In horror novels nothing good ever comes of going into the woods and Fiona Barnett’s The Dark Between the Trees striking debut just goes to show that nothing ever changes. At first glance and after reading the blurb you may very well stick your nose up at this novel as the plot sounds derivative of many other ‘creature in the woods’ plotlines, however, it puts a very clever and ultimately fresh spin on an old trope. Even if the pace is slow (probably too slow for some), it is deliberately so and I found myself sucked into the uneasiness and surreal nature of the unfolding split narratives.

The blurb sells The Dark Between the Trees as a “surrealist gothic folk-thriller for fans of The Ritual and The Descent (I’m thinking of the film, rather than the magnificent Jeff Long novel). Blurbs often overegg novels but this is relatively accurate, it has some of the latter in that like The Descent one of the two story strands features only women and like The Ritual the group get lost in a forest and are stalked by a creature. Beyond that the comparisons are rather superficial and it is the differences which make The Dark Between the Trees an impressive novel, this is significantly more than a creature in the woods novel and in many ways the creature becomes side-lined as events get progressively stranger.

In The Ritual we wait and wait for the creature to finally appear, however, this is nothing compared to The Dark Between the Trees, but this never becomes problematic as the interaction between the characters is much too good to hinder the story. So, if you are after a slasher/creature in the woods kind of read, then look elsewhere, this is much more thoughtful and is heading away from genre into literary fiction territory. Considering the majority of the novel is set in a forest, another interesting deviation from The Ritual, was the fact that Fiona Barnett did not dwell on overlong or detailed descriptions of the locality, but still managed to develop both atmosphere and a strange sense of otherworldliness and isolation.

The dual narratives set in 1643 and the present day was a real strength of the novel and I loved the way in which they in some respects mirrored each other, deviated in other places, with their very different personal circumstances unable to change fate. The soldiers of 1643 were all God-fearing men, which led to their own clashes, whilst the women in the present-day narrative believed in science, archaeology and logic, but found themselves at odds in having to accept the impossible. By way of a taster, on their first night they camp in a clearing with a huge tree, but in the morning the tree is gone. How do they explain this rationally or irrationally for that matter? How could they return to their university funding boards and reveal this astonishing fact? The arguments, conversations and sheer incredulity of five very intelligent women made riveting reading and was in stark contrast to the soldiers of 1643 who were much more open to accepting the supernatural.

Even though Fiona Barnett chooses to avoid heavy descriptions of Moresby Wood this not make this Northern England location any the less intriguing and I was quickly reaching for Google to see if such a place existed, but I will let you check yourself should you wish to find out more. Straight from the outset the forest, which was fenced off with barbed wire, radiated a dangerous vibe which clashed with the jovial mood of the five women who were attempting to follow in the footsteps of the group of soldiers (told in the other narrative) who disappeared in 1643. I quickly found myself tuned into both time periods and as the technology strangely failed in the modern narrative the women were quickly more vulnerable than their 1643 counterparts, who at least were armed and seasoned fighting men.

Dr Alice Christopher, an historian who has devoted her entire academic career to uncovering the secrets of Moresby Wood leads the party. Through her we realise that the area is deep with folktales and myths which the book cleverly explores, some of which predate the ill-fated 1643 expedition into the forest. Armed with metal detectors, GPS units, mobile phones and the most recent map of the area (which is nearly 50 years old), her group enters the wood ready for anything, but soon find themselves quickly out of their depth and clashing about what to do next and they begin to dream of the nice cosy library they left behind. These are not adventurer Indiana Jones types, with the narrative concentrating on a couple of the women.

By contract the 1643 group is significantly bigger and so there is more opportunity for death, savagery and the creature making a slightly more visible appearance. Veterans of the English Civil War, many of which had not seen their families for a long time, they were a sympathetic bunch with the plot following a slightly more traditional horror story arc. The manner in which the stories converged was wild stuff, even if not all questions were answered, it was creative and entertaining stuff.

The Dark Between the Trees has a lot to offer and the title gives a minor clue in what to expect, with ‘between’ the key word. Whilst the characters have their own motives, and there are many of them, the narratives were impressively distinct and once the reader realises this is much more than a monster novel it gets more enjoyable. The sense of hopelessness and dread is skilfully heightened as we realise maps and technology are useless in the vividly drawn Moresby Wood.

