48 pages • 1-hour read
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home
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Chapters 10-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape, mental illness, child abuse, child sexual abuse, child death, self-harm, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Chapter 10 Summary
Shasta’s relationship with her father quickly became volatile. His cancer went into remission, but he leaned further and further into drugs and alcohol and abused Shasta physically and emotionally. Steve also stole from Shasta’s charity funds on multiple occasions and was generally ill-equipped to raise his daughter. Shasta was never sure if he hated her, and if he did, whether that was because she lived while Dylan had died. When Shasta was in treatment at Vista, she had a couple of therapy sessions with her father, neither of which helped her. She was accused of lying about his abuse and told to reframe her thoughts about her trauma. At the same time, Shasta’s problems were ignored in group therapy, which she suspected was because of their severity. Nobody was able or willing to hear what she went through.
Chapter 11 Summary
After Jet murdered Shasta’s mother and brothers, he carried Dylan and Shasta to his Jeep and took them up the mountain. On the drive, Dylan sat silently crying in the back seat while Shasta wondered where they were going. At one point, Jet stopped the car and forced eight-year-old Shasta to perform oral sex on him. He also watched voyeuristically as the children relieved themselves on the side of the road. The campsite was at the top of a mountain following a dangerous, narrow road. The first thing Jet did upon arriving was chain Shasta and Dylan to a tree, which he then did every day afterward. If they cried, he would mock them, and he particularly enjoyed degrading Dylan.
Chapter 12 Summary
Jet forced Shasta and Dylan into the tent and told them to call him “Daddy” in case anyone came by the campsite. As they cried, he read from the Bible and forced them into various sexual acts both with him and each other. Jet claimed he was doing “God’s work” and that God had not prevented him from anything he had done before or was about to do. He claimed that he was teaching the world a lesson, and that he was on a sort of “divine mission.”
Shasta and Dylan suffered physical and emotional trauma as a result of the abuse, which Jet filmed. Afterward, they spent the night sleeping huddled together in the Jeep. Both were terrified, but Shasta promised Dylan they would get out alive together. That promise continues to haunt her, and has been at the source of much of her pain ever since. Jet’s accounts from prison of what transpired at the campsite reflect his delusional state, as he often exaggerated or lied, even claiming that Brenda and Shasta were “displaying themselves” for him before the kidnapping.
Chapter 13 Summary
Shasta carried guilt over her promise to Dylan, and Steve carried guilt over the fact that he wasn’t there and didn’t have his children in his care when they were taken. Instead of this shared guilt bringing them closer together, it drove the father and daughter further apart. Steve also had issues with the money Shasta continued to receive because while it would set her up for life, it also meant she wasn’t going through the typical experiences that others did. Shasta couldn’t help but agree.
During her youth, Shasta stayed with a family friend named Midge, and in a way, became part of her family. While Midge came to love Shasta like her own daughter, she also feared Shasta’s outbursts and the violence of which she might be capable. At one point, Shasta had a trauma flashback at a drive through window and started screaming that Midge was trying to kidnap her. Midge came to believe that Shasta’s relationship with Steve, who couldn’t help bringing up his guilt on a regular basis, was hindering her recovery.
Chapter 14 Summary
In treatment, Shasta’s therapist her told that she lied about having her miscarriage; older and conservative, he believed all the girls were beneath him. He tried to convince Shasta to pretend she was fine in the hopes that she would trick herself into actually being fine, but Shasta objected to this idea. She often had nightmares that resulted in waking up terrified, and one of the other girls encouraged her to fake her recovery if only for the sake of being able to go home. Shasta knew all about faking feeling fine, because that strategy got her through the time in the woods alive. Shasta always felt that she was taking Jet’s sexual abuse for her brother’s sake, because doing so seemed to lessen Jet’s focus on Dylan. These sacrifices amounted to little in the end, as Dylan was still killed. Shasta was also shamed in therapy for pretending to like Jet, and for the inevitable twisted bond that formed between them.
Chapter 15 Summary
Life at Vista worsened as Shasta both experienced and witnessed all kinds of emotional abuse from the staff toward the girls. She began to notice hints of sexual abuse, as staff would often comment on girls’ appearances, and the therapist would often discuss his own sex life during group therapy. Shasta admitted later that she started to feel sorry for Jet during her time in the woods, and that those experiences led her to seek out people who needed “fixing.” Shasta longed for answers about why Jet did what he did, and how he knew the things he knew. Jet was aware that Shasta’s older brother Slade had been sexually abusing her and knew that her parents were using drugs. She wondered if Jet had been an acquaintance of her parents’.
Chapter 16 Summary
In an attempt to get Shasta and Dylan on his side, Jet would lie to them, telling them their family was fine or even looking for them. He often made up different conflicting stories about his past, such as where he got the name “Jet.” Jet would tell the children about his childhood and how wonderful his mother was, but his siblings later told a different story. They described an unloving mother who physically abused them and took a special interest in Jet. They believed that Jet was sexually involved with their mother and described a sexual punishment “game” that the five siblings would play together when their mother was out.
Chapter 17 Summary
Shasta searched for the reasons behind Jet’s crimes though she never thought of the reasons as excuses. He told her and Dylan about his troubled youth and involvement in petty crimes, and how this led to him being sent to a correctional ranch for boys. While at the ranch, Jet found his first opportunity to attempt to molest a boy, though it failed because the boy ran away and screamed. After leaving the ranch, Jet molested a group of boys by threatening them with an axe, and then later molested the baby of his mother’s friend. One night while his neighbor was out, he broke into his house and stole his guns.
