Ratings63
Average rating3.4
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
Fabulous. As slow as the first 200 pages or so were, the last were filled with twists and turns hard to keep up with. A “spell-binding” novel centered around one young man, Toby, who always considered himself to have lived a charmed life who had found the love of his life, had a job he liked and fully expected to have the idyllic bungalow filled with friends and family in the future. He grew up with privilege as an only child but shared summers with two cousins at the family's ancestral home (Ivy House), occupied by his benevolent uncle, Hugo. But as the book opens, Toby is beaten in a home invasion which has long-lasting consequences (including memory loss) and he goes back to Ivy House to recuperate, at the same time Uncle Hugo is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. That is the stage setting. No spoilers. This is crime fiction at it's best.
Featured Prompt
41 booksCollecting books that disturbed you, made you think, or haunted you long after you were done reading.
Books
9 booksIf you enjoyed this book, then our algorithm says you may also enjoy these.