In a Dark, Dark Wood

by Ruth Ware

[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.