In a Dark, Dark Wood

by Ruth Ware

Nora hasn't seen her former best friend, Clare, for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back. Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare's hen party arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her? But out in those dark, dark woods, something goes wrong. Very wrong. And Nora soon discovers that some things can't stay secret for ever.

• ISBN10: 141048498X
• ISBN13: 9781410484987
• Publish Date: 6 January 2016 (first published 30 July 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 9 July 2021
• Imprint: Thorndike Press
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

4.5 stars

Ruth Ware has yet to let me down and In a Dark, Dark Wood is in contention with The Woman in Cabin 10 and One By One for top spot. I think it falls just slightly behind them, simply because there's a hint of sadness that I didn't feel in the others.

This makes my 6th book by Ruth Ware and I'm starting (yes I'm slow on the uptake sometimes) to realize that she has three core elements to her books and she uses them masterfully here:

(1) Unreliable narrators - I can't say with 100% certainty, but I think every book (that I've read) has an unreliable narrator, something I LOVE in a book. When you can't know that what you're getting is accurate it makes everything all the more suspenseful for me. In a Dark, Dark Wood has Nora who has suffered an accident of some sort and is struggling to remember the past few days.

(2) A unique setting - of this I am CERTAIN. In each book I've read by Ruth Ware, the setting is basically a character all it's own, beautifully described. Remote settings, isolation, weather - Ruth is expert at using these factors to heighten the suspense and mystery. This time, our characters are in a remote cabin (in a dark, dark wood lol) and the weather conditions amplify that.

(3) A big cast of characters, each with their own mysteries and suspicions. Maybe you need this in mystery/suspense and I've never thought about it as much as with these books - but there are always so many characters and MOST of them SEEM perfectly normal until shit starts happening. And then, well then I start looking at even the most simple things with suspicion. And then there's the 1 or 2 super suspicious or slightly/extremely off-their-rocker characters that you immediately don't trust, but then wonder if that's why they're so obviously crazy, to throw you off? This book had the complete combo.

I buddy read this with Stephanie, but she finished about a day before I did and as a result when it was getting closer and closer to the reveal I was constantly messaging her with my guesses. It was like I had this panic to try and figure it out BEFORE the reveal. I was just as anxious as Nora!

I enjoyed this immensely and I know Stephanie did too - she said it is her favorite Ruth Ware to date and it pulled her out of a reading slump. We both listened to it (thank you Scribd!) and Imogen Church's narration was, as always, fantastic. Since discovering that she narrates Ruth Ware's books I never even consider reading. To me, it's no question that I'll be listening.

I think I only have 1 more Ruth Ware book and 2 shorts to read :( but I look forward to them too.

[Nessa Luna]

One of my goals is to read more thrillers/mystery books and hopefully find some new favourites. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t one of them. While I enjoyed the first half of the book, the latter half wasn’t that great. I found it way too predictable and had guessed how the book would conclude about halfway through already. Still, I enjoyed the setting and like I said the first half of the book. I do still want to pick up more books by Ruth Ware, and I do have some more of her books on my Kindle (any recommendations?)

CAWPILE: 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 (Avg: 6.79)

[lovelybookshelf]

2.5 rounding up to 3.
The first half of this book was dreadfully slow for me. The characters were shallow and annoying, and the fact that they were all going away for the weekend together was hard to believe. A little over halfway through, there was a huge shift and the pace really picked up. Although there were some holes in the plot, and I still found the characters insufferable, I can't deny that I couldn't stop turning the pages until I found out what had actually happened.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

I bought into the buzz that surrounded In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. The premise of murder at a bachelorette party seemed a little far-fetched, but as it had been a hyped thriller and as it is October I thought I would give it a try.

Sadly, I was disappointed. My thoughts of the absurdity of a bachelorette murder were correct. It was lukewarm at best, with a predictability that became tedious. I had high hopes and the flip-flop between the party and "after" the crime held my interest somewhat but was not enough to hold its retention.

Unfortunately, the characters in A Dark, Dark Wood could have been plucked out of ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager. They created their own drama and rehash it over and over again. This does not even begin to cover the petty high schoolesque cliques which I frankly distance myself from twelve years ago.

I did enjoy Imogen Church's narration. It was pleasant to listen to and the distinction between characters was well played. I could see myself listening to more by her.

I had been looking for a thriller to send chills up my spine and knew In a Dark, Dark Wood was a shot in the dark. Regrettably, Ruth Ware's novel missed the mark and felt doomed from the start.

