2 0 2 0 TO P N O TA B L E I N D I E S N O TA B L E
N O TA B L E
THE WOODCUTTER by Jonathan Maas
THE WOMAN IN THE PARK by Tullan Holmqvist and Teresa Sorkin
The Woodcutter was first submitted to me as 'Cloverfield Fan Fiction,' and though I'm a fan of that series, I saw this as a standalone series in and of itself - and a unique one at that.
When Manhattanite Sarah Rock meets a mysterious and handsome stranger in the park, she is drawn to him. Sarah wants to get away from her daily routine, her cheating husband and his crazy mistress, her frequent sessions with her heartless therapist, and her moody children.
It's part Fantasy, part Thriller, part Fairy Tale and above all else a complete page turner. Jonathan Maas, along with his collaborators - Nigerian-American filmmakers Olumide Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika - have delivered an absolutely riveting tale. The Woodcutter's titular character reminds me a bit of Idris Elba, and also of Liam Neeson from Taken - and just like the movie Taken, this tale begins immediately and keeps going all the way to the end. In the first chapter, the Woodcutter hears a woman's scream from the forest. He goes to investigate it and finds a woman all right, but her tale changes everything.
But nothing is as it seems. Her life begins to unravel when a woman from the park goes missing and Sarah becomes the prime suspect in the woman's disappearance. Her lover is nowhere to be found, her husband is suspicious of her, and her therapist is talking to the police. With no one to trust, Sarah must face her inner demons and uncover the truth to prove her innocence. A thriller that questions what is real-with its shocking twists, secrets, and lies--The Woman in the Park will leave readers breathless.
She's says that some dangerous men are after her - and though his own two children are still deep in the forest, the men arrive before he can leave to rescue them. And that's when the tale really begins. 115