Loved this book! A must-read for all Tana French Dublin squad fans! A slow-burner but atmospheric and unnerving.

Who’s afraid of the cold, hard truth?

Practically everybody in this book is, for starters. The Wych Elm walks a delicate line between murder mystery and profound insight into what motivates us. What makes us ‘us’? And can that change?

Toby is about to find out. He’s always been happy-go-lucky, cruising through life without any major mishaps, but that all changes when he’s savagely beaten up one night in his apartment. Broken and traumatised, he retreats into himself, but when he’s invited to his childhood home, The Ivy House, he sees a chance to heal.

That is, until a skeleton is found in the wych elm at the bottom of the garden. And his uncle is diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour.

You can see how this story might not be the cheeriest one out there, but French’s writing transforms pain into gorgeous art. Her ability to turn a phrase is second to none, and several times I found myself lingering over certain passages, just… appreciating them. It helps that she pairs this with a razor-sharp insight into the way people behave, especially when the chips are down. Toby is a broken mess, and his slow painful struggle towards recovery is sharply contrasted with the spiky, uneasy relationship he has with his two cousins, Susanna and Leon. They were close when they were younger, but now? They barely see each other.

So when the skeleton is found, this prickly relationship starts to spiral, becoming a maelstrom of paranoia as Toby sets out to deduce who really did it. I won’t lie, this was gripping stuff, but profoundly uncomfortable. The cousins- unlike their Uncle Hugo and Toby’s girlfriend Melissa, who are both too pure for this ink-and-paper world- are not very likeable people. Toby’s insistence that his narrative is the correct one, even when it’s not, Susanna’s psychological games, and Leon’s edgy defensiveness all play off each other in the worst way possible.

Watching them accuse and circle each other in search of the truth, all while detectives are sniffing around Toby as a possible suspect, is nail-bitingly tense. You’re not sure who you’re rooting for and you’re not sure who’s innocent, especially Toby, whose fractured memory and battered psyche lead him to suspect it may well have been him after all.

That’s what at the heart of The Wych Elm. Not the murder, but the way in which it affects the way Toby sees himself. How paranoia can spiral out of control; how we might have been somebody different all along. And that ending: wow. I’m not sure what I think about it, but it certainly makes a statement! This book is not the cheeriest I’ve ever read, but it’s certainly profound, and I can see why it’s making such a splash. As for whether it’s for me, though: I’m not so sure about that.

This feels like Tana Frenchs darkest thriller yet. I think I personally prefer when she writes from the cops perspective. The portrayal of the almost claustrophobic descent into the mire of death and destruction of relationships and normality is brilliantly portrayed. The plot keeps you guessing right until the final page.

I put off writing the review of The Wych Elm as long as I could. Now it's time to man up and write this thing. Ah, The Wych Elm. One of the hardest to review books I've stumbled across. The rating is a strong 3 or a weak 4, depending on criteria. A terrific author (I love Murder Squad!) but this book just didn't do it for me. Here's why...

This book is extremely long for a murder fiction. It's not a thriller as the pace is too slow. It's rather lethargic in its development. But, there are sound reasons for that as backstory plays an important role here. That said, it did drag for me.

The relationship between Toby and Melissa was, initially, sick making. It can be summed up as a discussion between them reading like, "I love you more." "No, I love YOU more!" "Nooooo, no. I love YOU so much more!!" You get the idea. I was turned off on them pretty early BUT they redeemed themselves once they reached Ivy House. Looking after Hugo normalized Toby and Melissa and I actually liked them then.

The idea behind the big mystery was good and could have been brilliant but played out a bit long without any tension or even surprise. The explanation, which felt like it should be a great revelation, was watered down and didn't feed into a conclusion. It rolled, instead, into a new development. This was a great shock but didn't quite go anywhere and fizzled out, to my disappointment.

The characters were the high point. Hugo was such a lovely man! Someone you would wish to know and would want as your cool uncle too. Leon and Sue were well crafted and easily visualized. The sense of family between the cousins came across realistically and will be appreciated by anyone who grew up with close knit cousins in a big, extended family. The dynamic was spot on.

