Publication Date: February 19, 2026
Inside Marburg State Park lies the remains of Camp Southwoods, where four counselors were slain twenty-six years ago. Their murderer, Douglas Lee Carver, has become a local boogieman with a chilling nursery rhyme attributed to his name. Locals believe the now-abandoned camp is haunted.
Ranger Colt Mitcham, leader of the Ranger Rescue Unit for Marburg State Park, ignores the ghost stories of Camp South Woods. He has real-world problems to worry about, like apprehending the person who’s been vandalizing the grounds, finding a missing local man who’s disappeared inside the park, and making sure that his team secures the park before the rapidly approaching blizzard – the worst storm in years – unleashes hell across the land.
But when a member of Colt’s team is found murdered, Colt begins to wonder if the tales about Camp Southwoods are true. Has Douglas Lee Carver returned? Or is there someone else out there? Someone with a personal axe to grind against Colt and his team, hoping to use the urban legends as a cover for their crimes and keep what happened at Camp Southwoods three decades ago from being exposed.
With a blizzard bearing down, rangers at Marburg State Park tackle vandalism and a missing person known to violate park guidelines.
Author Westley Smith once again proves he is a force to be reckoned with in the psychological thriller genre. He leverages multi-faceted characters who are dropped into a tightly woven storyline where readers buckle in for mind-blowing twists.
Who’s Out There delivers yet another notch in his belt. While the main storyline delivers suspense via the pending storm, it becomes even more impactful on the heels of a devastating hurricane the previous year. Ranger Colt Mitcham, team leader, knows all too well what can happen when communication goes down.
Meanwhile, a lingering urban legend tied to the remnants of a summer camp within the park—where four counselors were brutally murdered 26 years ago—ramps up the tension.
Finding a colleague brutally murdered and posed leads Colt to think someone is out for revenge. With sabotage at every step, everyone becomes a suspect. As the body count rises, it’s a toss-up between facing deadly weather conditions or dodging a killer wearing a skeleton mask.
Who’s Out There weaves a heart-pounding thriller, capturing the sense of fear with no sure path to safety.
Westley Smith is the author of the crime thrillers Some Kind of Truth (Wicked House Publishing) and In the Pale Light (Watertower Hill Publishing). In the Pale Light landed on IngramSpark’s #1 pre-order charts in the mystery, thriller, and hard-boiled detective category. He is also the author of the psychological thriller, They Came at Night (Watertower Hill Publishing). He has two self-published horror novels, Along Came the Tricksters and All Hallows Eve.
Writing since he was ten, his first short story, “Off to War,” was published nationally at sixteen. His short stories have recently appeared in On the Premise and Unveiling Nightmares. He was the runner-up contestant in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’s Mysterious Photograph Contest, and his short story “Winter Reflections” was chosen as a finalist for Crystal Lake Publishing’s Shallow Waters short story contest. He also had a short story, “The Security Guard,” in the horror anthology “Hospital of Haunts,” (Watertower Hill Publishing) which hit #1 on Amazon, and his true encounter with the urban legend of York, PAs, Toad Road and The Seven Gates of Hell, was featured in George Watertower and Other Childhood Terrors (Watertower Hill Publishing).
He lives in southern Pennsylvania with his wife and two dogs.
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GREAT REVIEW!
“Author Westley Smith once again proves he is a force to be reckoned with in the psychological thriller genre.” ~ I love that!!!