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Saturday, Sep 13
Description
AUTHOR OF THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 and THE LYING GAME INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE An NPR Best Book of the Year An Entertainment Weekly Summer Books Pick A Buzzfeed “31 Books to Get Excited About this Summer” Pick A Publishers Weekly “Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers” Pick A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year A BookReporter Summer Reading Pick A New York Post “Best Novels to Read this Summer” Pick A Shelf Awareness “Book Expo America 2015 Buzz Book” Pick What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller. Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself. When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods. Read more
Publisher : Gallery/Scout Press; Reprint edition (April 19, 2016)
Language : English
Paperback : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 1501112333
ISBN-13 : 31
Item Weight : 10.4 ounces
Dimensions : 5.31 x 1 x 8.25 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #15,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1,216 in Psychological Thrillers (Books) #1,676 in Literary Fiction (Books) #2,333 in Suspense Thrillers
#1,216 in Psychological Thrillers (Books):
#1,676 in Literary Fiction (Books):
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Top Amazon Reviews
So now that summer is coming to an end, I’ve finally found the perfect beach read. It’s In the Dark, Dark Wood, a novel about a “hen party” (British for bachelorette party) that goes fatally wrong, leaving a blood-splattered narrator, a dead guest, and a lot of questions that urgently need to be answered. With her deft use of past, distant past, and present, fully realized characters, and, best of all, a marvelous re-imagining of all the old mystery-novel tropes, Ware has created a deeply satisfying psychological thriller. The novel opens with two very quick passages. First, the narrator, Nora, runs through the woods in some sort of desperate trouble. Next, she is waking in the hospital wondering what’s happened, and worse, what she has done. With gruesome anticipation well established, we then settle into the life of a shy young writer who gets an email inviting her to a hen party for a former best friend she hasn’t seen in ten years. I’ve read some criticism of Nora for having accepted the invite, but it’s an invitation that comes with assurances that the bride-to-be remembers her old friend fondly and after all this time still mentions her often. That’s an awfully flattering inducement. And another friend is on the guest list and offers her a ride. So Nora gets to have an outing with a current friend while indulging her curiosity about an old one who seems to be yearning for a reconciliation. I’d have been there in a shot. The novel continues to move from the hospital, where the police are asking some ominous questions, to the hen party, hosted by the half-crazed Flo whose increasingly hysterical insistence on a perfect weekend swiftly reduces the guests to a bunch of smirking adolescents, to the more distant past where the bride-to-be played such a powerful role in young Nora’s life. And where their friendship ended over a secret too painful to be told even now. The transitions are seamless — we always know exactly when and where we are — and they keep the book rooted in the lives of the characters while moving it urgently forward. The characters themselves are various degrees of prickly-likable, people we can understand if not exactly admire. Even Flo the lunatic is only a more desperate version of the anxious host that most of us have witnessed, or been, at some point in our lives. And a complex picture takes shape as Nora thinks more and more about her childhood relationship with the future bride. We see a quiet girl who was rescued from obscurity by an outgoing classmate. Nora seems to have benefited greatly from their relationship, and Nora’s occasional anger seems to have resulted from the inevitable resentment of being the weaker half of the duo rather than from any great wrong on the part of her friend. The central question of the plot — who’s to blame? — is echoed nicely in the emotional pasts of the characters. As we learn more about Nora, we slowly realize that ancient grudge she’s been carrying from childhood has stunted her life as a young woman. And this realization leads us to another important question: she seems nice enough, but how much do we trust her? And while we’re grappling with the big questions of this book, Wares is merrily sending up every cliche of the murder mystery. Spooky old house in the woods? Check, only this one belongs to Flo’s aunt and is a disastrously out of place attempt at modern architecture. Flo frantically tries to keep it pristine while urging her guests to greater hilarity. An ominous weapon? Get this: Tom moved across to the mantlepiece and started peering into the pots, but then he stopped, his eyes arrested by the same sight that had stopped me in my tracks earlier. “Ker-rist.” It was the shotgun perched on its wooden pegs just above eye level. “Haven’t they heard of Chekhov around here?” A Ouija board with a frightening message? Yep, but the scary message only comes after the guests uncover numerous pleas from beyond that their host break out the tequila or at least buy some coffee. Flo is so outraged that she threatens to make them all play trivial pursuit if they don’t settle down. Oddly enough, the fatuous nature of these and other well worn props of the mystery novel make them all the scarier. I think it’s because we see them as part of someone’s real life. This is a clever, engaging book, and if it’s too late for a beach read, it’s still perfect for an autumn night.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2015 by Vickie I. Fang
Ruth ware writes some great plots, I just usually am underwhelmed with the endings!! This one was definitely decent though. Clare & Nora were such close friends growing up, only to drift apart. 10 years later Nora gets invited to her hen party - it’s a bit weird, but what unfolds is bigger than I could have guessed!
