Episode 11: in a dark, dark wood

Happy Winter Solstice! On this darkest day of the year Laura-Celest is joined by Laura Ray while Lacey tries to overcome one of the busiest and most stressful times her year.

For this cold and dark day we are talking about the 2015 book, in a dark, dark wood by Ruth Ware.
3.67 stars on goodreads
3.8 stars on Amazon

A BEA Buzz Panel selection
An NPR best book of 2015
RT Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Suspense Novel

Film rights have been optioned by New Line Cinema, with Reese Witherspoon attached to produce.
The Screenplay is being written by Arash Amel
He wrote A Private Life, Grace of Monaco, The Titan and Erased

NPR review said “In a Dark, Dark Wood makes for an easy read, with some fun twists and turns. The kind of breezy fluff, in other words, that you might want to bring along were you to spend the weekend at a hen party.”
https://www.npr.org/2015/08/18/432582306/dark-dark-doings-in-a-slick-debut-thriller

Publishers weekly review, “Ware does a competent job ratcheting up the suspense, but the revelations aren’t as exciting as the buildup.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-5011-1231-7

Ruth Ware:
From her website: “Ruth Ware grew up in Lewes, in Sussex and studied at Manchester University, 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.”
http://www.ruthware.com/about/

New York Times, “Both of Ware’s novels resemble classic locked-door mysteries: Her first takes place in a remote English country house and her latest on a cruise ship in the North Sea — a horrifying enough prospect for some of us even before the protagonist witnesses a murder and is accused of losing her mind. Unsurprisingly, Ware said last year that she was a big fan of the golden-age mystery writers. “I love classic crime,” she told NPR’s David Greene during her “Dark Wood” publicity tour. “I read a huge amount of it as a kid, you know, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Dorothy L. Sayers, Sherlock Holmes. And I didn’t consciously channel that when I was writing. But when I finished and reread the book, I did suddenly realize how much this kind of structure owed to, particularly, Agatha Christie. It wasn’t consciously done, but I think the setting, you know, the way it’s a closed cast of characters — I would say I definitely owe a debt to Christie.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/books/review/inside-the-list.html

Recommendations:
The Invitation directed by Karyn Kusama
Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

And check out Laura Ray in Last Girl Standing on Amazon
Laura Ray on Twitter