In a Dark, Dark Wood
by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2015. 9 hours, 35 minutes.
Review written July 27, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Okay, you can see I’m catching up on Ruth Ware thrillers. I discovered them during my year of reading for the Newbery committee — as we weren’t listening to audiobooks of eligible titles, and they are quite the opposite of children’s books. They’re also along the same lines as the romantic suspense books or Agatha Christie books I loved in high school – only in these, the girl doesn’t get saved by the romantic hero.
In this book the death doesn’t happen until halfway through the book, but here’s the set up: Our viewpoint character is Leonora Shaw, a young writer who lives alone and enjoys her solitude. Like most Ruth Ware main characters, Imogen Church makes her sound just a tiny bit neurotic, or at least afraid she’s neurotic. Leonora has been invited to a Hen Party for her best friend when she was at school, Claire, whom she hasn’t seen in ten years. (This seems to be the British name for a Bachelorette Party.)
Nora doesn’t know why Claire invited her to the Hen Party, but not to the wedding. But she makes a pact with another school friend, Nina, to go to the weekend together.
The weekend’s happening in a house with lots of huge windows down a long, rutted driveway in the middle of the dark, dark woods in winter. Nora, out for a run, sees Claire arriving and has a little time with her privately in the car – and learns that Claire is marrying James, Nora’s high school sweetheart, and the reason she hasn’t talked with Claire – or James – for ten years. Claire says she wanted to tell Nora face to face. Nora pretends to be nonchalant and happy for Claire, but she knows full well she hasn’t gotten over James – or the thing that happened to make her leave.
The other people at the party are the oddly intense Flo, Claire’s current best friend, Melanie, who’s left her six-month-old behind and is feeling anxious, especially when the phone goes dead in the snow, and Tom, a gay actor who’s friends with Claire because of her connections to theater.
Mind you, all of this set-up is interspersed with scenes of Nora in the hospital, with police by her door, trying to remember what happened and when things began to go so very wrong.
I was proud that I did figure out whodunit and why almost right away – I think I’m getting used to Ruth Ware’s style. But that didn’t spoil the fun as I knew Nora was going to get into a dangerous situation before she figured it out.
If you’re in the mood for a thriller, you can’t go wrong with these books. They generally involve a young woman getting into an incredibly intense situation and coming out the other side discovering she has more strength than she ever gave herself credit for.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/in_a_dark_dark_wood.html
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