Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home

In May 2005, authorities discovered the Groene family murdered in their Idaho home. The family’s youngest members—eight-year-old Shasta and her brother, nine-year-old Dylan—were nowhere to be found.As a community prayed for their return, Shasta and Dylan were already miles away in the woods of Montana at the hands of serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan. After a harrowing forty-eight day ordeal, Shasta was rescued. In many ways, her survival story was only beginning.In the following years, while Shasta struggled to outrun her trauma, a pattern of self-destructive behavior shadowed her like an ever-worsening thunderstorm. She still had hope buried deep inside. Every bit as much as the little girl who had been held captive in the woods. This would be an all-new battle for Shasta. And she was determined not to lose.

“Olsen, a prolific and popular author of multiple true-crime books and fictional mysteries, became close to his subject over several years. His chief concern here is to tell the story of the therapeutic work Shasta did to try to find her way “out of the woods” of her trauma. He weaves that somewhat hopeful story together with the nauseatingly disturbing details of the crime, each parallel path unfolding through the book, dropping hints along the way of ever worse revelations to come.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Novelist and true crime author Olsen (The Amish Wife) paints a heartbreaking portrait of a woman haunted by her narrow escape from a serial killer…As in Olsen’s previous works of nonfiction, there’s plenty of rigorous research on display, but it’s his empathetic consideration of what happens to high-profile victims after news cameras stop rolling that sets this apart…It’s moving stuff.” —Publishers Weekly

“Prolific true-crime author Olsen offers another exemplary narrative of unimaginable trauma that packs an emotional punch.” —Booklist

“An unflinching look at the aftermath of unimaginable trauma and a testament to the human spirit’s capacity for strength and healing.” —Oprah Daily