Chapter 18 Summary
Abuse at Vista continued, with one particularly harsh group therapy session involving everyone accusing Shasta of lying about her miscarriage until she gave in and apologized for it. Other girls were punished for becoming sexually involved with each other, and one girl with an eating disorder was forced to finish her entire plate while everyone watched.
Shasta grappled with her feelings of pity toward Jet. She recalled the second day at camp, which changed Dylan forever. After Dylan said something that triggered Jet’s anger, he pulled Dylan to a contraption he had rigged in the forest, then went to get Shasta so she could watch what was about to happen. Jet chained Shasta to a tree, and Dylan to a log, and proceeded to violate him using a stick and a metal hook. Shasta was told to keep her eyes open and watch, or else Dylan would be shot. Dylan cried the entire time, and said nothing for the rest of the day afterward. Shasta kept trying to tell herself they would be okay, and started thinking about ways to kill Jet and escape.
Chapter 19 Summary
Shasta hated the idea of testifying in court or ever seeing Jet again, but she also hated the idea of him getting away with his crimes. After much deliberation by the people who cared for her, Shasta was given a practice trial in which she was asked the same questions she would be asked in court. She broke down in the middle of it and never had to testify after all. Jet was sentenced to three lifetimes in prison without parole. Shasta wished she had killed Jet in the woods before he killed Dylan.
Chapter 20 Summary
After her rescue, Shasta’s attempts to “fake” being okay were leading nowhere, and she was falling further into drug use and promiscuous sex. Shasta often stayed with her cousin and aunt Brandy, who tried to give Shasta a stable home and love her the way she needed, but Steve always came and took her back. Shasta’s youth was filled with these moves and she never really had a place to truly call home.
Chapters 10-20 Analysis
During this section, Shasta begins to move beyond her painful experiences to craft a new identity. As Olsen notes, “Sometimes lost in the horror of what transpired in the Lolo National Forest was the story of a brave little girl” (86). This line suggests that what happened to Shasta often overshadowed who she is as a person. Her survival, agency, and personhood were frequently reduced to the singular identity of “victim,” even though she embodied far more than that, highlighting the theme of Resilience and Forgiveness Following Trauma. Part of Shasta’s reframing of her identity was to try to understand why Jet did what he did; she didn’t want to excuse him, but to find reasons for what seemed to be senseless acts of violence. She hoped that having more insight would help give her closure, especially about what happened to Dylan.
In these chapters, Shasta’s character arc focuses on her internal strength and the emotional contradictions she lives with. In the woods, she is still a child, trying to be playful and comfort her brother, but she is also someone who must manage an adult predator’s volatile moods. Jet is increasingly shown to be psychologically unwell, seeing himself as chosen by God but also possessed by the devil, reciting Bible verses while committing acts of brutal abuse. Shasta describes him observing people with “shark eyes” and “huge blue eyes” that were “like a sponge, soaking up everything, even the air from the inside of the tent” (88). Her description reveals both her fear and the way she watched Jet closely to keep herself safe.
Many of the details of Jet’s upbringing presented in these chapters shed some light on his actions. For instance, he and his siblings were exposed to incest, extreme physical abuse, and neglect during their childhoods. While these facts do not excuse his actions, they indicate the book’s overarching theme of The Failures of Institutions Designed to Help. Shasta even acknowledges parallels between their lives, as both lived in homes with substance abuse, instability, and familial conflict. No one intervened on behalf of Jet and his siblings, and Shasta’s trauma is exacerbated by how institutions continue to fail her. After her rescue, she is dismissed or disbelieved by therapists, police, and even her father. Many people accuse her of lying about the abuse. One therapist tells Shasta that pretending to be okay will eventually make her okay. This strategy does not work for Shasta, and despite the high cost of the therapy she receives at Vista, she is left to cope with her most troubling issues on her own.
The setting of these chapters remains largely focused on the forest campsite, in which Jet’s actions grow increasingly disturbing and dark. Olsen signals this through imagery: the atmosphere is oppressive with thick woods, cold nights locked in the Jeep, and descriptions of the site’s isolation. It becomes a physical manifestation of entrapment.
The structure of this section mirrors Shasta’s confused emotional state. The narrative jumps between her time in the woods, her post-rescue adolescence, and the present moment of telling the story. These shifts show how trauma endures across time and explore the theme of Coming to Terms with Surviving. This nonlinear format allows the reader to feel the disorientation Shasta experienced and follows her attempts to deal with the events’ aftermath.
Shasta’s relationship with her father continues to deteriorate in this section. Both carry the burden of guilt; Steve regrets not picking his children up for the weekend they were taken while Shasta clings to the promise she made Dylan that they would both make it out alive. This promise becomes a powerful symbol of her survivor’s guilt and shapes many of her self-destructive choices later in life. Compounding the interpersonal conflict is the fact that lying became Shasta’s most powerful survival skill in the woods. Pretending, manipulating, and masking her emotions kept her alive, but in therapy and treatment, these same skills are seen as signs of dishonesty or defiance. What once saved her now causes others to disbelieve her. This irony highlights how trauma responses are misunderstood by systems that are designed to “help.”
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