Wildwood: A Novel by Amy PeaseSeries: Northwoods #2
Publication Date: January 6, 2026
Pages: 288
Add on: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★★½
Source: Edelweiss
Genre: Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Publisher: Atria / Emily Bestler Books / Simon & Schuster
From the acclaimed author of the “riveting debut” (People) Northwoods, a mother-son law enforcement team confront buried secrets in their small town as they work to expose a conspiracy that goes far beyond the tight-knit community.
Deputy Sheriff Eli North has spent the last year getting his life back together. He hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol, he’s working through his PTSD from his military deployment, and he’s repairing his most important relationships. When an undercover informant disappears and all signs point to murder, Eli must expose the dark underbelly of his idyllic Wisconsin small town while safeguarding his newfound stability.
Then, with the unexpected arrival of FBI Agent Alyssa Mason, Eli and his mother, the sheriff, are pulled deeper into a violent criminal network built on the backs of the lost and forgotten.
As the case deepens, loyalties fracture and the line between justice and survival begins to blur. In a town where everyone has something to hide, exposing the truth may cost them everything.
REVIEW
Amy Pease’s Wildwood plunges you into the shadows of a small Wisconsin town where secrets are currency and trust is hard to come by. Sheriff Eli North, battered by PTSD and addiction after personal tragedy, becomes obsessed with the disappearance of an undercover informant, a case that drags the town’s hidden rot into the open and ties its fate to the opioid crisis sweeping rural America
The real power of Wildwood is in its atmosphere: every page feels steeped in the chilly beauty and claustrophobia of resort-town life, where everyone’s business is everyone’s business. Pease pulls no punches with Eli, a deeply flawed but compelling hero, and the tension between him and his mother (herself a law enforcement veteran) gives the story a raw emotional edge.
Addiction, grief, loyalty, and the toxic weight of secrets drive the plot, but what lingers is how Pease paints her characters: messy, real, and relatable, struggling to do right in a world that rarely offers easy choices. Her background in healthcare and her deep ties to Wisconsin shine through, giving the novel a sense of empathy and authenticity that’s hard to fake.
Pease’s writing is sharp and restrained, balancing grit with genuine warmth. The pacing is taut, the stakes always feel personal, and the realism can be heavy, but it’s also what gives the book its urgency. Wildwood is rural noir done right: dark, honest, and impossible to shake.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
