Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Psychological Thrillers
Rating: * * *
Publishers: Gallery/Scout Press
(July 19, 2016)
Hardback: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-1501132933
FTC Disclosure: My copy
Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
First of all, loved this cover. There's something about rubbing your hand over a book cover and actually feeling it that always pleases me. But as "they" say, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." That said, I didn't love the book. It wasn't bad just not very thrilling more blah than anything else. It wasn't a quick read, I had to push myself to finish it. Not sure I would have if it hadn't been a book club book. I liked the premise of the book and the murder mystery was twisty enough to keep me reading but I didn't connect with any of the characters at all. I found Lo particularly unsympathetic and found her final act to be totally out of character with how she was throughout the entire book. There were too many moments in the book where I really didn't care what happened next to outweigh the twisty moments.
While I figured out part of the who dun it, gotta admit I wondered for a very long time if the initial break in had anything to do with the murder.
All in all, not the best psychological thriller I've read but definitely not the worst.
Ruth Ware grew up in Lewes, in East Sussex. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in north London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. Married, with two small children, In a Dark, Dark Wood is her debut thriller.
Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
First of all, loved this cover. There's something about rubbing your hand over a book cover and actually feeling it that always pleases me. But as "they" say, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." That said, I didn't love the book. It wasn't bad just not very thrilling more blah than anything else. It wasn't a quick read, I had to push myself to finish it. Not sure I would have if it hadn't been a book club book. I liked the premise of the book and the murder mystery was twisty enough to keep me reading but I didn't connect with any of the characters at all. I found Lo particularly unsympathetic and found her final act to be totally out of character with how she was throughout the entire book. There were too many moments in the book where I really didn't care what happened next to outweigh the twisty moments.
While I figured out part of the who dun it, gotta admit I wondered for a very long time if the initial break in had anything to do with the murder.
All in all, not the best psychological thriller I've read but definitely not the worst.
Ruth Ware grew up in Lewes, in East Sussex. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in north London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. Married, with two small children, In a Dark, Dark Wood is her debut thriller.
