The transition from child to adult is difficult enough, especially in the hot and sticky summers in rural Louisiana. It’s even worse when your town is also infested with the most evil devil worshippers imaginable.

J.P. Willie’s debut novel Blood In The Woods, inspired by true events, follows the story of Jody and his best friend Jack, growing up in the late eighties and early nineties in the small town of Hammond, Louisiana. They spend their carefree days playing in the woods, causing trouble and making mischief, and beginning their interests in girls, growing older together and experiencing the joys and pains of life, love, family, and friendship. However, they come across something horrific in the nearby woods one night and their lives are changed forever. Jody and Jack are hunted down by an unspeakably evil group of people, and the hunting ground is the soil they spent their childhood days playing on.

The boys ultimately realize that real monsters aren’t the ones we hear about in movies or urban legends, but rather the people we see around us every day. It chronicles a loss of innocence of two young men who go from shooting pellet guns for fun to fighting for their lives.

Blood In The Woods is simultaneously warm and loving on one page and positively horrific on the next page, much like puberty itself. Its coming-of-age aspect could make it easily compared to Stephen’s King’s The Body (Stand By Me), but possesses a literary style more equivalent to a Rob Zombie script, without sacrificing any emotional depth. The tender scenes are tender, and the gruesome scenes are gruesome, exposed in a bare and detailed light.

Willie’s captivating writing style makes Blood In The Woods a hard book to put down, even when you’re tempted to look away from the page at certain points. Be warned: this book is not for the faint of heart and will make many a toe curl, but the rollercoaster ride of nostalgia, heartbreak, and terror is worth it till the end.