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  • In a Dark, Dark Wood

  • Written by: Ruth Ware
  • Narrated by: Imogen Church
  • Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (405 ratings)

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In a Dark, Dark Wood cover art

In a Dark, Dark Wood

Written by: Ruth Ware
Narrated by: Imogen Church
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Publisher's Summary

A weekend away deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in this suspenseful and compulsive debut psychological thriller.

Sometimes the only thing to fear...is yourself.

Leonora (Lee to some, Nora to others) is a reclusive writer, but when an old friend unexpectedly invites her to a weekend away in an eerie glass house, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But a haunting realization creeps in to the party: they are not alone in the woods.

Forty-eight hours later, Nora wakes up in a hospital bed with the knowledge that someone is dead. Wondering not “what happened?” but “what have I done?” she tries to piece together the events of the past weekend. In order to uncover secrets and reveal motives, Nora must revisit parts of herself that she’d rather leave buried where they belong: in the past.

In the vein of The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, this gripping thriller will have listeners on the edge of their seats until the very last sentence.

©2018 Ruth Ware (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

What listeners say about In a Dark, Dark Wood

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent Narrator, Predictable Story

The narrator is truly talented. The story is was predictable and I saw the twists coming from a mile away.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good performance, predictable story

It’s kind of obvious what’s going to happen and who the bad guy is. I basically listened to the last half because I kept hoping I’d be wrong and that there would be some sort of twist. But there wasn’t so it was slightly boring once you figure out the story

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A slow start...but hang in there !!!

The narration is top natch and I would like to hear more from this narrator...it was definitely well done !!!

Once I started listening it was hard not to keep going, even though I had some concerns. I certainly enjoyed parts of this story but there were chapters that were hard to get through. I found many areas that just didn't hold my interest and are way too wordy. Also the story became very confusing and I found it difficult to follow who did what. I managed to finally finish .

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

would have been a great short story....

The narrator was fantastic, but the 9+ hour story could have been condensed to one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

this is my third book by Ruth Ware, quickly becoming a huge fan. I love that they aren't all the same

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

excellent narration, slow story

The first half of the story is character development, and more of a drama. Only the last third becomes more of a thriller and mystery.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story and incredible narrator

I really enjoyed this book. My only complaint is I was looking forward to being scared and though it is suspenseful it is not eerie.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

Given the tag line on the cover by Reece Witherspoon - “prepare to be scared... really scared” - I was anticipating a much more gripping and eerie thriller. As it was, there was nothing scary about it and I had a lot of the story (ie what originally happened between James and Nora, and the whodunit part) figured out just after halfway through the book.

As a protagonist, Nora’s reluctance to share her thoughts with others - or really to even have any particularly deep thoughts or personality - was frustrating. I also had a difficult time comprehending how her character continued to harbour such deep feelings about James (to the point they impeded any other potential relationships) 10yrs after they broke up. Particularly considering that A) they had only been together for 6 months as 16yr olds, and B) she had made zero attempts to contact him over all those years. I just don’t buy it. There needed to be a bigger story here to support this apparent obsession.

The narration was not bad, although I found myself irritated by the lack of consistency in the characters voices - most notably Nora (which would go back and forth between higher- or lower-pitched compared to the narrator’s voice throughout the book) and Flo (who it seemed the narrator couldn’t quite decide on a particular pitch or accent and so she was a motley crew of different inflections).

Overall, it was a decent listen that kept me engaged, but unfortunately lacked enough suspense and left me feeling a bit cheated at the end.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Georgie's Review

Excellent book and narrator. Well written keeps you on your toes. The narrator I am familiar with I have a couple books of hers and the variety of voices she uses is amazing.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Exciting and engaging

Had no idea where it was going until it all started to come together towards the end. Very clever and hard to put down.

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