Leonora (Nora/Lee/Leo) Shaw's past has come back to visit her. With a mysterious invitation to a hen-do (British bachelorette party) in the English countryside for a friend she hasn't seen or spoken to in years, she is forced to get out of her apartment and shed her closed-off personality for a weekend. She doesn't, however, quite know why she is invited and when she begins to ask around, no one else seems to know why they have been invited either. The hostess, Flo, is crazy about the bride, Clare, and puts all of the guests ill-at-ease. The Glass House where they stay is freaky as well with it's glass walls and shotgun over the mantel. Nora knows that something is amiss - there are mysterious footsteps in the snow, no one is able to get a cell phone signal and the landline goes down - but she can't seem to figure out what it is until it is too late. Fast forward forty-eight hours when she wakes up in a hospital with scrapes, bruises and two black eyes and no memory of what has happened. Her only clue is the low whispers about a murder that she overhears from the policemen standing guard outside her room. She then understands that she must remember what happened before she gets into any further trouble.
Ruth Ware's writing keeps moving the story along, the plot is interesting enough and the characters are decently developed. However, it feels as if she is only writing repeatedly about Nora's insecurities and how crappy her relationships have been in the past. The story is truly written in the Gone Girl and Girl on the Train fashion, as advertised on the book jacket, and it can be read quickly in one sitting. However, the plot and ending are predictable and that is a bit of a let down. I recommend In a Dark, Dark Wood to those interested in British mysteries, thrillers or just a light read.