In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

Nora leads a quiet life living alone writing crime fiction, when out of the blue, she gets an invitation to a school friend's hen party weekend. She hasn't seen Clare since they were sixteen and both fell for the same boy - James Cooper. Oddly it was plain-Jane Nora who hit it off with James, but now, ten years later, it is James that Clare is going to marry.

Ruth Ware writes pacey thrillers with a female main character who is in danger and usually an unreliable narrator as well. She's also a dab hand at atmospheric settings. So it isn't surprising the setting for this hen weekend is a stark, glass-walled house somewhere in a forest in the north of England.

Huge pine trees loom around the house adding to the claustrophobia of being cut off from the world when the landline goes down and it begins to snow. And then there's the gun. Where other people hang a nice painting or mirror over their fireplace, here the owners have attached a shotgun. It reminds me of the Chekov rule: if you introduce a gun in Act One, you have to use it in Act Three. Say no more.

There are only a few fellow guests: crazy Flo who is obsessed by making Clare's hen do really special; wise-cracking Nina; Clare's gay friend Tom who brings the cocaine; and young mum Melanie who can't stop worrying about her baby. Clare turns up and she's just as beautiful as ever, but what lies beneath her perfect exterior? The atmosphere is particularly tense for Nora still smarting over her break-up with James, so long ago.

Ware does a great job of describing toxic female friendships and the darker turns they can take.  In a Dark, Dark Wood is a great read for a cold winter's night. There's plenty happening to keep you turning the pages and the tension keeps up right to the end.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: In a Dark Dark Wood