Briardark by S.A. Harian

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was really excited to read based on the blurb alone because hikers stuck in the wilderness is right up my alley, but the story hit differently than I was expecting. There was for the most part almost no horror at all imo, and the first half of the book read more like a slow burn mystery novel. It had a few intriguing moments, enough to keep me pushing along, but not nearly what I had anticipated. I almost dnf a couple of times but I did feel like the second half of the book was a bit better than the first.

While this wasn’t the right book for my particular tastes, I think it would be a good fit if you like more of a slow burn mystery or something on the mild side of horror. I liked the author’s writing style, how she incorporated different points of view, and how she tied things together to lead into a second book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Compass and Fern, for gifting me this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Here's the blurb:

For Dr. Siena Dupont and her ambitious team, the Alpenglow glacier expedition is a career-defining opportunity. But thirty miles into the desolate Deadswitch Wilderness, they discover a missing hiker dangling from a tree, and their satellite phone fails to call out.

Then the body vanishes without a trace.

The disappearance isn’t the only chilling anomaly. Siena’s map no longer aligns with the trail. The glacier they were supposed to study has inexplicably melted. Strange foliage overruns the mountainside, and a tunnel within a tree hollow lures Siena to a hidden cabin, and a stranger with a sinister message…

Holden Sharpe’s IT job offers little distraction from his wasted potential until he stumbles upon a decommissioned hard drive and an old audio file. Trapped on a mountain, Dr. Siena Dupont recounts an expedition in chaos and the bloody death of a colleague.

Entranced by the mystery, Holden searches for answers to Siena’s fate. But he is unprepared for the truth that will draw him to the outskirts of Deadswitch Wilderness—a place teeming with unfathomable nightmares and impossibilities.