Book Review: The Briars

The Briars by Sarah Crouch will be released on Jan 13, 2026 in the United States.

 I love an atmospheric mystery or thriller set in a remote location in the wilderness, especially one with a strong female lead, and The Briars by Sarah Crouch delivers.

Annie is a game warden and she’s really not like other girls, because she likes being in the forest and wilderness for semi-traumatic past reasons. (I won’t give it away, but her past and family are developed well and she’s a relatively multi-faceted character).

The novel opens with Annie driving away from Oregon to her new job in a very foggy part of Washington State with lots of trees and lakes.  Not exactly Forks of Twilight fame, but giving those vibes.

Basically, her husband cheated on her, so she really wants to go to the middle of nowhere to get over him, and so therefore she took a job a small town by a really gorgeous lake called Lake Lumen that has bioluminescence. When she arrives in town, her co-worker Jake is the only other officer, and he is very friendly—maybe too friendly…He finds her a place to live in a carriage house on his parents’ property.

Annie’s new life seems to be going relatively well until a hiker discovers a young woman’s body on a cliff ledge. Was she killed by human or another predator? A cougar is lurking the woods, but a serial killer might be too. It is up to Annie and Jake to solve the case, but Annie has almost no experience with crime. Her wilderness knowledge and intuition might help her solve the case, even when it seems like there is no one in this new town she can trust.

Also, luckily for Annie, there is a hot hermit guy living in a nearby boatshed converted into a cute, cozy lake house. And he’s artistic (he makes charcoal drawings)

And he’s handy to have around the house (electrician, town handyman). But spoiler alert, kind of, he also has a mysterious past! His perspective is intertwined with Annie’s in the storytelling. The romantic subplot intertwines well with the main plot as the book moves along.

My Thoughts

I could predict most of the twists, but not in an annoying way. I still had some doubts and enjoyed reading, while also reading quickly, in three days. Overall, the pacing was good; not as fast as pure thrillers, but this would be considered more of a wilderness mystery rather than a thriller by me.

Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.