What Waits in the Woods

A Chilling Novel of Suspense with a Shocking Twist

Terri Parlato

• Publisher: Kensington Books
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496738615
• Print ISBN:
  9781496738592

Her ballet career derailed by injury, a once-promising young dancer returns to her hometown only to face a grisly discovery – and the increasingly alarming realization that nothing from her past is quite what she believed. Now in paperback, this electrifyingly twisty suburban thriller is perfect for fans of Stacy Willingham, Greer Hendricks, and Megan Miranda.

“A moody, atmospheric thriller perfectly crafted.” —Charlie Donlea, USA Today bestselling author of Twenty Years Later on All the Dark Places

When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.

Esmé is grief-stricken, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Everyone insisted he was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked strikingly similar. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity? 

Detective Rita Myers knows close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies in the woods too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond. Even within Esmé and Kara’s once-close circle of friends, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.

Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the people she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .

Table of contents

• Cover
• Also by
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• CHAPTER 1 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 2 - Rita
• CHAPTER 3 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 4 - Rita
• CHAPTER 5 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 6 - Rita
• CHAPTER 7 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 8 - Rita
• CHAPTER 9 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 10 - Rita
• CHAPTER 11 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 12 - Rita
• CHAPTER 13 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 14 - Rita
• CHAPTER 15 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 16 - Rita
• CHAPTER 17 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 18 - Rita
• CHAPTER 19 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 20 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 21 - Rita
• CHAPTER 22 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 23 - Rita
• CHAPTER 24 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 25 - Rita
• CHAPTER 26 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 27 - Rita
• CHAPTER 28 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 29 - Rita
• CHAPTER 30 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 31 - Rita
• CHAPTER 32 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 33 - Rita
• CHAPTER 34 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 35 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 36 - Rita
• CHAPTER 37 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 38 - Rita
• CHAPTER 39 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 40 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 41 - Rita
• CHAPTER 42 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 43 - Rita
• CHAPTER 44 - Rita
• CHAPTER 45 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 46 - Rita
• CHAPTER 47 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 48 - Rita
• CHAPTER 49 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 50 - Rita
• CHAPTER 51 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 52 - Rita
• CHAPTER 53 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 54 - Rita
• CHAPTER 55 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 56 - Rita
• CHAPTER 57 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 58 - Rita
• CHAPTER 59 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 60 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 61 - Rita
• CHAPTER 62 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 63 - Rita
• CHAPTER 64 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 65 - Rita
• CHAPTER 66 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 67 - Rita
• CHAPTER 68 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 69 - Rita
• CHAPTER 70 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 71 - Rita
• CHAPTER 72 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 73 - Rita
• CHAPTER 74 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 75 - Rita
• CHAPTER 76 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 77 - Rita
• CHAPTER 78 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 79 - Rita
• CHAPTER 80 - Rita
• CHAPTER 81 - Rita
• CHAPTER 82 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 83 - Rita
• CHAPTER 84 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 85 - Rita
• CHAPTER 86 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 87 - Rita
• CHAPTER 88 - Rita
• CHAPTER 89 - Esmé
• CHAPTER 90 - Esmé
• Teaser