In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Cursing, Drug use, Talk of unwanted pregnancies and an abortion


 
In a dark, dark wood

Nora hasn't seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back.

There was a dark, dark house

Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her?

And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room

But something goes wrong. Very wrong.

And in the dark, dark room....

Some things can’t stay secret for ever.


This is the first book I've read by Ruth Ware. I've got several of her books on my to-read list, but I was honestly disappointed in this one. There is a trend I've noticed and it's that mystery/thrillers nowadays seem to incorporate a lot of unlikable characters. I mean, I expect there to be some characters that I don't like in these type of books, but I really want to be able to like someone, preferably the main character, or else it's like watching one of those horror movies where you could care less who gets killed, because they are all stupid, unlikable people.

While I didn't really dislike the main character in this story, I didn't really like her either. I was indifferent towards her, which could actually be worse. In fact the only character I liked at all was the one who left the party early because she was worried about having left her new baby at home. She was considered the boring one, but she was also the most sensible one.

The main issue I had with the main character is that she was still not over a high school boyfriend ten years later. This is just not very plausible to me, and the events that led to their break up ten years ago seemed didn't seem very plausible to me either. I was also bothered by the drug use, and adults caving to peer pressure and doing things they really didn't want to do. It was like they never left high school. Like I said, the one character that decided to leave early because she wasn't enjoying herself is the only one who had any sense. They could have all saved themselves a whole lot of trouble if they had just stayed home.

The best thing about this book is the cover. I really do like the creepy looking tree branches. I'm not going to give up on this author yet, since quite of few of her books sound interesting to me. I hope the next one I read will be better.