Neena and Josie has been best friends for years, a friendship forged by their love for comedy, and their status as outsiders at school. But when they start college Neena will leave for California while Josie is staying home in North Carolina; soon they’ll be on opposite sides of the country.
Neena has the bright idea to have one last adventure before they part; a three-day hike into the woods of the Pisgah National Forest. The girls have never hiked before, but blisters, heavy backpacks and cell-phones without signals will be the least of their worries; for the hiking trip might be an end to more than their time together.
It could mean the end of their friendship … or their lives.
The Woods Are Always Watching is a 2021 YA horror novel by Stephanie Perkins.
This novel provides examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: Josie breaks her left ancle and her right hand gets shot off.
- Asian and Nerdy: Neena.
- Asthma Peril: Neena.
- Bears Are Bad News: Teased, as Josie in particluar is worried they might meet bears, but ultimately subverted, as a bear shows up and attacks Willie and Lyman, letting the girls get away.
- Best Friends: Neena and Josie.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: There’s no internet and no signal up in the woods, so the girls mostly use their phones as cameras. The phones’ batteries die in the night, making them even more useless.
- Childhood Friends: Neena and Josie.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Josie’s father.
- Disappeared Dad: Josie’s father died in a traffic accident, leaving the family broken. Josie’s mother became depressed, and Josie more fearful of the world, particularly driving.
- Divide and Conquer: The girls attempt this when the killers has captured them, trying to manipulate Lyman into betraying his partner and helping them
- Does Not Drive: Her father’s death in a car accident has made Josie scared of driving, relying on others to drive her around. Subverted at the very end; the girls have been through hell and Neena is struggling to breathe, so Josie takes the wheel, overcoming her fear.
- Don't Go in the Woods
- Friendship Trinket: The girls bought friendship rings together, and always wears them. The week after they got them Josie accidentally broke hers. She quickly bought a new one and never told Neena, so not to hurt her. It is later revealed that Neena’s ring also broke. And she also bought a new one and never said, to spare Josie’s feelings.
- Josie breaks her ring again when she falls in the sinkhole, and keeps the pieces. She later uses those sharp pieces to cut through her ropes when the killers ties them up.
- Hillbilly Horrors: Serial killers Willie and Lyman hunt hikers in the forest.
- Horrible Camping Trip
- Improvised Bandage: Pads and a T-shirt for Josie’s broken foot, and a hoodie for her armstump.
- Interclass Friendship: Neena’s parents are a doctor and a lawyer, while Josie’s widowed mom struggles. Neena’s parents knows this, and Josie often eats at their home. This is also partly why Neena can leave for college in California, while Josie has to stay in North Carolina.
- Murderers Are Rapists: Willie and Lyman.
- Nerdy Inhaler: Neena.
- Not the First Victim: Willie tells Josie that the others are already dead.
- Only Friend: Neena and Josie to each other.
- Pit Trap: Josie falls into a sinkhole that turns out the be a trap dug by the serial killers.
- Serial Killer: Willie and Lyman.
