Backwoods Backwoods

Backwoods is an original young adult (YA) mystery-thriller series by our writers. Backwoods: The Beginning, book one of three, is available now on Amazon; Backwoods: The Accused (book two) is in pre-production, with a third book planned to close the trilogy.

Mount Mary is the kind of small town where everyone knows the stories, even the ones they pretend not to believe. Years ago, Eli Mercer disappeared into the backwoods and never came home. The town called him a runaway. Chris Carter never believed that. Neither did his best friend, Mick. But people in Mount Mary have a way of accepting the easiest answer when the truth feels too heavy to carry. Now, one last summer camping trip to Miller’s Cut is supposed to give Chris and his friends a few days away from gossip, football pressure, family rules, and senior year waiting just ahead. It is remote, muddy, and buried deep enough in the trees to feel separate from the rest of the world, but still familiar enough to feel safe.

Until the trip starts going wrong. An uninvited arrival shifts the mood, a storm traps them farther from town than they meant to be, and a short walk beneath the trees turns into something Chris cannot explain. By the time they make it back to Mount Mary, nothing about their lives feels untouched. Friendships crack, secrets spread, and Chris finds himself trapped between what he knows, what he can prove, and what the town is desperate to believe. Because the backwoods do not forget what people leave behind. And this time, they are not done with Chris Carter.