Having many high points, the story simply failed to capitalize on them and was brought down by the detractors. Would this keep me from reading another Tana French creation? Certainly not! I'm no fool. This may not have done it for me but I continue to have faith in this superb author and will read anything she writes.

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Books, and the author Tana French.
I really enjoyed this book, and completely devoured it in a couple of days. I am a big fan of crime drama, and this novel felt much more complex and developed than other stories in this genre.
I’m quite surprised by the number of negative reviews, but these seem to be more of a reflection of how much the readers loved French’s previous novels, compared to an unbiased view of this one on its own. It is clear that this was a different tack for French, writing more of a character study than a standard ‘detective solves crime’ thriller. I’ve read French’s ‘The Trespasser’, and think it pales in comparison here (I gave it 2 stars).
If you are looking for a satisfyingly gripping novel with psychological twists and turns, I’d recommend giving this a go! 4 stars.

THE WYCH ELM was quite an intense read for me. There is not a lot of action and it’s more of a character study mixed with a murder. The protagonist of the novel is Toby. He is the typical young man who leads an easy and good life. Hanging out with the popular crowd, good at school, a fantastic job and women who love him. Everything changes one night when Toby is brutally assaulted in his own home by burglars. He suffers from physical injuries, mood swings, and memory loss and he moves to the family home, Ivy House, to recover and to take care of his dying uncle, Hugo.

Between Sunday lunches with the family and helping Hugo with his genealogy job, Toby starts to recover and things seem to go back to normal, even though there is always some kind of tension lurking through the pages that kept my interest high. The suspense grows when a body is found inside the ancient wych elm by the garden. Who is it? And how long has it been there?

I do love unreliable characters in novels and Toby made me guess everything I read. Because of his head injury and memory loss, Toby doesn’t remember things from his past or he remembers them incorrectly. He asks for the help of his cousins Susanna and Leon, but you know right away that those are characters that you can’t trust. I never knew what was real and what was not so that I was on the edge of my seat until the end.

Although sometimes the pace is a bit too slow, the author knows how to keep the reader’s interest with a cast of multi-layered, irritating, and not very likable characters, a captivating and intricate plot, and a sinister and claustrophobic atmosphere that made me turn page after page.

THE WYCH ELM is my first attempt to Tana French’s novels, but I really liked her prose and her characterization, so it won’t be my last!

This was an intriguing mystery with twists and turns from start to finish. The plot itself was great, but for me the novel was far too long.

Another terrific thriller from Tana French which is well plotted with good characterisation and a fantastic atmosphere. Recommended.

This book is not a quick read in a siting type book its much more than that. The biggest part of the book to me was dedicated to the story behind Toby a privileged young man whose life we see turned upside down. After a night out he is attacked in his own home and left a shattered wreck. Luckily for him and us he's given the chance to recover by looking after a dying uncle at the family home.
Its once he's ensconced in the family home the story comes more to life for me. We see more of his struggles with his mental health and physical health but they start to take on more of a significance as the story unfolds.
A body is found in the trunk of a Wych elm in the garden of the family home and its been there for years. The author takes us on a journey through the teenage years of Toby and his cousins. Their school life, their social life and the parties that seem to dominate their last years at school. As the author reveals more clues we fall deeper into the mire of those years twisted within the life that they lead now. Who they are now as adults was formed within the time the body was put in the tree. The story has many branches that are tangled up yet they never get too knotted up into each other that it weighs it down too much. The plot doesn't race you along its a nice steady pace that appreciates you need the time to reflect and to be immersed within it. You will not be disappointed with the book and definitely not let down with how it all works out. An author I have not had the pleasure of reading before but will be on the look out for her other books now.

