As a professional, she is in control of her novels’ action, dialogue, setting, and outcome, and in her personal life, she takes utmost care to control her environment, her health, and her social life. Nora is a mystery writer who lives an extremely predictable, routine lifestyle. As she struggles to reconstruct the sequence of events that brought her there, secrets emerge about her past and her present that force her to question everything she knows about herself and everyone she’s ever loved.ġ. Quickly, old rivalries and new relationships bubble to the surface and the weekend turns darkly violent, leaving Nora (Lee?) battered and bruised in a hospital bed. After some urging by a mutual friend, Nora (Lee?) reluctantly decides to go, and finds herself at a mysterious house with a group of near-strangers, deep in the forest far from the city. She’s checking email one day when she comes across an invitation to a hen weekend for Clare Cavendish, a friend from childhood whom she hasn’t spoken to or seen for a decade. Mystery novelist Leonora-known as Nora and Lee, depending on whom she’s speaking with-lives a solitary but comfortable life in London based around a predictable routine: coffee, run, shower, write, repeat.

But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods. When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself.

What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller. *INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLERĪn NPR Best Book of the Year * An Entertainment Weekly Summer Books Pick * A Buzzfeed “31 Books to Get Excited About this Summer” Pick * A Publishers Weekly “Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers” Pick * A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * A BookReporter Summer Reading Pick * A New York Post “Best Novels to Read this Summer” Pick * A Shelf Awareness “Book Expo America 2015 Buzz Book” Pick *AUTHOR OF THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 and THE LYING GAME

Ruth ware in the dark dark wood