Book Review: The Body in the Woods

The Body in the Woods, by Joshua Burleson, follows William and Diana after the married couple hits a man while driving home one night.  Rather than call the police, they opt to bury the body in the woods.  What follows is how the couple deals with the aftermath, grappling with guilt while also struggling to act as if everything is normal.

The book is split into two parts, one focusing on William and the other focusing on Diana - both told from that character's perspective.  Without hesitation, I will say that William's half is much stronger.  William, as the one driving, feels the bulk of the guilt for what has happened, and Burleson does a great job of writing the character's growing guilt.  There's some structural issues that hurt the Diana half, but William's half is solid from beginning to end.

Diana's half, while interesting, suffers a bit from Burleson needing to expand the story outside of Diana's perspective.  So, rather than the entire half being told from her point of view, the reader is forced to essentially step outside of her story to see what is happening with the investigation into the dead man's disappearance.

I think the novel might have been stronger with a triptych structure, rather than just a split: Keep Diana's section completely focused on her reactions, then have a third part focusing on the detective's.  This would not only give the two of them fuller characterizations - having to jump back and forth between the two shortchanges both of them - but it would also allow Burleson to approach scenes where the characters interact from multiple angles, which would further enrich the story.

The detective character, Charon, is the only part of the novel not told in the first person - another reason I think three divisions would work better than just 2 - and these parts feel almost awkward compared to the others.  The character isn't a bad one, but losing that inner perspective while also having him drive the bulk of the action in the final parts of the book doesn't quite work, structurally.

Another reason I would push for Charon to have his own section is that several breadcrumbs for a future sequel feel forced in rather than a natural part of the story, and the dynamic he has with his partner feels underdeveloped, especially with some of the leaps the story takes in the last third.

Even with those criticisms, this is a solid debut from Burleson.  I'm willing to read whatever novel he self-publishes next.  I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to support independent (and local!) authors.

3 out of 5