The Briars

A Novel

By: Sarah Crouch

Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Helen Laser, Jonathan Todd Ross

The USA TODAY bestselling author of Middletide returns with a lush and atmospheric novel of suspense following a young woman whose job as a game warden puts her in the path of a murderer in a small town eager to protect its own.

Desperate to escape a relationship gone bad, Annie Heston flees north to accept a job as a game warden in Lake Lumin, a picturesque town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

A cougar has been spotted in the area, and as Annie warns the community of the threat, she quickly discovers that not everyone in the tight-knit town is welcoming of outsiders, except for Daniel Barela, a reclusive carpenter who lives in the shadow of the mountain. They form an instant bond, though Annie soon comes to realize there is more to his past than meets the eye.

When the body of a young woman is found in the briars that border Daniel’s property, the peace Annie has found in Lake Lumin shatters. As she assists the local sheriff with the investigation, Annie must rely on her wilderness training and intuition to find a murderer hiding in plain sight.

Urgent and emotionally complex, The Briars is a captivating literary thriller that marries an exploration of human nature with a plot as thorny and twisted as the brambles for which it is named.

Critic reviews

"Helen Laser, Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Jonathan Todd Ross narrate this tangled thriller set in a small Pacific Northwest town. Annie Heston abandons her past to become a game warden in the tiny town of Lake Lumin and finds herself drawn to reclusive carpenter Daniel Barela. Looking into complaints about a cougar, Annie finds herself instead investigating a murder. Annie must rely on her instincts to find the killer in their midst. Laser’s performance captures Annie’s complicated emotional perspective. Taylor-Corbett and Ross round out this audiobook with their own strong performances."

"Together, the three narrators capture the high stakes."

captivating

well written. sarah’s best yet. loved all the plot twists. Characters were brought to life. Could feel the beauty of the setting.

Decent, but less crime than love story.

It was okay. Charming and heartfelt. Nothing groundbreaking or new, a bit basic, formulaic and predictable, and the protagonist's lack of communication skills when it mattered most were maddening. It was technically a crime novel, though there was very little focus on the crime or investigation. It was more about how the crime impacted the burgeoning romance. There weren't any annoying spicy scenes, but the focus was definitely more on feelings than the crimes. The identity of bad guy was super predictable in that formulaic way where it's the one you never had reason to suspect, but only because the author annoyingly never gave you any clues or reason to suspect them at all for the sake of having a surprise twist, so that fell a bit flat. Not much depth to much of anything in the story except for the main characters.

A decent read if you're looking for heartfelt slow burn without much substance beyond the main character, but definitely not a mystery/thriller/suspense.

Great book, somewhat brief storyline

It was a very entertaining book! The imagery and plot were fun and interesting to follow. The one downside is as soon as the storyline started to pick up, it was over. The build up could have been shorter, and the action packed part of the book could have been longer.

Who edited this?

Jeep wagoneers are at minimum $55k, there’s no way a game warden is affording that car. Also, someone didn’t do research on buoyancy. Fun story but too many holes I instantly caught.

Captivating but cringy

I was certainly hooked at parts an there was a great twist. I could see it as an awesome mini series or movie. But as a book, the details were a bit cheesier than I prefer.