A group of women head up to a remote house in the woods for a hen party, when things go disastrously wrong. On the plus side, the story turns into a fairly well-written mix of thriller and locked-room style whodunnit. Ruth Ware does a great job of creating a creepy atmosphere in the isolated house, and introducing lots of intrigue about how all the characters know each other, and what dark secrets they might be hiding.
On the minus side, most of the characters are annoying: the organizer of the hen party seems psychotic; the protagonist is neurotic, and still obsessing over a relationship that ended more than a decade previously; everyone is constantly sniping at each other, and saying cruel things. Obviously, I haven’t been to a hen party, so maybe that’s what some of them are like? Or perhaps it’s an intentional part of the story to make the mystery more, well, mysterious. Whatever the cause, it doesn’t make for particularly comfortable reading. I felt like I was stuck at a deeply awkward party, and constantly just wanted to get away. That’s true of the protagonist too, though, who is also trying to escape that party, so I have to give Ruth Ware credit for making you feel like you’re really there.
Overall, another solid mystery/thriller from Ruth Ware, similar to The Woman in Cabin 10.
