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Nora hasn’t spoken to Clare in a decade. But then she gets an email invitation from a woman hosting a bachelorette weekend for her, and she has no idea why she is on the list. Why would Clare invite her when they haven’t seen each other in so long? Not to mention that their parting was abrupt, when Nora left school after a difficult event.
Nora doesn’t want to attend the two-day “hen do” out in the country, but her curiosity and her guilt at leaving her best friend behind 10 years before win out. Another friend she has stayed in touch with in London was invited as well, so the two agree to attend together.
The house is all glass and steel, a modern style in the middle of the country, with woods on either side. It feels isolated yet open to prying eyes — if there were anyone around. The weekend starts off strange and never gets better; Nora and Nina don’t feel comfortable with the few other guests or the odd host. And Nora can’t shake her unease about why Clare invited her or deflect the unhappy memories that intrude from her tamped-down past. It’s all so unsettling, but at least it’s only two days and two nights, then she can just get back to her reasonably comfortable life in the city. Or so she thinks —then something terrible happens. Was it an accident, or is she in danger too?
Ruth Ware crafts satisfying mysteries; I’ve now read four of her books. My favorite is definitely The Death of Mrs. Westaway, with its more gothic style of secrets and twists and turns, not a straight murder mystery, which In a Dark, Dark Wood and the others are. This is probably my least favorite; there are only a few possible suspects, and it’s not surprising when the dangerous party is revealed. Even so, it’s entertaining when you’re in the mood for a mystery.
Rated: High, for more than 80 uses of strong profanity, about 20 instances of moderate language, about 25 uses of mild language, and around 100 uses of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content is fairly minimal; teens lie in bed together naked or nearly so but there’s not any detail about them having sex. There are a few vulgar references. Violence/peril includes a shooting with mentions of a character having a lot of blood on her, poisoning and a car crash.
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