What Lurks in the Woods by Nicole Bell is a heart-wrenching, real-life love story that deals with a family’s struggle with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Nicole Bell and her husband, Russ, are living everyday life in North Carolina with their two toddlers Ryan and Hailey. Life is fast and hectic, with Nicole’s ever-increasing work in her high-tech medical device startup, which she joined when she was six months pregnant with Ryan. The fights and frustration became so frequent and overwhelming that Nicole considered leaving Russ when she saw the first sign. It was nothing big, just an issue with the home security alarm. But once she started noticing, the symptoms became more and more apparent. Placing the bowl in the wrong place, forgetting to pick up the kids. Russ had Alzheimer’s.

The book is a brilliant compilation of detailing various minor incidents and everyday life for a family dealing with a chronic disease. What makes this book stand out from other memoirs written about chronic illness and Alzheimer’s is that it isn’t written from the patient’s perspective. It highlights the struggles that not just the patient faces but how it impacts the people around them. We often forget the impact on the family and their contribution against this fight with fate and how their presence makes everything better and much more bearable. This memoir highlights a wife’s journey of love and dedication to her partner throughout his journey.

What Lurks in the Woods is an inspirational and emotional memoir that I would highly recommend for its heartfelt, raw, and authentic depiction of how a single member’s chronic illness impacts an entire family. This book is perfect for anyone with chronic disease as a significant part of their life, be it firsthand suffering or secondhand experience via a family member or a close friend.

Pages: 222 | ASIN: B09CJWWC9L