This was my first Tana French book and it certainly won't be my last. A slow burning tale of the Hennessy family told from the point of view of Toby Hennessy. Toby was sailing through life on good looks, charm and good luck until he is the victim of a brutal home invasion. Dealing with his trauma and physical injuries, Toby is dealt another blow when the family find out that head of the family, his uncle Hugo, has an inoperable brain tumour. Wanting to help, but also wanting to retreat from the outside world, Toby and his girlfriend Melissa move into the family home, the Ivy House, to care for Hugo. When his nephew finds a human skull inside the wych elm in the backyard of the Ivy House, family secrets begin to creep out and loyalties are tested. Toby wants to find out the truth but can he trust his own patchy memory?
This book furls out very slowly but French builds the tension perfectly. I had such a vivid idea of what everyone looked like and how the Ivy House looked I felt like I was watching a movie! The characters were all so perfectly formed and it was so well written, I can't wait to read more of her books!

Someone has a secret. It’s been kept untold for many years, but the witch elm will soon reveal the truth.

The Wych Elm (also known as The Witch Elm), is by far one of my favorite Tana French novels. I went into this one completely blind, and if you can get away with avoiding any summaries, I would advise doing the same because I think it’s even more of a thrill to read if you have not even an inkling of what’s about to happen.

With this in mind, I will try to provide as much information as possible while giving away nothing at all—a true book reviewer challenge.

After reading the first few sentences, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like the book. I was expecting a dramatic start, ready for immediate murder and instant mystery. The beginning is much more simple; a pleasant introduction to the characters and the general context of their lives without jumping straight into the drama. French doesn’t keep us waiting for long, however, so do not be discouraged!

Once the action starts, it does not let up until the very end of the novel, and is made all the more enticing because the characters involved are so entirely relatable. It’s less of a cop mystery thriller and more of a story about real people and their desire to maintain as normal an existence as possible when their entire family is experiencing complete emotional upheaval.

What makes this story so captivating is the idea that any one of us could be in the position in which the characters find themselves. It is a story full of human love and loss, triumph and error, and we feel these moments—both the devastating and the uplifting moments—deeply through the characters because we see ourselves reflected in them. We read this novel and count ourselves lucky that we have not found ourselves in the perfect storm of The Wych Elm.

French’s latest novel is beautifully, startlingly, terrifyingly human, full of mystery and suspense and frightening realism.

First things first, the star rating: I can't give this 4 stars, but it isn't a 3 star either, really, it's 3.5.

The Wych Elm is the kind of book where you need a spell of time put aside to completely lose yourself in the story. It's a long book, and very slow burning at the start. Tby has lived a charmed life up to the night when he returns home after a few drinks with the lads, surprises two burglars and ends up with PTSD, slurred speech, a limp and altered personality.

After he has been released from hospital and is struggling to come to terms with the shape his life has taken, his beloved uncle Hugo is diagnosed with brain cancer. At the request of the family, Toby moves into the ancestral family home, The Ivy House, to look after his uncle. There he revisits the childhood and teen summers spent at the house with his cousins Susanna and Leon.

At this point the story picks up pace, when a human skull is found inside a hollow tree...

I enjoyed The Wych Elm, I disliked most of the characters but that didn't stop me from loving the writing and the storyline. For me where French always excels is in her dialogue, and the sense of time and place she evokes with her books. A few of Toby's philosophical musings could have been chopped out, though, and that would have improved the pace.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I like both literary and crime fiction but I'm not sure the combination worked in this book. It tells the story of Toby Hennessy who seems to lead a charmed life until it's all changed by a violent burglary which leaves him badly injured and traumatised.He goes to the family home ,the Ivy House,to recuperate and to look after his beloved uncle Hugo,who is terminally ill. During his stay,a skull is found in a hole in an old tree in the garden,and this discovery has many repercussions for Toby and for his two cousins, Susanna and Leon ,who all spent time staying there in their teens.
I found it all a bit pretentious and tiresome-there are endless introspective conversations and ramblings and I kept thinking,'Does anyone really talk like this ?'Apart from dear old Uncle Hugo,the three main characters are all so unlikeable that in the end I hoped they all got what they deserved.
The pace is slow and it takes a long time for things to get moving .I didn't really care enough about any of the characters to gain much sense of satisfaction in the outcome.

