I'll be honest, the cover of this book is what instantly drew me in. The title and blurb ended up being an extra treat.

There have been people going missing in The Clackamas National Forest and no one is really sure what's happening to them. A serial killer? Bears? Lost while hiking? When Erin's brother goes missing, she decides to go looking for him years later. While on her search, she stumbles upon another missing person and she's covered in a mysterious fungus in a creek. Soon, the creek girl goes missing from the morgue and there's something very strange going on with her.

I have to say, I loved this book and I'll be purchasing it once it's published! This story was exciting and well-paced. There wasn't ever a time where I felt bored or as though nothing was happening in the story. The concept was incredibly intriguing to me and I loved how everything was interconnected. The second half was increasingly bizarre and grotesque. The descriptions were so vivid. It reminded me a bit of Annihilation and The Fungus. But just vaguely.

The twist at the end was exciting and I thought it added a nice ominous conclusion to this story.

My only complaints were that this book got a bit confusing at times. I didn't always understand the "science," I guess, behind the explanations of the fungus and I couldn't always keep the characters straight in my head. This is a book that I wish I had the physical copy so I could've annotated and bookmarked along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7178692258
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/706d6636-3b18-4b91-9bb7-291dd4c8e82a/share