I’m 110 pages into In The Woods and I can tell you right now that Tana French is going to derail this list! This little taste was enough to get me ordering the second of her Dublin Murder Squad books, The Likeness, ready to start as soon as I finish. And I suspect that is how it will be for the rest of her books too. So. Good.
Final Girls was something I picked up cheap while food shopping, and while it has lots of respectable blurbs and apparently good reviews, I just found it unsatisfying. It was interesting enough for me to burn through it pretty quick and there were a decent amount of twists, which leaves me to conclude that the characters were the issue. Kind of 2D, maybe, definitely not well defined. Of course this could be just my tastes, I didn’t like The Woman In The Window either, and a lot of people enjoyed that.
I’ve never read a how to write/plan book before so I’m excited to see what Save The Cat will teach me and if it will help spark me off again (because last time I was writing I was trying for a longer story in a novella, and damn had I hit a wall). I’ve started the first couple of chapters and it’s so interesting! Only now I find myself watching movies or shows and recognising the beats.
I’m not planning on starting Catch-22 until I have finished the excellent TV series, so this one is fine to be derailed for a little while.
Got any future recommendations or opinions on the books in my list? I think it goes without saying: no spoilers please 😊
emily slaney 