In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Leonora (Lee to some, Nora to others) is a reclusive writer, but when an old friend unexpectedly invites her to a weekend away in an eerie glass house, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But a haunting realization creeps in to the party: they are not alone in the woods. Fory-eight hours later, Nora wakes up in a hospital bed with the knowledge that someone is dead. Wonder not "what happened?" but "what have I done?" she tries to piece together the events of the past weekend. In order to uncover secrets and reveal motives, Nora must revisit parts of herself that she'd rather leave buried where they belong: in the past.
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Wow, given that synopsis who wouldn't pick this book up? I'm newly into thrillers and I love reading them in the summer especially (the days are longer, I have more time before nightfall to watch The Office and calm my racing heart). I read In a Dark, Dark Wood on the recommendation of a friend whose book taste I trust absolutely..... but this one was a fail for me. I just.... didn't enjoy it at all. I'm going to try and keep this short as I'm not a huge fan of writing bad reviews but sometimes it just needs to be done.
Typically with books where I loathe every aspect of it I stop reading it, but I felt like I owed it to the popularity of the book to at least give it a shot. Well, giving it a shot took me an entire month of forcing myself to listen to the audiobook while getting ready in the mornings and going for walks at lunch.
Nora gets invited to a "hen night" for one of her old high school friends. A friend she hasn't seen or talked to in 10 years. Not weird at all! A group of 6, none who really know each other well, spend the weekend at a remote glass cabin during a cold November. Every one of them has secrets and painful pasts. Not one single one of them really want to be there. Tensions rise, someone dies, and no one is who you think they are (except the plot failed in this respect as it was very obvious which characters were the most suspect).
I'm good at guessing the ends of things. I can typically untangle a plot and figure out what happens pretty early into a story, so it takes a really good web of shockers to get me to enjoy a thriller. I also really dislike books where there's zero to no redeeming qualities in the main character. I knew the "who donnit" right from the start, and I hated every character just as much as the next. I think it's that "relatability" aspect, even if you don't particularly relate to a character or their problems, as long as there's something likeable about that character, you feel like there are still some ways you can "relate" to them. I felt nothing for any of the characters in this book. I really wanted them all to get locked up and be done with it.
The plot seemed really played out. There are a million books out there that feature a small group staying in a remote cabin and all hell breaking loose. Also, the motivations behind the actions in this book were insane. 10 year long grudges over petty high school issues. Not worth the effort honestly. This whole thing could have been avoided if Nora, like any normal human being, would have clicked delete on attending a stagette for a girl she's no longer friends with and barley knows anymore. It just did not make sense. None of it.
The main character was the worst of them all. Sure, other attendees at the hen party are annoying or awful, but the main character was the most gullible, unrealistic person I've ever read. She fell for everything, she stood for nothing, her opinion on everyone changed like the wind. I really couldn't stand her so reading from her POV was what made getting through this book so hard.
There was one redeeming quality and that was the writing. Even though the characters and the plot totally ruined the book for me, Ware's writing style held promise. She's good at those suspenseful "ah-ha" moments and foreshadowing which is a fantastic start. I also thought beginning with Nora in the hospital questioning what happened was chilling and bouncing to the slower recovery scenes in the hospital right when the main plot was getting tense was genius. It was the only thing that kept me reading because I needed to get back to what was about to happen (even though I'd already had a good guess) back at the cabin. I've heard that some of Ware's other books are much better than this one so I am holding out hope that if I ever revisit this author that I'll have a much better time.
I don't usually do one star reviews so I feel really awful about how much I shredded this book, but I guess I needed to learn how to write a bad review sometime! I'm honestly curious, if you've read this book what did you think?! Was the ending a surprise? Do you think the motive was as shit as I did? Or is my opinion on this extremely unpopular? Leave a comment and let me know! Let's chat.