Americans Charles (an academic) and Erin (a former lawyer) inherit a house in Yorkshire formerly owned by Erin's distant ancestor Caedmon Hollow. The ancient house is surrounded by an even more ancient forest, the Eorl Wood, subject of Hollow's Victorian children's fairy tale "In the Night Wood." Charles sets out to write a biography of his wife's ancestor, hoping to find new evidence to add to the basically nonexistent academic literature on Hollow.

Of course all is not as it seems, and the woods around the house--not to mention Hollow himself--hide some dark family secrets. Gothic horror-ish phantasmagoria inflected with references to folklore and ancient magic are heightened by uncontrolled grief over the recent death of Charles and Erin's young daughter, providing psychological tension.

My description above probably sounds like a million other similar books, and that is fair. This was a very strong execution of an idea that itself is not particularly original, but at least it is well written and has a good atmosphere. ( )

An intriguing gothic horror/mystery featuring pagan gods and fair folk haunting the woods. The prose does get a bit pretentious every so often, but the story was captivating enough that I didn't care. It was so captivating that I had to pull out my mythology books and look up Cernunnos.

This book is ultimately a story about grief and the different ways that people work through it. ( )

In the Night Wood is just the kind of book I like to read. A story about a married couple who move to a new house. A house that the wife has inherited. A house with secrets and surrounded by an ancient oak forest. A forest that is so deep that you can get lost in it...

Now I had the pleasure of both listen to the audio version and reading the book. I think I preferred listening to the book which could be because John Banks did such an excellent job. As for the story itself. It's perfectly OK. However, I found myself wanting to like the story more than I did. Books like this one are actually the ones I find the hardest to review because there is nothing wrong with them more than I just can't seem to love the story. I wasn't annoyed with the characters, the death of their daughter is tragic and I felt for both Charles and Erin. I actually found the story within this story to be the most fascinating thing. A fairy tale with an unhappy ending.

One thing I want to say about the book is that it didn't bore me at least. It was a good book to listen to when I worked and that is a good sign. I kept on wanting to find out the truth about the forest. I would definitely recommend the book if you like modern gothic thrillers. I can see how the right reader will love this book. I just wish that the story had grabbed my attention more than it did.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with an ecopy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

I enjoyed this a lot but couldn’t jump beyond three stars. The prose is excellent but the pace is a little slow and the plot somewhat derivative and predictable. I generally like Bailey’s writing but he seems to be getting lost in a little bit of formula of late. Still he can crank out a real chiller like “Snow” when inspired. His shorter work tends to be his best. ( )

A kind of meditation on guilt and loss wrapped in a supernatural covering. Reads almost as some sort of minimalist chamber play. ( )