Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - In a Dark, Dark Wood

This is the second book I read from this author and I have some of the same problems with this that I had with The It Girl.

Again, Ware is good at setting up a plot but she gets so wrapped up in making sure there are twists and turns that her details don’t always pan out and her characters don’t seem believable or worse, she makes up new traits or details that she mushes in last minute to fill in the holes but make zero sense with the characters we’re trying to get to know and invest ourselves in.

Speaking of the characters, all of them (sans Tom) are AWFUL. I really stopped caring about what happened to any of them because they were all just the worst.

Her writing of Flo also felt mean spirited and fatphobic. Like we get it. She’s wearing clothes that would only look good on apparent waif goddess Clare. You don’t need to keep talking about Flo’s “rolls” or “excess skin.”

Nora as a POV character was frustrating because she really wasn’t sympathetic. Yes,

getting pregnant and having an abortion and being dumped all at once as a teenager but must suck but the author (I guess in an attempt to seem more progressive on her handling of abortion which I can’t fault her for, it IS a healthy attitude) kept insisting to us that the pregnancy and abortion weren’t a big deal, she was happy with her choice and had zero regrets about it so then why still fixate on a stupid teenage boy who did a stupid and cruel thing that teenage boys frequently do? For TEN years!? Like I could understand that level of trauma over a breakup of James was abusive but up until she believed he dumped her…he was fine? Annoying and a try hard. But fine. Again…just a typical “edgy” teenage boy who seemed to at least treat others very well.

I also don’t buy for even a second that Nora was ever an actress let alone the understudy for the lead role in a play like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Whether she was up Clare’s ass as a teenager or not, there’s no way someone that shy and awkward and who HATED attention would have even auditioned. This sounds like a petty gripe but I’m pointing it out because it seems like the author liked the idea of Nora and James falling in love while starring in the school play together even if it made ZERO sense for the characters. This is far from the only instance of this but it’s a noticeable one. That’s a problem to me. An author should have a better grasp on characterization.

Another example is that Nora is supposedly a successful crime novelist. Okay, fine. But this is only briefly mentioned once at the beginning of the book (and again if she was so successful, you’d think the other characters would have heard of her or her books), she shows ZERO signs of being able to solve any kind of mystery or be good at reading people (or having really any other kind of skill that you think would make for a successful mystery author) until suddenly at the very end when the explanation for everything is shoe-horned in and the killer is revealed.

The “how” and “why” of the murder at the center of all of this also feel a bit messy. There’s some gaping plot holes in how the killer was able to pull everything off and the reasoning behind it just also feels weirdly childish and doesn’t line up with the character we met (despite the author insisting on it by having characters go “Ah, yes! Of COURSE!” again and again at each reveal).

I know it sounds like I hated this book. I really didn’t. It was entertaining and a breeze to get through. I just am disappointed when I see an author with such potential sort of flounder a bit. I’d say this is a good Beach read or cozy rainy weekend read but I don’t think this book was memorable enough or good enough for me to ever really think of again once I’m done posting this review.

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boba_n_books's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I quite enjoyed this book! It kept me on my toes, and the twist paid off well.

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tiffany8's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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brookey8888's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Honestly absolutely nothing was shocking and it was painfully obvious. With that being said I did enjoy this and like the atmosphere. It was interesting to see the relationship dynamics. I loved Nina she was honestly my favorite part of this book. It’s your newer to thrillers I would recommend this, but if your not and are looking for a big plot twist and not just a good time I wouldn’t recommend this.

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hucksweet's review

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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mmadill227's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

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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

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