A review by lydiavsbooks
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
This follows our main character, Nora, who is invited to the hen of her childhood best friend who she hasn't spoken to in 10 years. When she gets there, she finds they're staying in a remote house with no phone and no signal. And then things start going wrong.
I have very mixed feelings about this one. Overall it was a really good time, a super fast read and exactly what you want from a thriller. But in the last 100 pages or so there were a few things that I found really irritating thats ended up bringing my enjoyment right down.
There were a few minor irritations throughout with things that seemed a little too far fetched, and a main character that made very annoyingly stupid decisions. But those are things that you can almost expect from thrillers, you're going to need to suspend your disbelief a little, but they started to add up.
About 100 pages from the end I guessed the big reveal, which in itself isn't always a bad thing, it can be fun to guess as you go along and piece things together, but what was frustrating was how unaware the main character, who (as she kept reminding us) was a crime fiction writer, was. The who dunnit felt really glaringly obvious from that point on, and it still took another 70 pages for the mc to figure it out, or even come close to putting the clues together.
There was also a bit of a subplot reveal from the main character that was really emphasised as this BIG secret that ended up being a little frustratingly underwhelming.
And my final complaint, I'm just not a fan of thrillers where there's no real motive explained other than just because they're a bitch.
As much as I've just listed off a bunch of complaints, these are only really things that popped up towards the end, and so for the majority of the book I had a really fun time. The setting was great, the pace was super fast and the back and to between timelines is always something I enjoy. Even towards the end when it was feeling daft and frustrating, it was still really engaging to read.
I'd recommend it for a good read you can race through, but don't go in with your expectations too high
I have very mixed feelings about this one. Overall it was a really good time, a super fast read and exactly what you want from a thriller. But in the last 100 pages or so there were a few things that I found really irritating thats ended up bringing my enjoyment right down.
There were a few minor irritations throughout with things that seemed a little too far fetched, and a main character that made very annoyingly stupid decisions. But those are things that you can almost expect from thrillers, you're going to need to suspend your disbelief a little, but they started to add up.
About 100 pages from the end I guessed the big reveal, which in itself isn't always a bad thing, it can be fun to guess as you go along and piece things together, but what was frustrating was how unaware the main character, who (as she kept reminding us) was a crime fiction writer, was. The who dunnit felt really glaringly obvious from that point on, and it still took another 70 pages for the mc to figure it out, or even come close to putting the clues together.
There was also a bit of a subplot reveal from the main character that was really emphasised as this BIG secret that ended up being a little frustratingly underwhelming.
And my final complaint, I'm just not a fan of thrillers where there's no real motive explained other than just because they're a bitch.
As much as I've just listed off a bunch of complaints, these are only really things that popped up towards the end, and so for the majority of the book I had a really fun time. The setting was great, the pace was super fast and the back and to between timelines is always something I enjoy. Even towards the end when it was feeling daft and frustrating, it was still really engaging to read.
I'd recommend it for a good read you can race through, but don't go in with your expectations too high
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Car accident and Gun violence