In a Dark Dark Wood
Title: In a Dark Dark Wood
Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Mystery/Psychological Thriller
Published: 2015
Obtained: N/A (Unknown)
Nora is a hermit writer, isolated from of the outside world with the exception of her daily runs. One day, she is shocked to receive an invitation to her old friend, Clare’s, hen party. Making a pact with her other old friend, Nina, she attends the celebration reluctantly. The hen party weekend is spent in a glass house in the woods where the characters lives intertwine and Nora tries to solve why she has even been invited after all of this time. The tension builds with the weaving of past and present storylines, winding down until the time Nora will have to face the answers to her questions.
In a Dark Dark Wood was an excellent page turner! It was by far the best of Ruth Ware’s books that I have read. It wasn’t as “terrifying” as it was marketed to be, but I found it suspenseful and well-planned in regards to how much information is given to the reader at one time. It had a very similar feel to The Woman in Cabin 10 in terms of the claustrophobia and the intensity built from the feeling of missing pieces and tension between characters who are trapped in small quarters. The mysterious pasts of old friends was familiar to the one we see in The Lying Game, but distinctly better orchestrated In a Dark Dark Wood.
Initially, I had reservations about the main character, Nora. She was extremely private and isolated from the world; as a writer, she primarily worked from home and only ventured out of the house to go running. Her life is altered forever when she receives an invitation to a bachelorette party for an old friend, Clare. She hasn’t seen or spoken to Clare in years since she left school. Though confused and struggling with anxiety about attending the party, she makes a pact to attend with her other old friend, Nina. Nora came off a little obnoxious to me at first, as a girl who just can’t get over old relationships and conflicts. But by the end of the novel, I didn’t feel so critical of her.
The tension in the plot builds as the bachelorette party (or “hen” party, as Ware calls it) unfolds. The Maid of Honor is a hysterical, want-to-be twin of the bride-to-be, Clare. Clare is more complex, demonstrating both roles as a caring friend and also someone more manipulative. Tom is the only man present, a gay playwright who enjoys stirring the pot just as much as Nina. Melanie is also present, an old friend of Clare’s, and also the only mother in the bunch. The characters were fairly well developed—at least enough to carry the reader through the plot. Nora makes for an unreliable narrator in the present plot line (which intervenes with the past story line of the hen party). She has suffered some injuries during the unraveling party storyline and doesn’t have clear, trustworthy memories on which to depend. While the idea of the unreliable female narrator really bothered me in Ware’s other book, The Woman in Cabin 10, it was primarily because of the character’s clichéd reliance on alcohol. Nora, on the other hand, didn’t quite fit in this category, and I found the idea of her being unreliable due to her head injuries more believable and less annoyingly over-used. Nora initially irritated me not only because of her inability to move on from her ex, but also because of how she allowed that break-up to dictate the rest of her life. However, near the end of the book, once it’s revealed what she was really hiding, it led me to feel sorry for her with a little more compassion. Nora’s character arc moved in a way that led to me to start to like her in the second half of the book.
The structure of the novel is strong. I enjoyed how the past and present weaved together; Ware blends the plot lines nicely. I also enjoyed the slow build of tension between the characters trapped in the house. Each one seems to have their own personal drama and secrets to which the reader isn’t always privy.
This wasn’t as complex or frightening as I anticipated. It was, however, suspenseful and fun to read. I figured out the ending prior to the big reveal, but I was thrown off course a couple of times by the different actions of the characters in the timeline of events. I read this book while on a plane and it had me engrossed through its entirety. I recommend this book if you enjoy a good mystery—I don’t know if I consider it as a thriller, but it’s full of tension and suspense. It also isn’t a challenging read having only a few characters and physical settings in the story; the mystery lies in the secrets the individuals hide from each other and their puzzling motives behind various actions/decisions. I am giving this book a 3.5/5; overall, I really enjoyed reading it and it had me on the edge of my seat. It isn’t particularly inticrate and sometimes the characters are a little unbelievable or unconvincing. They move the story foward, but they don’t always add to the plot in any exciting way. I recommend Paranoia Pinot Grigio 2017 to sip while you read this novel. I selected this bottle simply because of the name and the art on the lable; I wanted to pair this read with a wine that was both crisp and light to balance out the deeper, mysterious content of the book. This pinot grigio certainly paired well with the paranoia and tension in A Dark Dark Wood.
Rating: 3.5/5
Wine: Paranoia Pinot Grigio 2017
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