In a Dark, Dark Wood

In a Dark, Dark Wood 
By Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout Press, 2015. 320 pages. Fiction.

Crime writer Leonora Shaw hasn’t spoken to her old friend Clare in ten years. As such, it came as a surprise when an invitation to Clare’s hen night (the UK’s version of a bachelorette party) was extended, but Leonora made the trip to the English countryside, to a remote cabin in the woods with no cell service anyhow. When Leonora wakes up injured in a hospital room, she must struggle to recount the events that lead her there and pick from a list of old friends and new strangers to determine who might be dead, and who could be the murderer.

 The story flashes between Leonora’s present in the hospital, trying to unwind the mystery, and the hen party’s events in the woods. The pacing is fast and the narrative gripping, keeping the pages turning as Leonora’s past, the relationships she thought she left behind, and an unknown future are revealed.

This psychological thriller would be a good choice for fans of books of the same ilk, like Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, and Before I Go to Sleep. The book is being adapted for film, so I’d recommend reading it before it hits theaters to see if the adage of “the book was better” holds true in this case as well.

 RC