choice of hunting ground was no coincidence. And that this nightmare is far from over.

The blurb focuses on one character, but we actually get multiple perspectives to round out the story and create a more balanced feel to the novel. There is Taylor, an acquaintance of Norah’s, who serves as an integral part of the narrative. She is a passive character, certainly more of the shy third in her friend group, and her position is quite interesting. She sees and hears things from both sides, letting the reader see the reactions supporting the closing of this spooky amusement park and the counter petitions created by her friends to keep it running. She also carries empathy and sympathy for Norah who is quite removed from the actions of the community following the death of her brother. We also have a novel where we get to follow the perpetrator’s perspective, and we all know that is the best part of a horror novel.

The Thicket has such a strong visual element to it that it felt very much like a movie as I read it. I could picture the girls talking and acting how they did, see the subtle differences in each of them and how they wish to be perceived (or don’t care to be). I can also feel the shifting in the air as we move through the perspectives, the tension and surrounding activity sparking up the drama while the true villain is hiding in plain sight, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The Thicket works really well as a horror novel, providing many thrilling and suspenseful moments that will have you clutching the pages in anticipation.

My only criticism for The Thicket is that is feels a little out of touch with the emotional reactions and situations surrounding the first 100 pages or so of the novel. I wish she had leaned into that family paralysis and numbness a little more, given Norah a little more of an emotional drive or internal monologue for her thoughts. I understood what she would be going through and how she would react, but I also felt it could have been more persuasive and compelling, especially considering the last half of the book.

The Thicket is an easy addition to to an October tbr, and I hope many of you do give it a go. It isn’t too graphic or gory, but it still gives that horror and violence element to the scenes which makes it feel all the more serious, scary, and sinister.