Welcome to Wisewood. Where we keep your secrets, if you keep ours.
Natalie Collins hasn’t heard from her sister in more than half a year.
The last time they spoke, Kit was slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower about their dead mother. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there.
And then she found Wisewood.
On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood’s guests commit to six-month stays. During this time, they’re prohibited from contact with the rest of the world—no Internet, no phones, no exceptions. But the rules are for a good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. Natalie thinks it’s a bad idea, but Kit has had enough of her sister’s cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid.
Six months later Natalie receives a menacing e-mail from a Wisewood account threatening to reveal the secret she’s been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she’s about to learn that Wisewood won’t let either of them go without a fight.
I love a cult narrative. There's something really absorbing about it, and I'm endlessly fascinated by the ways that cult leaders gain and keep control. This sounded really interesting. And the cult part was, to be fair. It's the strange unnamed, backstory bits that threw me off.
Threaded throughout the story are flashbacks from the life of an unnamed member of the story's cast. There's no marking or headers on these sections (as usual, I am reading a proof and the finished book may be different) and it threw me out of the story the first few times, until I got used to it. I still wasn't sure how it connected until about half way through, and even now I'm not sure it was all completely necessary. Yes, it shows a cycle of power abuse, but that could have been conveyed in less disorienting ways.
However, I am still recommending the story as it was really intriguing to see this particular cult from different angles. I only guessed the ending a couple of pages before we got there, and it was an interesting look at how people deal with difficult upbringings. Just be aware of the sudden flashbacks and don't be alarmed!
This Might Hurt publishes on the 3rd of March, 2022. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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