Book Review: Let the Woods Keep Our Bodies by E. M. Roy

“There’s truth behind all fiction, whether you want to see it or not.”

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Set in Eston, Maine, Let the Woods Keep Our Bodies follows loner Leonora (“Leo”) Bates, who has lived with her aunt and uncle since age 10, when she tragically lost her parents. Already struggling with grief and fragmented memories, Leo is forced to deal with loss yet again after her popular classmate and girlfriend, Tate Mulder, goes missing. And when Leo is named the primary suspect, she must get to the bottom of her hometown’s mysteries — which include monstrous, creepy, inexplicable conspiracies surrounding the nearby woodland — before it’s too late.

This novella is an interesting blend of sapphic, small-town horror and mystery that moves back and forth in time, designated as “Before” and “After.” Through flashbacks, the storyline gradually reveals Leo and Tate’s histories and relationship progression while exposing the “infinite urban legends” that serve as the backbone of Eston’s strange and gruesome past. This alternation lends a confusing, almost dream-like quality to the plot where the reader isn’t sure what’s real and what isn’t, as well as why some things are happening (which might actually be the point!).

The public library’s spooky local history archive serves as a substantial and satisfying backdrop, along with the town’s cemetery and forest, which creates a wonderfully eerie and atmospheric ambiance where the unexplainable may lurk around every corner. Sebago, Leo’s faithful dog, also plays a unique role throughout the story. A longer length would have allowed the author to delve more deeply into the town’s mysterious legends (which this reader would have devoured!), but this debut is nonetheless a creative, engrossing, and enjoyable experience.

Thank you to Ghoulish Books and BookSirens for allowing me to read and review a digital ARC of this forthcoming release.

❤Amanda

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