16 May 2016

Review #431: In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you're allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.”

----Shannon L. Alder



Ruth Ware, an English author, has penned a gripping pot-boiler in her book, In a Dark, Dark Wood that unfolds the story of two friends meeting a decade after their friendship ended all of a sudden, when one friend decides to invite her estranged friend to her "hen" party before her wedding out of the blue. But why did she invited her after all those years of no communication between them?





Synopsis:

Nora hasn't seen Clare for ten years. Not since the day Nora walked out of her old life and never looked back.

Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen party arrives. A weekend in a remote cottage - the perfect opportunity for Nora to reconnect with her best friend, to put the past behind her.

But something goes wrong.

Very wrong.

And as secrets and lies unravel, out in the dark, dark wood the past will finally catch up with Nora.



In a dense, dark wood where you know by heart that if you run, you won't be able to find your way back home, instead you will fall into the traps of the nature or something man-made. The fear sets in your mind like an ink staining a pristine white sheet in a swift manner. Well then welcome to the isolated Glass House situated in the dense, deep and dark forest in Northumberland, where Nora, along with a bunch of strangers are invited to Clare's hen party, organized by her best friend, Flo. Nora hasn't been with touch with Clare for the past 10 years, hence for getting the invitation made her quite curious about it. Something happened between them that made them go separate ways 10 years ago. And since Flo cannot handle rejection, Nora could not say no to the invitation. But this party goes terribly wrong as Nora finds herself on a hospital bed with no memory of the past night and with a terrible stench of raw blood in her hands and her body. But what happened in that party that landed Nora up in a hospital?

What really struck me in this story is the setting as well as the creepy atmospheric feel that the author captured diligently into the story line, which will make the readers feel the coldness through the atmosphere. The author gradually lays out the suspense hence the fear and panic will eventually set into the minds of the readers, until the readers are bound to feel like something bad is going to happen either among the bunch of strangers or someone from the outside. And the slow pace of the suspense helps to develop the plot distinctly, which will demand the readers to stay arrested into the story.

The author's writing style is excellent and is laced with spine-chilling fear and suspense. The narrative is intriguing and engaging and will keep the readers glued till the very end. The book opens slow, but catches up with a more swift pace near the end, as the secrets start unraveling. The author's portrayal of the Glass House in the middle of the woods is terrific and vivid as she flawlessly paints the background that will make the readers visualize the whole house along with its interiors in a creepy location right before their eyes.

Well the mystery part is where the book falls short in its greatness,. To be fair, the book opened like something really strong and compelling and while reading, I had this feeling at the back of my mind that something terrible might happen at the turn of the page. Unfortunately, the major twist is quite predictable as well as can be easily guessed even by a non-regular crime fiction reader. And after that point, I simply lost interest from the story and could not keep myself engaged to the book.

The characters are really positive aspect of this book considering the fact that this plot is somewhat character-driven. There is no such as primary character, as all the characters play an important role in this book, starting from Lenora to Tom to Nina to Clare to Flo to Melanie. And each and every one of them harbor some kind of twisted secret that can either ruin someone or benefit someone. All the while through the story, Nora had this psychological grip on my mind, her deranged voice of the previous night as she pieces the details from her fragments of memory kept me rooting for her till the very end. And rest of the characters are psychologically flawed and their evil mind games can easily set a line of fear in the minds of the readers.

The theme of the story ranges from friendship to obsession to extreme hate, and the author has depicted them really well with her story. For a lonely, long, dark and stormy night, this book can be a reader's perfect companion.

Verdict: A riveting and spooky psychological thriller about two estranged friends.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Ruth Ware's publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. She is married with two small children, and In a Dark, Dark Wood is her début thriller.
Visit her here


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