This isn't a quick read, and there were a couple of times I pondered whether to continue as I kept waiting for it to really start... I think that is the magic of it, however, and I'm so glad I kept going. It was easy to read, the characters were bought to life clearly, and amongst the trauma, there was humour and charm, It is one of those slow-burning stories that take a while, but there was no way I could leave without getting all the answers. It raised some really poignant and thought-provoking questions, particularly not knowing what we are capable of until we are pushed too far. I also felt it reminded me of throwing a pebble into a stream, you never know where that ripple will lead and what it will affect. It's essentially about relationships, family, friends, and how much we really know people, including ourselves. A perfect winter novel, thank you.

The Wych Elm is not the first book I've read by Tana French, but it is probably the most unusual.

Toby Hennessy has led a charmed life so far, he has the luck of the Irish, that's for sure. Working for a art gallery in PR, he is successful, has a beautiful girlfriend and his friend's jealousy ... For Toby is the kind of guy, who always lands on his feet.

That is until one fateful night out. Upon his return home he passes out, only to be woken by intruders who brutally attack and rob him in the early hours. Toby's charmed life, suddenly isn't so, and he is left with slurred speech, a dodgy hand, a slight limp and PTSD.

Toby is forced by a set of circumstances to return to his family's ancestral home, Ivy House, a beautiful house with the Wych Elm of the novel's title in the garden. Amongst loving family members he begins to make a recovery, but then a discovery is made that will turn all of their lives upside down.

A skull in the Wych Elm, a human skull, a potential murder victim. Who does it belong to, how did it get there ... so many unanswered questions. Questions that make Toby's head hurt, make his injury feel real again, and wishing that he had never returned.

His discomfort only deepens when he learns that he knew the murder victim back when he was a teenager. Does that mean that someone he is close to is responsible? Could he even be responsible? Toby's memory hasn't been the same since the burglary and assault, but a lack of memory surely doesn't make him a killer ...

As Toby begins to question everything he thought he knew about his life, the police close in on Ivy House, certain that their suspect resides or has resided there in the past. Can Toby discover the truth before they do. If the truth is even obtainable?

This is a book which provoked strong emotions and reactions from me because of some of the issues it raised. It’s the first one I’ve read by Tana French and combines murder mystery with psychological thriller and literary fiction. The story revolves around Toby Hennessy, a confident young Dubliner, who works in PR for an art gallery. So far he has swanned through quite an effortlessly charmed life, the kind of guy who does well enough at public school, has a great girlfriend and mates and doesn’t have to try too hard to get on. But after a night out with the lads, Toby surprises 2 burglars and is beaten up and nearly killed. Left with slurred speech, memory issues and a limp is bad enough, but it’s PTSD and a personality change that troubles him the most and he turns into quite an unpleasant character.
He then learns that his favourite uncle Hugo has terminal brain cancer and Toby’s relatives urge him to move in with him to The Ivy House, the family home where he and his two cousins, Susanna and Leon, spent their school holidays. Although he has no intention of becoming Hugo’s carer, a tender relationship develops with the help of his girlfriend, Melissa. The Ivy House has always been a haven, almost a magical place for Toby where he and his cousins were allowed a free rein under Hugo’s laid back guardianship. But all this is about to change.
Up to this point it is quite slow going, although I appreciate that the author was setting the scene and building the characters. The story is told through Toby’s eyes, but one thing that struck me as odd was his flowery, almost poetic musings on The Ivy House and gardens, which were incongruous with his brutish language and aggressive outbursts. Toby gushes, “Outside my patch of shadow the sun was blinding; gold coins of light spilled over my body, grasshoppers zizzed everywhere, yellow poppies bobbed.” Then almost in the next breath, “I could have punched Susanna. Selfish little bitch, so in love with her seat on the high horse, her self-righteous victim bullshit about evil doctors”.
However, the plot really takes off when a human skull turns up in the trunk of a huge Wych Elm during a big family gathering, soon to be followed by the discovery of the skeleton in the back garden. After this I found it compulsive reading with a massive amount of suspense. As a criminal investigation proceeds, the detectives pit one suspect against another, building paranoia, and Toby is left in no doubt that one detective in particular, Rafferty, (brilliantly drawn), is one step ahead of him. The characterisation is sublime, even though I didn’t like the 3 cousins and their anti-establishment attitudes.
One particular fight scene near the end really got to me, in that it caught me off guard, horrified and repelled me, but the description was so gripping and real that it was far more vivid in my mind than anything you could see in a film. There is a recurring theme which gave me pause for thought, although I’m not sure I’d subscribe to it, that it’s not our personality or character that define and shape us, but rather the role luck plays in our lives that can make or break us. French drills down into these ideas via Toby’s tortured struggles to understand his identity, who he was and whom he’s become and I suppose it comes down to the thorny issue of free will, do we have it or are we controlled by our genes and our environment, of which there is yet no consensus within philosophy and psychology.
I would like to thank Netgalley, Penguin Books UK Viking and Tana French for the opportunity to read and review The Wych Elm.

