‘I am running. I am running through moonlit woods, with branches tearing at my clothes and my feet catching in the snow-bowed bracken. Brambles slash at my hands. My breath tears in my throat. It hurts. Everything hurts.’

When checking her emails one day, Nora comes across an invitation to her best friend’s hen party. The strange thing is, Nora hasn’t spoken to Clare in ten years. Nora decides to ignore her misgivings and accept the invitation, thinking that she and Clare can finally put the past behind them. But something goes wrong, and in the middle of a dark, dark wood, secrets will be revealed.

This sounded like a very intriguing thriller. I thought a hen party would be a perfect setting for a psychological thriller, offering all sorts of opportunities for mischief. I did really enjoy this book but, unfortunately, the ending let it down somewhat.

The setting was one of the best things about this book. The hen party takes place in a glass house in the middle of a wood. This was a fantastic choice of setting, as when night falls Nora, looking out, can only see her own reflection, and can’t be sure if there is anyone out there looking in. I did wish that more of the action had taken place in the glass house. Just over halfway through the setting switches to somewhere different, and the story loses a lot of its impact and becomes a little more like any other thriller.

The characters were all realistically drawn and the awkwardness between them was spot on. You could almost feel like you were eavesdropping on a conversation with a group of strangers as they got to know each other. The unstable nature of some of the guests at the hen party means you’re constantly kept on the edge of your seat. It seems as if anything could happen.

I enjoyed Nora as the protagonist. A solitary woman who lives on her own and writes crime novels, she is abrasive and perhaps a little unlikeable. But as the plot progresses and you learn more about how she came to be the woman she is, you’ll find yourself sympathising with her more and more.

Ware does a great job of creating a tense atmosphere in that house in the middle of the woods. The flashes of humour never quite cover the unease beneath, keeping you forever on edge. It’s genuinely chilling at times and you’ll find yourself reluctant to ever put it down. Sometimes things became a bit clichéd and over the top (Ouija board, anyone?) but this didn’t do too much to damage the story.

As I said, the ending was the big let down here. I think it is worth a read just because the first half is fantastic, but I did feel cheated that the ending didn’t quite match up. It’s incredibly unrealistic and the characters suddenly behave nothing like themselves. It becomes very obvious what’s going to happen. Ware really let down a fantastic concept here, and it’s up to you to decide whether you think it’s worth a read just for the first half.