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Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024 by Ashlynn Moran
I've really been in a psychological thriller/mystery mood lately. I keep seeing ads for Ruth Ware's newest novel The Woman In Cabin 10 but I saw she had this first novel as well and it sounded right up my alley. Creepy woods, mystery, interesting female friendships.. What is not to love right? The novel starts out paced very nicely. Nora (Lee, Leonora.. etc, etc.) is a crime novelist who lives by herself in a tiny apartment. She needs to run almost daily to be free from her mind. While checking her email one day she sees an invite to a Hen Do (English bachelorette party) from a friend of someone she hasn't seen in ten years. It is hinted at that they have a past but we don't get the full details yet. We just know that Nora hasn't spoken to Clare in ten years since she abruptly left school. Nora still talks to a girl from their grade Nina and they decide to go together. I liked Nina. While Nora is sort of quiet and hard to know, even from the story being told in her perspective, Nina is the loud brash doctor that says what she is thinking. I think everyone should have a friend like Nina and if Nora would have spent more time with her over the years she might not have been as morose. When they arrive in the dark snowy woods we meet a cast of characters perfect for the story. There is the gay friend Tom, the crazy friend Flo, and the mommy friend Melanie. They all have their own distinct personalities and mesh well together. Eventually Clare shows up and I had an immediate distrust of her. She is withdrawn and doesn't seem to match her friends very well. They drink and have fun but there is some tension in regards to who the groom is, a secret that doesn't go over so well with Nora. It goes on from there in both present time in the hospital and the night of the party. Nora wakes up in the hospital with amnesia and doesn't remember what happened that night only that there was a murder. I didn't like that this started so far into the book. I am a bit OCD and like the uniform of either one time frame through a story or do two time frames from the beginning with equal time between the two throughout. I don't like getting into the past and then being interrupted randomly by the present for a few chapters. This format really didn't work for me. As it becomes a whodunnit I started trying to guess who it was but I wasn't very into any of the ideas or motives so I just let it ride out. The ending was pretty predictable even for a thriller. I reviewed a different mystery the other day and I said that I don't care if its original as long as its gripping. Well this book was slow and not very gripping at all so I didn't really care for the last half of the book at all. Thus the three stars. Nora turned out to be a very annoying heroine in the end after I learned why she left school like she did over a text message. First off this was pretty unbelievable because she is about my age and if she was dumped over a text message ten years ago it had to be on an ancient Nokia or something that doesn't really work for me. When I was in high school we all had phones but we didn't text each other all the time like kids these days do. I had another issue with the whole situation but it is way too spoiler-y. I will probably check out her other novel soon just to see if it redeems this one. Again, while not terrible, this wasn't for me and I probably wouldn't recommend it.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2016 by Amanda
If you want a great read, this is it. Keeps you guessing to the end.
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2024 by Lanette
I read this for my book club with SyndeyBook via Fable App. I was drawn in from page one, it became slow for only a few chapters and it picked back up. I related to Nora a lot and the book had a character with my name (My name is Clara but people call me and spell my name short as Claire, Clare, Clair, or Clar). Maybe I am bad at putting things together but I think that only intensifies your experience with reading Thrillers; I couldn't piece together everything. I had my susceptions but I just didn't know which one to lean on. I would recommend this to any of my bookish friends. I will be reading more from this author. ♥
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Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2024 by Clara UVjelly
I read this book in 3 sittings total, and I am typically a 10-20 page reader before putting something down for a break. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024 by Mitch Stevens