What Waits in the Woods: A Chilling Novel of Suspense with a Shocking Twist

by Terri Parlato

Overview

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 . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496738608
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	11/26/2024
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Terri Parlato is the acclaimed author of domestic suspense, including All the Dark Places and What Waits in the Woods. Born and raised in upstate New York. She currently lives in a small north Georgia town with her husband and dog, Lucy. For more information, visit her online at TerriParlato.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Terri Parlato:
 
“Parlato’s multidimensional characters and effective use of red herrings will keep readers invested right up to the gasp-worthy conclusion. Series fans and newcomers alike will look forward to Rita’s next case.”—Publishers Weekly on What Waits in the Woods

“A failed ballerina’s return home is turned upside down by the appearance of a dead body in her family’s yard…Parlato piles on the rumors, menace, and revelations.”—Kirkus Reviews on What Waits in the Woods

“Rita’s perspective as an older, single woman with family issues of her own complements Esme’s tale as they each confront the secrets of Graybridge. Another highlight is Esme’s background as a dancer: the fading of her dreams grounds the narrative in realism as she struggles to adjust to her new life, for better or worse.”—Criminal Element on What Waits in the Woods

“A suspenseful thrill ride…Plenty of red herrings and twists-and-turns will keep readers guessing until the very end.” —Fresh Fiction on What Waits in the Woods

“A riveting plot.”—CrimeSpree Magazine on What Waits in the Woods

“A creepy debut most notable for the nightmares it finds beneath apparently untroubled surfaces.” —Kirkus Reviews on All the Dark Places
 
“An inexplicable murder kicks off Parlato’s gripping debut…Assured pacing matches accomplished characterizations. Parlato is off to a strong start.” —Publishers Weekly on All the Dark Places
 
“Part police procedural, part domestic suspense, All the Dark Places provides mystery fans with the reading experience they crave.” —Brian Kenney, First Clue on All the Dark Places
 
“This debut novel is well crafted and hooked me in the first chapter…The plot is deeply involved with several twists to the story to keep readers captivated to its dramatic conclusion.” —Mystery & Suspense Magazine on All the Dark Places
 
"Terri Parlato's debut All the Dark Places checks all the right boxes for domestic suspense fans. This chilling whodunnit hooked me on the first page and kept me guessing to the last." —Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times bestselling author
 
“All the Dark Places by Terri Parlato is a must read for anyone who loves a good mystery!  The suspense was spine-tingling and the characters were interesting but believable.  I loved this book and had to force myself to lay it aside at night.  Seriously, a must read!” —Lisa Jackson, # 1 New York Times bestselling author
 
“A moody, atmospheric thriller perfectly crafted with just enough clues dropped along the way to keep the reader guessing and hopelessly addicted. I know I was.” —Charlie Donlea, USA Today bestselling author of Twenty Years Later on All the Dark Places
 
“Hooks you immediately.  Sharp characters and a plot full of twists kept the pages turning to the last.  Fantastic read!” —Mary Burton, New York Times bestselling author on All the Dark Places
 
“From the first pages to the stunning conclusion, All the Dark Places hums with tension.  With meticulous plotting and a tenacious detective, Parlato peels back the layers of Molly and Jay’s seemingly ordinary life to reveal that dark secrets rarely stay hidden.” —Tessa Wegert, author of Dead Wind
 
“If you are a fan of thrillers that will keep you up at night, whispering "one more chapter" to your alarm clock, Parlato's murder mystery is the book for you. Two women—one with a traumatic past, the other a police detective—come together after a savage killing at a 40th birthday party rocks a tight-knight Massachusetts community. You know what they say about small towns: They often have big secrets.” —Enews (eonline.com) on All the Dark Places

From the Publisher

11/27/2023

Parlato’s grim second mystery featuring Det. Rita Myers (after All the Dark Places) opens with 29-year-old Esme Foster returning to her hometown of Graybridge, Mass., after a hip injury ends her career as a professional dancer. The last thing Esme expects to see when arriving at her ailing alcoholic father’s home is a crime scene in the woods behind the house. Hours earlier, Esme’s childhood best friend, Kara Cunningham, was killed there by an assailant who crushed her skull with a rock. Immediately, Esme recalls the car accident that killed her mother years earlier, and the strange man who appeared at the scene and threatened to murder Esme. She suspects that he came back and attacked the wrong woman, given how closely she and Kara resemble one another. When Rita gets assigned to the case, she focuses her attention on Cynthia Ridley, a mentally disturbed neighbor of Esme’s father who killed her own younger sister 20 years ago. As more secrets come to light, however, Rita’s list of suspects grows. Parlato’s multidimensional characters and effective use of red herrings will keep readers invested right up to the gasp-worthy conclusion. Series fans and newcomers alike will look forward to Rita’s next case. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2023-10-20
A failed ballerina’s return home is turned upside down by the appearance of a dead body in her family’s yard.

It gets worse. The woman who’s been beaten to death is Kara Cunningham, the best friend of Esmé Foster, who, forcibly retired two years ago from her chosen career after pushing herself too hard, decides to retire voluntarily from her live-in boyfriend and go back to Graybridge, Massachusetts, where her alcoholic father, Thomas Foster, has cirrhosis of the liver, which amounts to a death sentence. Thomas was behind the wheel when an accident killed his wife, Jennifer, 13 years ago, and the troubled Esmé is traumatized still further by her persistent teenage memory of the unidentified man who leaned in the window of the car in which she’d been trapped with her unconscious father and her dead mother and announced: “I’m going to kill you!” The neighboring Ridleys have been equally messed up ever since Cynthia Ridley, her brain injured from a childhood tumble down a flight of stairs, was sent to a psychiatric facility after a quarrel aboard a boat led to the drowning of her younger sister, Wendy. In chapters that alternate between the viewpoints of Esmé and veteran police detective Rita Myers, who’s saddled with her own family history, Parlato piles on the rumors, menace, and revelations until readers faced with an embarrassment of riches can only watch as one mystery after another is cleared up with disappointingly little logical progression, much less inevitability.

A highly effective mood piece for readers willing to skip the last 50 pages.

Kirkus Reviews