[Kait ✨]

i enjoyed this, but here are my caveats:

in an interview at the back of my edition of the book, Ware says, “to me, the book is tense, but not terrifying.” i agree 100%, the problem is, this is not how the book is being presented by media, bookstores, and editorial/design decisions. this is really more of a psychological thriller than horror (although really not terrifying psychologically), and i think the marketing/publicity/design efforts are a bit misleading here. it’s fairly straightforward, very conventional for a thriller, and not too surprising in all honesty (i would be shocked if most readers don’t guess the whodunit by 75% through at the latest). the pacing was a bit off to my taste—I think the middle starts to drag and the ending, once guessed, just feels sloooow—but overall i was able to race through it fairly quickly.

also, there is years of emotional angst that could have been easily avoided with one simple conversation (a literary pet peeve of mine), plus amnesia is so overdone and trite that it’s hard not to be annoyed by that here.

all that being said, i did feel like i had to finish so i could find out what happened, and i really liked nora. (probably because as a reclusive writer she just seems so familiar to me.) it’s also very well-plotted and well-written. i would definitely recommend this as a book for the beach or a plane ride, etc.—it’s the kind of book that will suck you in and keep you entertained for several hours.

[inlibrisveritas]

In a Dark Dark Wood is a unreliable narrator novel where we are given a rather intriguing mystery that twists and bends as the characters struggle to process what is happening. I really loved how utterly insane this turned out to be. It’s certainly not a thriller based purely on ‘likelihood’ but I loved seeing how each chapter chips away at the possibility of each characters’ innocence. The setting adds to this eerie ‘someone is always watching’ feeling, and the instability of all the characters really adds a great amount of tension. I’m not big on thrillers, but I’m quite fond of these unreliable narratives

[kimbacaffeinate]

Five reasons to grab your earbuds and listen to In a Dark, Dark Wood

• In a Dark, Dark Wood offered all the elements I crave in a dark psychological thriller. Ware delivered a story with friendship, murder, and betrayal. She chose the perfect setting, an isolated glass cabin in the Northumbria woods. Then she provided quirky characters with history and an unreliable narrator. As the story unfolds, it consumes you. When I was not listening, I found myself thinking about what was happening, reviewing all the players and much to my family's chagrin talking about it.


• Ware is a masterful storyteller from her pacing to the subtle clues and red herrings. From the beginning, we are uncomfortable guests at the cabin and know something is off. Leonora Shaw (Nora) a crime fiction writer unexpectedly receives an email invite from a woman named Flo to attend a hen party for Clare Cavendish. Nora has not spoken to Clare in over ten years but when Nina another friend from her past encourages her, she decides to attend. We soon have six relative strangers gathered for the hen in an ominous feeling glasshouse with views of the cold winter woods. Eek gads! Ware slowly begins introducing them, sharing tidbits from the past and as she does, she begins to add chapters told from Nora’s perspective in the hospital after an event at the hen party. She desperately tries to remember the events of that weekend. It was bloody brilliant!


• The six characters Ware introduces us too only enhanced the story and deepen the suspense. I cannot say I liked any of them. Leonora is our unreliable narrator. While she is a successful writer, her life seems lonely and closed off. Nina, a surgeon is snarky, boisterous and at times shocking. Melanie a new mother is an emotional wreck and Tom the only male in attendance for this hen works in the theater. All are or have been friends with Clare. I loved the way Ware shared how they knew Clare and weaved their histories into the current story.


• Leonora was the perfect unreliable narrator. Ware’s decision to separate the story sharing both her perspective during the weekend and those as she lies in a hospital bed was brilliant. What made her voice so interesting is the different aspects of her personality. Her ability to piece things together and use her skills as a crime writer made these chapters riveting. The flip-side of her personality is her anxiety and overwhelming desire to shut down, escape, or run. It makes you question everything.


• Imogen Church the narrator of In a Dark, Dark Wood added another layer to this already twisted and deliciously dark tale. She enhanced the tone of the story drawing out the quirks and emotions of each character. Her portrayal of Nora was spot on bringing every suspenseful, terrifying thought, and moment in Nora’s story to life. My heart raced as I listened and felt she brought the story to life.

This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Leah]

This was an intriguing read. There are better thrillers out there, and there are also worse ones out there. It was very middle of the road. I was so intrigued by the plot but it just wasn't as scary or as edge or your seat as I was expecting which was a shame. The intensity wasn't really there.

It definitely kept me reading, it just didn't blow my socks off as much as I expected it to. Nora was an interesting narrator, though, I just wished the friendship with Clare had been better fleshed out, if it was more toxic or if we knew more about them as friend etc. I didn't quite understand why Nora said yes to going to the Hen do because she hadn't spoken to Clare in so long, not that it's ever really explained why they stopped talking.

Intriguing and kept me reading, but not an amazing read.