The Witch Elm by Tana French
Release Date: October 9, 2018
Read from: 2/6/20 - 2/15/20
Format: Audiobook (Overdrive)
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Rating: 3.54 stars
WOWWWWW. What a long. WEIRD. book. I listened to the audiobook version of this one, and I will say I think the narrator made the creepiness factor and the accents were great. Being that this was a book I was just ok about I think reading it wouldn’t have been as good.
For those Ruth Ware fans out there, this is the book for you. This reminded me of her so much, although I liked this one better than most of the books I’ve listened to by her. There was a lot more to this one and I did mildly care what was going on.
The book starts out introducing you to the main character, Toby, and we see him get nearly beaten to death early on in the story when his apartment gets broken into. He has a long physical and mental recovery ahead of him, and no idea who did that to him or why. I went into this book blind, so I was like ok, we’re going to uncover this mystery.
But wait. Toby’s cousin Susannah calls to tell him that their uncle Hugo is dying of cancer and that she wants him to go stay at his house with him so that he’s not alone. So Tony and his ever faithful girlfriend Melissa find themselves at the Ivy House. A house where Toby, Susannah and her brother Leon spent a significant portion of their childhood. While having a family discussion about the fate of the property after Hugo’s passing, Susannah’s kids come across a human skull in a tree in the garden. Of course! Quickly the story changes paths, and a good chunk of the rest of this story had to do with figuring out who killed the person inside that tree. You’ll go back and forth between several main characters. They’re very manipulative and they trick you just like they trick the cops. I began to wonder if, with Toby’s brain damage, he could’ve possibly been the murderer and didn’t even realize it. Well we figure out the answer eventually, and the answer is veryyyyyy long and drawn out. I was wondering why the heck it needed to be so long. What I found hilarious was, that the character being told the story was so upset that they weren’t trusted to be included in this murder scheme. LOL. So weird. This confession doesn’t happen to the cops though. The cops think someone else did it. And the real answer is remaining hidden.
But wait. There’s more. We end up with ANOTHER murder. And now Toby is really fucked up. His men’s two health is through the roof, his PTSD takes over and he tries to kill himself. Doesn’t succeed. I don’t consider this a spoiler because there’s a good hour left in the story when this scene happens. And this hour unravels the aftermath of the second murder.
It ended kind of abruptly. And I felt that the first two mysteries, although we do get some answers, don’t feel totally closed. We end without closure and I didn’t love that. But this was a complicated story with a lot of characters, a lot of mystery to unravel and a lot of relationships to try to keep straight when they keep changing. It was a lot, and that’s what kept me absorbed for such a long story. I think Tana French did a good job with it overall, even though it wasn’t exactly my most favorite style of story. Definitely better than most of the Ruth Ware I’ve encountered so there’s that. I would mildly recommend this one. It's definitely a popular one too, because I had this audiobook on hold through the library for MONTHS before I finally got it.
For those Ruth Ware fans out there, this is the book for you. This reminded me of her so much, although I liked this one better than most of the books I’ve listened to by her. There was a lot more to this one and I did mildly care what was going on.
The book starts out introducing you to the main character, Toby, and we see him get nearly beaten to death early on in the story when his apartment gets broken into. He has a long physical and mental recovery ahead of him, and no idea who did that to him or why. I went into this book blind, so I was like ok, we’re going to uncover this mystery.
But wait. Toby’s cousin Susannah calls to tell him that their uncle Hugo is dying of cancer and that she wants him to go stay at his house with him so that he’s not alone. So Tony and his ever faithful girlfriend Melissa find themselves at the Ivy House. A house where Toby, Susannah and her brother Leon spent a significant portion of their childhood. While having a family discussion about the fate of the property after Hugo’s passing, Susannah’s kids come across a human skull in a tree in the garden. Of course! Quickly the story changes paths, and a good chunk of the rest of this story had to do with figuring out who killed the person inside that tree. You’ll go back and forth between several main characters. They’re very manipulative and they trick you just like they trick the cops. I began to wonder if, with Toby’s brain damage, he could’ve possibly been the murderer and didn’t even realize it. Well we figure out the answer eventually, and the answer is veryyyyyy long and drawn out. I was wondering why the heck it needed to be so long. What I found hilarious was, that the character being told the story was so upset that they weren’t trusted to be included in this murder scheme. LOL. So weird. This confession doesn’t happen to the cops though. The cops think someone else did it. And the real answer is remaining hidden.
But wait. There’s more. We end up with ANOTHER murder. And now Toby is really fucked up. His men’s two health is through the roof, his PTSD takes over and he tries to kill himself. Doesn’t succeed. I don’t consider this a spoiler because there’s a good hour left in the story when this scene happens. And this hour unravels the aftermath of the second murder.
It ended kind of abruptly. And I felt that the first two mysteries, although we do get some answers, don’t feel totally closed. We end without closure and I didn’t love that. But this was a complicated story with a lot of characters, a lot of mystery to unravel and a lot of relationships to try to keep straight when they keep changing. It was a lot, and that’s what kept me absorbed for such a long story. I think Tana French did a good job with it overall, even though it wasn’t exactly my most favorite style of story. Definitely better than most of the Ruth Ware I’ve encountered so there’s that. I would mildly recommend this one. It's definitely a popular one too, because I had this audiobook on hold through the library for MONTHS before I finally got it.
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