I was sent a copy of The Wych Elm by Tana French to read and review by NetGalley.
I really liked this book! It was easy to read with a first person narrative style that quickly sucked me in. The protagonist Toby’s ‘voice’ was inviting and the story itself, though unhurried, was utterly compelling. The characters were well drawn and believable and their seemingly idyllic lives were quite enviable. There isn’t really much more that I want to say about this novel except go ahead and read it, you won’t regret it!

This was a first by this author for me and although it got off to a slow start it soon picked up the pace to a satisfying conclusion so stick with it. Thank you Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read it.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Penguin Books UK, Viking and the author, Tana French, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The wych elm in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thought this book offered a good read once you delve into it. I thought the storyline was intriguing and well written, though I did think it started off a bit slow.
Worth a read.

The Wych Elm (or Witch if you are in the States) is the new stand-alone crime novel by Tana French. Now I'll get my niggles out of the way instantly - the chapters are exhaustingly long, if like me you cannot stop reading in the middle of one, and secondly I hated the central character Toby. Aside from all of that, I did enjoy this book so please read on!

Toby is a self-centred so-and-so and the sort of person that everything goes right for - he can talk his way out of anything and has had a lifetime of things falling into his lap; lucky boy. He works for an art gallery and they decide to have an exhibition that is going to bring a lot of publicity their way, however things go wrong, Toby gets into trouble at work and then to top it all off, his flat gets burgled and he ends up in a very serious way in the local hospital as a result. He needs to recuperate and his family decide that the best thing for him to do would be to return to the Ivy House, home of his uncle Hugo who is sadly dying. Toby is now a former shadow of himself but could be the ideal companion for his uncle in his final months of life.

Toby goes to stay with Uncle Hugo, and takes his girlfriend Melissa along with him. He spends a lot of time reminiscing with his cousins Susannah and Leon and the whole family get together every Sunday for a big lunch. It is at one of these lunches that Susannah's children discover a skull hidden in the Wych Elm at the bottom of the garden. As luck would have it, or not in this case, the skull turns out to be human which prompts a visit from the local constabulary and a murder case is opened when it is revealed that the skull belongs to an old school friend of Toby and his cousins who was at the time, rumoured to have committed suicide before they all departed for university.

Now Toby is at the forefront of two mysteries - that of the skull in the garden and also of who tried to kill him when the burglary on his flat went wrong. Is there a connection? Tana French clearly shows that you can choose your friends but you certainly cannot chose your family. Do you even really know them as well as you think you do, and when push comes to shove, do they even have your back at all? It is certainly a novel about relationships more than anything and makes for interesting reading in that respect. This is the sort of novel that could strike up some interesting conversations in a book group.