What Lies in the Woods

Why do Liv, Cass, and Naomi have such different reactions to coming forward about the existence of the skeleton? How do these reactions characterize their ideas of moral responsibility, loyalty, and self-protection?

What is the role of true crime media in the novel? How is the voyeuristic fascination with real violence similar to or different from the experience of reading a literary thriller like What Lies in the Woods?

Compare two of Naomi’s relationships with men (Mitch, Ethan, Oscar, or Cody). How are they similar? How are they different?

Discuss the novel’s use of imagery of nature and the wilderness. How does this motif guide the reader’s understanding of Naomi’s emotions?

Examine the relationships between parents and children in the novel. How are the girls’ fathers similar and different from one another in their attempts to protect or raise their children? How do parents’ attitudes, decisions, and actions affect the next generation?

How does the novel use genre tropes of the detective or thriller novel, and how does it subvert them? Examine plot twists, deception, and the reader experience.

Compare the rules around the behavior of young men and young women in the world of the novel. What commentary does the novel make about the social construct of gender expectations?

The novel sets up complex moral quandaries, such as whether Naomi was justified in lying to send Stahl to prison. How do characters decide whether their actions are justified? How do deception and self-deception intersect with ethical dilemmas?