Books book reviews Predatory Natures by Amy Goldsmith Is a Lush Tangle of Supernatural and Human Horrors A mesmerizing, meaningful tangle of a tale. By Maura Krause | Published on September 11, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share The word “predator” has several applications. Some may first associate it with animals possessing claws and fangs, while others may think of morally bankrupt people seeking gratification at the expense of others. Still more may think of vicious capitalist practices designed to part individuals from their hard-earned money. Amy Goldsmith’s cleverly-titled new young adult novel, Predatory Natures, revolves around this multi-faceted meaning of the term, tackling coercive control in romantic relationships, financial greed, and of course, inexorable devouring nature. Goldsmith’s transporting book is narrated by Lara, an eighteen-year-old who accepts a job on a luxury train to get away from her shameful and suffocating past in Wales. She dreams of making decent money on the ominously named Banebury, before getting off at its terminus in Tallinn and then backpacking her carefree way home across Europe. Lara’s dreams quickly take a hit when her former friend Rhys arrives, also ready to work on the train. This shouldn’t be wholly unexpected, as Rhys was the one to find the job listing several months ago, but it is indicative of Lara’s desperation that she’s managed to forget that fact.  It’s soon apparent that tall and handsome Rhys played a prominent role in whatever our narrator is running from, and that Lara also harbors confusing romantic feelings for him. The two establish a wary detente, which is easy at first thanks to the demands of serving the Banebury’s wealthy clientele. Yet in the middle of the night, several cars are attached to the back of the train, and in the morning two new passengers appear: Gwendolyn and Gwydion Llewellyn. Despite Gwydion’s initial nastiness, Lara finds herself drawn to the Welsh boy—but not as drawn as she is to the locked greenhouse carriages he and his sister brought with them. Though the official line is that Gwen is a scientist bringing specialized plants to a lab, Lara’s sneaky forays into the forbidden carriages lead her to believe there is something else going on. The barriers between her and Rhys begin to crack as the two work together to figure out what’s really happening on the Banebury. Vines creep along the train’s lush carpets at night and the greenhouse vegetation grows faster than seems possible. Rhys thinks he sees someone watering the plants with blood, while Lara is convinced that one passenger is coughing up petals. Even as they protect one another and confer in each other’s cabins, the pair’s unspoken history simmers away. This looming backstory is slowly revealed in drawn-out flashbacks that often throw Lara off-balance. Though Goldsmith skillfully builds this hidden narrative to a crescendo right as the train action becomes its most thrilling, some readers may find this attenuation of Lara’s memories a bit frustrating. The trauma of the situation is quickly clear even as the events remain fogged: Lara was in a psychologically abusive relationship.  Buy the Book Predatory Natures Amy Goldsmith Buy Book Predatory Natures Amy Goldsmith Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget Thankfully, Goldsmith stays away from over-painting this portrait of Lara’s nauseating former relationship and allows Lara to be smart and brave as well as refreshingly teenaged in her see-sawing feelings and lurching self-awareness. Moreover, Lara’s painful past is not merely a foundation established for the sole purpose of this protagonist’s eventual empowerment. Without giving too much away, it turns out that at the heart of the terrifying plant growth is an eerie and ancient story about a woman created solely to please a man. Though Lara has already mapped her experience of abuse onto the fairytale “Fitcher’s Bird” (a version of “Bluebeard”), she continues to wrestle with feelings of guilt and blame, which many who’ve suffered coercive control will recognize. It seems like Lara’s evolving connection to this Welsh myth emerges from her awful past—but whether for good or ill, it is impossible to say. Goldsmith elegantly splices this substantive and moving emotional core to several delicious and underused tropes. For one, she uses the luxury train mystery setting to its fullest effect. Agatha Christie famously demonstrated that trapping rich people and death on a moving train creates some very fruitful possibilities for plot and tension. Goldsmith picks up all of this and more, making satisfying use of class resentments, hurtling isolation, and of course, blood on the carpet. Guest cabins seem to offer safety in their privacy, but end up being as replete with danger as the dimly lit and plushly curtained Orchid Lounge. For another, the train’s unsettling flora is both seductive and threatening. Lara’s first time in the greenhouses is practically a euphoric experience for her, sweet-smelling and full of color; it is only later than the overgrowth begins to bind and suffocate. A passenger steals a bouquet of glorious deep purple flowers, only for Gwen to explain they are highly poisonous. In the same way that Lara’s vile ex-boyfriend’s golden handsomeness hid rot beneath, much of the plantlife and the people on the Banebury are not what they seem. Thanks to these showier elements, Predatory Natures is a fun read, and thanks to the human horror behind Lara’s deep wound, Predatory Natures is also meaningful. Goldsmith’s novel is a mesmerizing tangle of a tale to get lost in, capped with a satisfying ending that leads readers back out of the woods.[end-mark] Predatory Natures is published by Delacorte Press. The post <i>Predatory Natures</i> by Amy Goldsmith Is a Lush Tangle of Supernatural and Human Horrors appeared first on Reactor.