The Briars
The Briars
By: Sarah Crouch
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2026]
“‘Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.’— André Malraux”
Two killers haunt Lake Lumin— one on four legs, one on two.
This one had me feeling like I was up in the mountains, isolated and hunted by both man and beast.
Sarah Crouch wastes no time getting into it with The Briars. Right out of the gate we encounter a body in the forest of Washington State, marked by the deep claws of a cougar. But this girl was not killed by the cougar, she was strangled before she even fell to the forest floor.
And that is the mystery throughout this atmospheric book: who should they be more afraid of— the cougar or the killer hunting around Lake Lumin?
There was a lot to love about this book. The characters were really good and played off each other really well.
The setting was fantastic. I would believe Lake Lumin actually existed with the lake full of bioluminescent plankton, surrounded by a tangle of briars, in the small mountain town where everyone knows everyone.
I also was very convinced I had figured out who the killer was and had I been right, I would have been satisfied, not disappointed, and yet even still Crouch managed to surprise me!
The middle got a little slow because we had to take a break from the hunt to let two of the characters fall in love, but the pace picked up again with a second murder and a suspect no one wanted to find.
The suspense of this story was not so much in the chase of the cougar or the unleashed killer but in the mystery of the characters. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?
Our main character is Annie Heston, a game warden fleeing her broken marriage to accept a new position in Lake Lumin.
“She needed the woods the way she needed food, and the longer she went without them, the deeper and more desperate her hunger grew. They were her home. Her calling. Her savior. The plain fact of it was, they had brought her back to life.”
Such a small town only employs one police officer, Jake Proudy, whom Annie works closely with as they investigate both the cougar attack and the potential murderer in the community.
“Jake was a golden retriever… lovable and chatty.”
Daniel Barela is the reclusive young man living on the edge of the lake, heavily invested in ‘No Trespassing’ signs.
Annie, requiring access to the lake and the surrounding property, is forced to make friends with Daniel and assure he will cooperate with her investigation.
These make up our primary trio of characters.
Daniel and Jake are buddies.
“If it came down to it, Daniel was willing to bet that Jake would be just as likely to help him bury a body as to drag him down to the station for questioning. But he couldn’t risk it. If the law ever came between then, or if Jake ever found out the truth about Daniel’s past, there was no telling what he’d do.”
Jake and Annie are coworkers.
And that leaves Annie and Daniel to fall in love.
“He was falling for her goodness, her light, her laughter, and most of all for the way she made him believe that there could be more to his life than lonely isolation.”
Annie knows Daniel has something to hide. And she thinks he finally shares it with her. But when the second victim is found near his property with all evidence pointing to him, Annie starts to wonder if he was being completely honest about his past.
“Daniel clearly knew how to lie. And he knew how to hide. Did he also know how to kill?”
Sarah Crouch did a good job of intertwining the story with the nature that encompassed it.
Here are two quotes to that end:
“logs that were now home to countless creatures and species, their very death and decomposition essential to new life. Destruction and rejuvenation walked hand in hand in the woods. The wilderness was like that, as was, Annie suspected, the human heart.”
“‘Relationships are a bit like the briars, Annie. You know, those sharp little brambles that this neck of the woods is known for. They’ll cut you up good before they give up their sweetest berries, but once you’ve got a pot of jam simmering on the stove and see those jars on your pantry shelves, you don’t think much about the pain, do you? There’s sweetness in life to be had, but sometimes you gotta get through the briars first.’”
Annie is trying to start a new life but is still nursing the wounds from her cheating husband. We often want to shield our hearts when we hurt and vow never to open ourselves up to be hurt again.
She is learning that to close up and never feel again is not the way we were meant to live. She takes note of the advice her beloved forest shows her.
I think God knew what he was doing when he created nature, showing us how death is the catalyst for life. Just like we are to die to ourselves and live to Christ to find life eternal, we see that same concept play out in the world around us. God works in the darkness and the hurt to bring forth new and abundant life.
There is sweetness even in the midst of the thorns.
I liked how Crouch shows both sides of nature. She didn’t paint it as evil and she didn’t paint it as untainted. She poignantly shows the relationship of both.
I don’t really have any big critiques of this book.
One plot-hole type thing that stuck out to me was the whole ‘stealing someone else’s driver’s license for a new identity.’ I don’t think that would work out like it did. The license would have been reported stolen or missing and it would have most certainly triggered something when it was used somewhere else eventually. That part of the story could have used some tightening up, but it’s a very small part so not a big deal at all.
I do think the whole cougar situation was a bit anti-climactic and faded away. It almost seemed like once Annie set the traps she washed her hands of it and didn’t follow up much. Seemed like it should have been a more important thing to keep track of for her. But the priority in the story was to spend weeks on the romance thread. Honestly, I was more intrigued by the murder than the cougar, so I didn’t mind that we lost track of the tracking.
I agree with some reviewers that the romance aspect of this seemed a bit too insta-love considering the context. Crouch didn’t really try to make it make sense though, she just made it this ‘unexplainable connection’ between Annie and Daniel. At least she wasn’t trying to pretend like it was logical! I didn’t love the romance part because it was romance and I loved them together but because it created the necessary connection that caused Annie to waver on whether or not she thought Daniel was guilty. If they weren’t in love then she would have not flinched at all to reveal his secret and help Jake bring him in.
The ‘miscommunication’ trope made an appearance which was annoying. I wish that would have been handled in a more complex way, but you can’t have it all.
None of these critiques really affected my overall experience with the book. I was engaged the whole time and really liked the ending.
Recommendation
This was a great atmospheric thriller with a side of romance.
I loved the characters, the setting, and the ending. I also loved that it was a clean book with no swearing or sexual content to sift through.
I can’t think of a reason for you not to check this one out, especially if you love a forest-saturated crime scene and a lake that glows in the dark.
Some other ‘in the woods’ thrillers you should also check out: The Family Bones and The Alone Time by Elle Marr or A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall.
If you like a strong female lead that takes place in Washington, check out the Tracy Crosswhite series.
If you want another mysterious (more psychological thriller) read in the Pacific Northwest try The Clinic.
If you are interested in a thriller in the woods (this time Montana) but with a male main character, try Out for Blood— it’s very action-packed!
[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content—there was some eluded to but nothing described; some gruesomeness in the crime scene descriptions]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
This book released in January, 2026. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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