The Witch Elm

Books | Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense

3.7

(1.2K)

Tana French

A New York Times bestseller and a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Amazon, The Boston Globe, LitHub, Vulture, Slate, Elle, Vox, and Electric Literature“Tana French’s best and most intricately nuanced novel yet.” —The New York TimesAn “extraordinary” (Stephen King) and “mesmerizing” (LA Times) standalone novel from the master of crime and suspense and author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter.From the writer who “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker) and has been called “incandescent” by Stephen King, “absolutely mesmerizing” by Gillian Flynn, and “unputdownable” (People) comes a gripping new novel that turns a crime story inside out.Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who’s dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life—he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family’s ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden—and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.A spellbinding standalone from one of the best suspense writers working today, The Witch Elm asks what we become, and what we’re capable of, when we no longer know who we are.

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More Details:

Author

Tana French

Pages

528

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

2018-10-09

ISBN

0735224633 9780735224636

Community ReviewsSee all

"Not a book to recommend. A slog to read — roughly 500 pages — and a family of unsympathetic characters. Ordinarily I dive into Tana French. This book I could not wait to finish. Started on Kindle, slow going, then picked up as a hard cover library book, expecting it to gain momentum. It did not."

Diane Morello

"The narrator has a traumatic brain injury. The characters are not always in murder mysteries. I personally enjoyed this book and highly recommend it."

Jodi

"4/5 - Kind of slow but also full of twists. My first time listening to an audiobook and Paul Nugent did SUCH a good job narrating. Highly recommend listening. The character development is fantastic and makes you really root for the MCs. An enjoyable story that had me eager to know how things turned out."

Hal

"French is very wordy, but somehow that really helped building this mystery. The story is very atmospheric with a wonderful skew, but it lost me halfway through chapter 12."

Ricki Marking-Camuto

"This was a good story. Twisty and turny enough to keep you guessing. The only reason I gave it only 3 stars is because, at 22 hours for the audiobook, I felt that it was about 10 hours longer than necessary. I don’t know how many times throughout the book I thought, “Just get on with it already!” Like I said, it was a good story but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier for a book to end. "

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April James

"Really good book, but also really really long."

Elizabeth Hart

"This was my first introduction to Tana French, who I knew was praised as a new amazing voice in suspense. However, for the majority of this book, I did not find myself in suspense in an enjoyable way. I instead found myself rather annoyed while reading. I felt Toby was unlikeable and that, for the first hundred or so pages, the way the family dynamic was portrayed was infuriating. I just wanted to scream: “Please everyone shut up and sit down and allow the plot to move forward!” I suppose one could view this as a testament to the author. I can give props that the voice was getting such a visceral reaction out of me, but I just don’t quite think it’s the ideal reaction she’d want from a reader. I didn’t really get invested in turning the pages until about 250 pages in and, while I was glad of it, I don’t find that rather impressive all things considered."

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Kayla Randolph

"Stand alone. "