The Woods

Attending a sleepaway camp is a traditional pastime for children during the summer holiday season. Summer camps are a nostalgic place of youth, exploration, and independence; it’s a familiar setting wherein authors can explore the intense emotions of adolescence. Summer camps are a popular setting for horror and thriller stories because the supposed innocence of the setting makes gruesome crimes all the more terrifying. As Paul explains, “[T]he wall between life and death, […] between the most innocent setting and a frightening bloodbath, is flimsy” (5). By setting a tale of murder at a summer camp, authors like Harlan Coben interrogate how tragedies at a young, impressionable age can have lasting impacts on their characters’ psyches. Other novels, like Riley Sager’s The Last Time I Lied and Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, similarly follow teen disappearances at summer camps and explore the emotional fallout of these crimes.

The Woods examines the duality of the summer camp setting, particularly through the character of Ira. A free-loving hippie, Ira bought the camp’s land with the original purpose of establishing a commune. Ira believed in the positive influence of connecting with nature, so when the commune didn’t pan out, he developed the land into a summer camp for teens. Paul describes why Ira must have seen much potential in that setting: “Ira probably looked out at these woods and realized his lifelong dream: a camp, a commune, a natural habitat free from the sins of man, a place of peace and harmony, whatever, something that would hold his values” (399). Children of all economic backgrounds attended the camp, which produced a leveling effect among the group, allowing for new connections. Ira wanted the teens to call the adults either Uncle or Aunt, like a family, and they all greeted one another with hugs. By building up the intended positivity of the camp, Coben shatters Ira’s idealism via the reality that death and tragedy can intrude on happiness anytime.

The summer camp horror genre first became popular in film, as the location was relatively inexpensive for independent filmmakers to use. Actors play teenagers bubbling with sexual tension who are thrown together in an isolated location with minimal supervision. Youthful impulsivity motivates the characters, who are typically ignorant that a threat lurks among them until it’s too late. Popular films like Sleepaway Camp (1983), The Burning (1981), and the Friday the 13th franchise established the conventions of this genre. (Young, David. “Why Are There So Many Summer Camp Horror Movies?” Screen Craft, 10 May 2023). Unlike its cinematic counterparts, The Woods takes place decades after its horrific crimes have been committed. The novel focuses on the lasting psychological impacts of the mystery rather than the physical fear of real-time action.