It Waits in the Woods

I enjoyed this short creature feature story by Josh Malerman. It had a simple yet effective narrative that blended quite a few familiar horror tropes into a small page count.

Amanda disappears in the woods one evening, and the town believes a creature out of an urban legend has taken her. Amanda's body was never found, so after three years, her sister, Brenda, takes a trek out into the forest to search for her.

I would give this a 1 out of 5 in terms of scares, but a 4 out of 5 in terms of tension building. It reminds me of a good X-files or Twilight Zone episode. It does not linger for too long and flips the classic phone concept on its head. Most stories like these have to showcase how the main character's phone breaks right before any type of peril takes place, but this book embraces the technology and makes it part of the story. Bravo!