Northwoods

By: Bill Schweigart

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Ex-Delta Force Davis Holland, now an agent for Customs and Border Protection, has seen it all. But nothing in his experience has prepared him for what he and the local sheriff find one freezing night in the Minnesota woods.

Investigating reports of an illegal border crossing, the two men stumble across a blood-drenched scene of mass murder, barely escaping with their lives... and a single clue to the mayhem: a small wooden chest placed at the heart of the massacre. Something deadly has entered Holland's territory, crossing the border from nightmare into reality.

When news of the atrocity reaches wealthy cryptozoologist Richard Severance, he sends a three-person team north to investigate. Not long ago, the members of that team - Ben McKelvie, Lindsay Clark, and Alex Standingcloud - were nearly killed by a vengeful shapeshifter. Now they are walking wounded, haunted by gruesome memories that make normal life impossible. But there is nothing normal about the horror that awaits in the Northwoods.

©2016 William Schweigart (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"With its vivid descriptions and realistic but sympathetic characterizations, Northwoods will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned." ( New York Journal of Books)

Backwoods X-files

Another fantabulous read, but would recommend reading The Beast of Barcroft first... This one can stand alone, but the context and history of the previous will make this one all the more enjoyable... Northwoods has a similar flavor and appeal as Beast, mixing science, native traditions, and seemingly unrelated legends/mythos w/ those things creeping around in the dark corners of our imaginations... The Back and forth between character perspectives and locales makes for some delightful mini cliff hangers, which in turn ratchets up the tension and chills... There's some incredible attention to detail, and precision of research, creating a rich and rereadable experience... Found myself rewinding on several occasions to reread a particularly enjoyable passage or humorous happening, and you will absolutely catch yourself laughing out loud at many points... Vivid settings and characters beyond engaging... The team's grouping is interestingly diverse w/o beating you over the head w/ it...It's a fun trip into the weird and arcane, and if you like that sorta of stuff like me you'll undoubtedly appreciate this cryptothriller story and series... Think I just coined a term;) Quite excited for book 3, and have it on good authority that it has recently been recently turned into its publisher... Worth the credit, price, or whatever, and you're welcome...

Good story. Not ground breaking, but a good, fun romp.

Writing is very solid, dialogue is smooth (this is rare and essential to a good immersive book) and characters are well developed and believable. Story gets a little far fetched (very quickly), but if you like supernatural and fantasy, you'll enjoy this high pace, well written, good vs evil escape into what could be...

great listen!!!

love this author and narrator i highly recommend it!cant wait to listen to the third of this trilogy!

A roller coaster of HUH????

The story was all over the place and it wasn't until the last hour do you realize where the author is trying to get too. If you're looking for action thriller this is not it.

I love this narrator

I have purposely looked up books that are narrated by Will Damron so I can enjoy his telling and I am pleased with that choice. I love how he uses different voices/tones for each of the characters and how he puts the emotion of the scenes into it as well.

long, long, long narrative

struggled with the story and the length and the repitions. way too long and a tad tiring

Morr?

Been waiting to find out how Alex and Davison come together and battle the ghouls. Hope they sink the ghouls chest in the Mariana trencn!
Maybe a story of that weird sighting of that weird sighting of something climbing the wall during the earthquake and tsun a mind in Fukushima..interesting take can possibly be woven.

Beast and Northwoods

These comments address two audiobooks by Bill Schweigart released by Tantor Audio in late 2016. The Beast of Barcroft is about seven hours in length, Northwoods just over ten. Both are narrated by Will Damron.

Didn’t like: Narration is laboriously slow, ergo set Audible application to 1.5 - normal speed, in addition to Damron’s soft voice, will put you to sleep regardless of scary moments. Although there’s little trouble discerning who-is-speaking-to-who, there isn’t a uniqueness to voices. They all sound similar, male/female. Plots are not very creative. In Beasts, an unknown, but scary, creature is terrifying a small town and good guys figure it out. In Northwoods, the same batch of good guys save the day again from an equally scary creature.

Liked: The ‘hide-under-the-covers’ moments. If you like the horror story genre, these fit the bill - shape-shifting, ferocious coyotes and wolves and hyenas, bloody zombies, glowing-eyes traverse the pages. Action scenes are exciting.
That said, some imagery is a bit confusing. The literary visions of Schweigart leave the reader to imagine quite a bit. In the horror genre, sometimes this isn’t all bad.

The books are not identified as a series - although they should be; there is no doubt you should read Beasts first. There is also no doubt there will be subsequent novels, as book two - Northwoods - ends abruptly with the line “We’re going to Jersey.” No spoilers - but, guess that’s a hint?

No gratuitous sex, some language issues but very rare and none inappropriate to the circumstance or character.

Recommended only those who enjoy horror stories.

Read book one first

Any additional comments?

I just started this book and i was so lost and confused from all the references to the past and to previous character development that I had to put it down and read book one . Only 3 hours into book one it is glaringly obvious that i needed to read "The Beast of Barcroft" first. Luckily it's pretty good so far. I'm upset that this wasn't listed as a series or I wouldn't have made this mistake.

Beast of Barcroft...part deux.

Northwoods is an exciting thriller comprised of paranormal entities and Ojibwe Indian legends. Our protagonist David Holland is former Special Forces now an agent for Customs and Border Protection. It all starts with a possible border crossing into the Northwoods of Minnesota. Mystery, action and tension escalate from there on. People begin to show up dead, mangled and partially eaten, graves disturbed and huge shadows of legendary beasts appear on land and in the lakes. A paranormal research team is sent in and together with Holland they struggle to make sense of the death and chaos erupting around them. An artifact is found at one of the deadly scenes which only confounds and complicates matters further since no one knows what it is, where it came from, or how it fits into the current circumstances. Reference is made to a previous book “The Beast of Barcroft” in which this research team took part, but the books can stand on their own. This is an interesting story (if not a bit long-winded at times), decent characters, with plenty of mystery and action; well done Mr. Schweigart. Will Damron also does a fine job as narrator.