In a Dark, Dark Wood

I read this while on a long-haul flight and suffering from an inability to sleep, and it was still too predictable. I'm not sure who thought this book was full of surprises, but they must have the memory of a goldfish or read five pages every two months. Not a terrible book, but nothing was new or shocking.

Also, there are so many quotes on the cover of my copy that scream about how scary this book is! Be prepared to be scared! Read it before bed at your own risk! And it wasn't scary at all. Again, it's too predictable; you know what's going to happen before it happens if you take five seconds to think about what's happening and follow the most likely paths to the end conclusion. It's too simple and obvious to be scared.

Also, parts of the writing are infuriating. I wasn't thrilled with the use of character with a mental illness (manipulating her into doing something and then having her realise what happens only to commit suicide); the two queer (lesbian woman and gay man) are really... stereotypical in a lot of ways, especially the gay man. There's a throwaway line about how James "slept with man and woman and everything in between" or whatever, which is a nice way of framing a potentially (non-labelled) bisexual character (who, by the way, is sort of a thrown away from the go and then dies). The doctor who had to do a mental health rotation is also the most careless about talking about a person with mental health issues. These characters aren't... nice.