One of the main things that I read being thrown around the blogosphere was that this book was an absolutely brilliant crime novel and it would keep you guessing until the very end. So why did I only end up giving it three stars?Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back.

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?

But something goes wrong. Very wrong.

Some things can’t stay secret forever.

The first fifty pages of this book seemed to drag on for absolutely ages. There was something about the character of Nora/Lee/Leo (WHO KNOWS?!) that really irritated me. She seemed like the type of person that I would meet and then just instantly dislike. I mean… What is this about her being hung up on her ex for 10 years?! After only being with him for six months? That’s just crazy.

To be honest, I think all of the characters annoyed me apart from Nina and Flo. Nina was this awesome, dry humoured, sarcastic character that I instantly fell in love with. She was quick witted and never failed to make a remark and something that was being said by one of the other people in the group. Flo also seemed like she had so much potential to be a deep character. She seemed to suffer from anxiety, depression and OCD (please correct me if I’m wrong, guys!) and when the hen-do didn’t go the way she had imagined it to, she thought that she was the worst friend in the world and that she had let the whole of Clare’s life down. I felt so sorry for her and I can relate to everything that she was going through and I would love to see this whole book from her perspective.

“People don’t change,” Nina said bitterly. “They just get more punctilious about hiding their true selves.” 
― Ruth Ware, In a Dark Dark Wood

Clare was… ugggghhhhh. She was like my worst nightmare. She was this self-absorbed, stuck-up, big-headed character that I just wanted to be gone. That’s enough said about her.

Tom was the stereotypical gay best friend which really really irritated me: because a popular, fashionable woman always has to have a gay best friend who is in the theatre, right? NO.

I’m not really making this book sound read-worthy am I? Ok, let’s get onto the good points before you go clicking off!

I did love the way that Ware wrote this thriller. She kept me on the edge of my seat (or bed) and although Nora is an unreliable narrator, this story just kept me guessing the whole way through and I really didn’t see that ending coming! It was completely unpredictable and as soon as I finished the book, I genuinely couldn’t believe what I had just read. Just… Those last 100 pages were what made this books three stars and not two. Even though this book had a slow start, I thought that the pacing of the book was done really well; not a lot was given away at one time (which was the thing that kept me guessing the whole time) and I love how Ware would switch between Nora being in the house and then Nora being in the hospital – but what we don’t know is if Nora being in the hospital is set in the future or the past – which I think is very clever of Ware to do.

In a Dark Dark Wood is a very good book. Sure, the characters aren’t great and only a couple of them stood out, sure, there were a few issues the story at times, but the pacing of this book, how Ware keeps you guessing and in the dark and the ending is what makes this book. And for those very reasons, I recommend you to read it.

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