I had high hopes for this book, but it failed to meet my expectations on several levels. My first issue was that I had trouble keeping any of the characters straight in the older storyline. There were too many names right off the bat and everyone blended together. The characters in the present timeline were more fleshed out, but still hard to connect with. My main issue though was the sluggish pace. While the descriptions of the setting and atmosphere of isolation and foreboding were well written, it took forever for anything interesting to happen. I almost gave up on it multiple times, and while things did start to pick up in the last third, the abrupt ending and lack of resolution was disappointing. I could see this story working well as a movie, but as a book, it was lacking.

Thank you so much to Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.

I am always down for any horror that takes place in the woods, and for a majority of the story this book delivered. I truly thought I was going to give this 4 stars...and then the ending happened. There was such an amazing buildup of tension, questions, and madness, just for all of that to take a nosedive at the end. None of the things I was looking forward to discovering were answered. Nothing that I was interested in mattered.

Be aware going into this that it's a slow moving story. This is written in a dual timeline with alternating chapters. Both groups of people experience the same things, which attributes to the slow feeling, and for some might seem quite repetitive. However, the story really hooked me in, and I needed to know what was going on. (Although that doesn't really get answered in the end)

One thing I ended up having an issue with was telling the women apart. They are only a group of five, but I could only ever differentiate Nuria and Alice. Kim, Sue, and Helly just ended up seeming like the same character to me. I didn't have this issue with the group of soldiers, and there were a lot more of them in their group. I don't believe I've encountered this before, and I am not sure why.

The writing is ok here. I found several words being repeated quite a bit. Not enough to be distracting, but enough for me to notice it. We spend a lot of time in the character's heads, and I think the author did a good job at showing the buildup of fear among the groups, which is one of my favorite aspects of the story. Their fear is quite tangible.

Overall I enjoyed the ride, but the destination was far too abrupt for me. I'm curious though to see what this author writes next.

"Which came first, the dismal wildness of an inaccessible place or the ghost stories? Surely, in this place, they were too intertwined to tell."

After finally getting the funding she needed, Dr. Alice Christopher gathers a team of four other women for an expedition into the infamous Moresby Forest. A forest with a history of mysterious occurrences. Armored with the latest gear and equipment, the five women venture into the depths of the unknown, ready to unearth the secrets that lay hidden. But soon the women discover that all is not what it seems and the forest is teaming with more than just the flora of the region.

"Nuria generally found that she preferred nature from a distance, and preferably from the inside of a warm library." Me too, after reading this book.

As soon as I got approved for this ARC I was on it, the premis for this one is everything I love in a horror book, and it started really good! The Dark Between the Trees is a slow and creepy read, with elements of horror and magical realism mixed with history and folk lore. The story is told with two timelines — 300 years in the past and then present day. I had a hard time following with the timeline changing between every chapter but I found the modern day chapters a lot more interesting. I just could'nt connect with the soldiers and basically the same thing happens to both of the parties as they advance through the forest. The book was atmospheric and creepy and during the read I kept trying to figure out if it was a witch, ghost, curse, monster or even aliens. The end reveal didnt really clear anything up, I still dont know what happened? I will say though, Fiona Barnett really managed to capture the feeling of being lost and stalked in the rainy, cold, misty woods, without any means of contacting the modern world and however much youre trying, you just keep getting deeper and deeper into the dark woods...

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC! This review will be posted on Storygraph, GoodReads, Amazon and Instagram.

TW: death, blood, injury detail, animal death, vomit, religious bigotry

THE DARK BETWEEN THE TREES is a dual timeline tale about a creepy wood where you are irrevocably lost and something moves too fast to see.

The monster in the dark is so creepy, picking off the various characters without ever being seen, just its effects. Slashed open corpses. Missing people. It stalks and follows, an uneasy prickling at the back of your neck, without once being seen. The dark oppressive woods work so well with this premise, the ever undulating woodland that seems to shift and thwart all technological attempts to map it.

The book follows both the Parliamentarians as they head through the wood and the modern day research team. In many ways, they echo each other. The researchers are deliberately trying to follow the Parliamentarians' footsteps, but the wood takes them in a similar way, crippling them physically and emotionally. It leads to a deliciously creepy mystery about what happened in two different past time lines as an even earlier story is woven in in two different retellings.

The book also looks at academic obsession, the driving need to find out, to prove something you've pursued for years. It was very interesting to see that side of it. While it's not dark academia, due to setting and the fact that's only from the modern side of the book, I liked that angle. The historical side is more about superstition and survival, which balances Alice's obsessive search for what happened, her fixation on the area.

While there are some injuries, this is not a gory horror. Instead the creepiness and spine-tingling nopes come from the atmosphere and intense feeling of being corralled towards something of an unnatural design. It's the prefect read for darkening days and lengthening nights - though maybe read it after you go on a woodland hike...

A glorious mash-up of genres, but still strongly situated in horror, The Dark Between The Trees taps into our most primal fears about being lost in the woods.

I guess the most important thing about a horror book is this: was it scary? It was scary enough. I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, but it’s very creepy and reading it at night definitely puts the heebie-jeebies into you.

The book is slow-burn, which I thought was great. I loved the mystery and the dual timelines - we get equal time with both the 1600s soldiers and the early-2000s historians. In fact, the timelines were one of the most interesting things about the novel, because they gave it a real historical fiction feel, and the way the stories ran parallel to one another, or rather spiralled into one another, was part of the fun. And my favourite horror stories are the ones that are set in the past.

The pacing is well-balanced in that while there are stretches of people just wandering in the woods, neither are these stretches too long that we grow bored, nor are they so short it feels like the group is not in danger.

A lot of the creepiness of the novel is based on not knowing what is going on or who or what is hunting them. The legends around the woods they are trapped in add to this, especially as the stories are often contradictory or unresolved.

The characters worked for me. I think in basic horror it’s sometimes best not to have very deep or fleshed-out characters because then you care about them too much. All I want are people with motivations that make sense and aren’t complete jerks. This book provides that - we do have jerk characters, but they are not the POV characters, and the others were distinguishable. There wasn’t a character I particularly cared about, but I was less interested in the people than what was going on in the woods.

The ending people might be torn about, but I like an ambiguous conclusion in horror. Sometimes too much explanation worries away at the scariness of it, like when you see a haunted house with the lights on. There’s also something fun about it being a mystery for centuries that still is not resolved, that, in ten, twenty years, perhaps another group will enter the woods. What will happen to them?

Overall, The Dark Between the Trees is a ponderous, atmospheric story in the vein of movies like Blair Witch, The Witch, and The Ritual, and I recommend it to those who like their horror more menacing than slasher, and with a historical fiction focus.

The wood was a liar, but beneath that was buried something true, and fascinating, and the wood was telling her what it was, if only she could tune into it properly, or decipher it. [loc. 829]
In 1643 a small company of Parliamentarian soldiers is ambushed on a hillside somewhere in Northern England. Their only hope is to seek shelter in nearby Moresby Forest. Never mind that the locals tell stories about terrible secrets among the trees...

In 21st-century England, five women pass through the boundary fence and into Moresby Forest. Dr Alice Christopher, historian, has devoted her career to the lost soldiers. Why did seventeen men enter the wood, and only two emerge? Dr Christopher is accompanied by Nuria, a PhD student; Sue, from the Ordnance Survey, who haven't published a map of the wood for fifty years; and Kim and Helly, representatives of the National Parks authority. The women have GPS, and phones, and metal detectors: and it's not a very large wood ...

This was slow and spooky. I was inescapably reminded of The Blair Witch Project, though for reasons of ambience and forestry rather than anything more specific. The narrative cuts between the women and the soldiers, which heightens the suspense. It quickly becomes clear that there is something unnatural about Moresby Forest, and the two parties each recount tales of witches, of a medieval charcoal-burner whose family might have died of plague, and of a fearsome beast known as the Corrigal. Around them, trees appear and disappear. Gradually, each party – the all-female expedition and the all-male military company – diminishes …

Some interesting themes here: the different ways in which leadership works in the two companies are especially well-drawn, with Alice’s obsessive curiosity in strong contrast to Captain Davies’ sense of duty to his men. The women are dismayed by the failure of their technology: the men turn to prayer, which is as good an option as any.

There are evocative descriptions of the forest in both narrative threads, but – perhaps because of the aforementioned oddities of that forest – there is very little sense of season. Anyone who’s walked in a forest knows it’s a very different place in spring than in autumn: but the forest that the characters are walking through is timeless, reminiscent of Holdstock’s Mythago Wood, and seems to manifest its own microclimate. I didn’t get much sense of the characters’ physical appearances, either, or of their lives outside the forest: even Alice, perhaps the most detailed of the characters, was described more in terms of academic grudges than everyday life. I think that sense of isolation was part of the story, but it made the characters less engaging. And I didn't find the (fairly abrupt) conclusion wholly satisfying, but it was logical.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for this honest review. UK publication date is 13th October 2022.

"An unforgettable, surrealist gothic folk-thriller with commercial crossover appeal from a brilliant new voice.

1643: A small group of Parliamentarian soldiers are ambushed in an isolated part of Northern England. Their only hope for survival is to flee into the nearby Moresby Wood...unwise though that may seem. For Moresby Wood is known to be an unnatural place, the realm of witchcraft and shadows, where the devil is said to go walking by moonlight...

Seventeen men enter the wood. Only two are ever seen again, and the stories they tell of what happened make no sense. Stories of shifting landscapes, of trees that appear and disappear at will...and of something else. Something dark. Something hungry.

Today, five women are headed into Moresby Wood to discover, once and for all, what happened to that unfortunate group of soldiers. Led by Dr Alice Christopher, an historian who has devoted her entire academic career to uncovering the secrets of Moresby Wood. Armed with metal detectors, GPS units, mobile phones and the most recent map of the area (which is nearly 50 years old), Dr Christopher's group enters the wood ready for anything.

Or so they think."

Folkloric Annihilation.

The Dark Between the Trees is haunting, gripping and a genuinely quite spooky read. Set in Moresby Forest, it focuses in part on a group of lost Royalist soldiers during the English civil war who are being stalked by an unknown creature. The other narrative is of a group of present day historians who make their way into the forest to figure out what happened.

Whilst dual timelines can often cause readers a good deal of frustration as one timeline is inevitably more interesting than the other, this is not the case with this book. The characters in both time frames are equally as interesting, the plot just as mysterious and the pacing is excellent for both. Barnett skillfully allows the two plots to feed into each other so that mysteries in the other section are revealed, which compelled me to keep going.

One of my favourite aspects of this book were the motivations of the characters. Whilst not all of the characters were particularly likable, I appreciated their internal monologues and felt like I truly understood them as characters. They felt very fleshed out rather than feeling one dimensional.

The only downside of this book for me would be the final chapter, as the ending was not particularly satisfying, and left me feeling a little bit empty. This is a shame because the rest of the book (including the chapters leading up to the very end) was very strong and had incredibly satisfying moments.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for the ARC.

If this had been a movie, I would have hidden behind the sofa. I had to stop now and again because it was quite scary and the pictures in my imagination were quite terrifying. Loved it !

I wanted to love this book so much but unfortunately, the slow moving plot and annoying characters made it impossible for me to get through. DNF around 30 percent but I know that some people will love this book so it is still getting two stars from me.

After finally getting the funding she needed, Dr. Alice Christopher gathers a team of four other women for an expedition into the infamous Moresby Forest. A forest with a history of mysterious occurrences. Armored with the latest gear and equipment, the five women venture into the depths of the unknown, ready to unearth the secrets that lay hidden. But soon the women discover that all is not what it seems and the forest is teaming with more than just the flora of the region.

The Dark Between the Trees is a slow and creepy read. The story is told with two timelines — 300 years in the past and then present day. It was a little confusing at first, but once the rhythm is established, the transitions became smooth as silk.

The plot is straightforward with very little twists and turns. There were, however, some unexpected surprises along the way for that “didn’t see that coming” effect.

I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters as they all seemed to carry their egos on their shoulders. Teamwork didn’t appear to be in their vocabulary. It was like every man for himself.

For the most part, The Dark Between the Trees was a decent read. A little weird at times and eerie at others. I didn’t care too much for the ending. It wasn’t a cliffhanger, but it wasn’t satisfying either. Three stars.

I received a digital ARC from Rebellion Publishing through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

This had a great premise for a spooky thriller/horror vibe but it fell a little short for me.

I was curious throughout as to what was happening, but i felt like the ending didn't really clear anything up. It didn't answer any questions.

The dual timeline was interesting and helped the story along as each timeline paralleled the other.

I felt like Alice was a very unlikeable character. And the other characters didn't really leave much of an impression on me.

Overall a mildly interesting book but not one I'd go out of my way to read again

3.5 stars.
This was weird and creepy! Following two groups of people, 1) soldiers in the 1600s caught in an ambush who run for safety into Moresby Wood, and 2) a small, all-female team comprised of historians and park rangers, in the present, who enter a fenced-off Moresby Wood, looking for evidence of the long lost squad. Moresby Wood had a reputation, even years before the soldiers entered it, of darkness, witchcraft, and a monster even older than when Christianity came to Britain.

The soldiers soon find themselves lost, and gradually picked off, by something that no one can see, but that one amongst them is convinced is the monster, the Corrigal. The soldiers are already injured, and coming apart from the stress of the sudden and unexplained murders.

The present day team is fine their first day, but find themselves eerily repeating what we know happened to the soldiers.

The atmosphere is fantastic in this story! Claustrophobic, constant mist, cold, with the dripping of rain off the people and the trees around them. And slow, building, choking fear.

The author does sort of give us an answer, but also doesn’t, of what was causing the danger, which left me both a little frustrated and happy. In some ways, I’m glad the ending was as hopeless and lonely and dark as it was. It’s a monster story, a ghost story, and a malevolent entity story. I think I liked it, but its slow pacing won’t be for everyone.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Rebellion for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I really do like the idea of writing a book in two different timelines and changing between them each chapter so that the stories can eventually come together. However, in this case the story of the modern group was kind of boring compared to the people in the past and it took me longer than it should have to get through this book.
Furthermore, I'm a big fan of a creepy atmosphere and a story that doesn't overexplain everything. Please, by all means, leave things open for interpretation at the end, a creepy book will only get creepier that way. However, in the case of the book I was really expecting some sort of explanation, as little as it may be, that makes you look back at what you've just read and makes you realize all the small details that you overlooked in your inital read and how everything comes together now to form a bigger picture. Sadly, we didn't really get this, even though I would have loved to understand how everything worked and came to be.

DNF at 20%. So incredibly boring & the writing is... lacking. I expected a rich gothic atmosphere, but none of that came across on the page. I may give this one another try in the future, as it contains my favorite trope, but life is too short to push through bad books.

In two different timelines, an ambushed group of Civil War soldiers and an all female academic research group enter a woods - one for protection and the other to investigate the folk tales and history linked to monsters, witchcraft and the disappearance of the soldiers.
The woods phase in and out of time lines, making paths disappear and navigation equipment useless.
What makes this story interesting and the focus of my thoughts while reading it is the group dynamics and what makes leadership - why do others follow someone else, even if the decisions they are making may lead them to their death.
In the male group it appears to be about authority, privilege and strength. In the female group it is curiosity and dogged determination to prove equal to men. Neither ends well in the face of the unknown but there is the courage in some to face that.
Trees and forests are forever seen in tales and myths as dark and sinister places. The Dark Between The Trees adds another layer of enjoyable mystery.

Thank you for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel!

Following duel timelines - one in the 1600s and another in modern day - we follow two different groups of characters investigating a forest area rumored to be haunted. Or if not haunted, rife with disappearances and mysterious potential deaths.

I struggled with maintaining my interest reading this, however that’s probably more on me for not jiving with the writing style. The characters were interesting enough I just didn’t fully connect.

An interesting read, but felt a bit dissatisfying with tying up loose ends. An atmospheric Halloween read, but not necessarily something I would recommend outside a seasonal read.

A very dark and creepy tale of being lost in the woods, with elements of magical realism, horror, time travel, and history. I would recommend this title for fans of Annihilation.