So unfortunately my loan of this book expired today and I was about 100 pages away from the end (arrrgh) I thought the book was well written and really set me away thinking - I'm sure there will be many more plot twists before the end. Obviously the reason I haven't scored the book higher is because I don't know if the end will be as compelling and worthwhile as the rest of the novel has although I'm almost sure it will.

I would definitely recommend the book and I will be purchasing a copy so I can find out how it all comes together.

Toby has a charmed life. One night he makes the wrong choice and ends up being brutally attacked in his flat. He moves to his an ancestral home with his girlfriend to help his dying uncle. A body is found in the old Wych elm. What follows is a tale of discovery which takes him back to his teenage years. How will it all unfold and is his memory playing tricks on him. It is a lovely book but in places it feels too descriptive even when things start to unravel there feels their is to much detail. This for me slightly takes away from the story.

Reading this book felt like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat - an adventurous journey with breezy waves of excitement and long stretches that felt like nothing was happening while you always maintain a sense that some potentially thrilling danger might be lurking right under your feet.

A very imaginative and thought-provoking story. This book deserves a thorough read.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is as unlike French's previous novels as it is exactly like said previous novels. It's a heart rendering story about falling from grace, relying on the unreliable and believing the unbelievable. Toby is most definitely an unlikeable character and an unreliable narrator, which after getting over the initial hurdle at the start (it was boring, to begin with) actually plays a huge role in unravelling the mystery of what happened at Ivy House.

This one seems to be picking up some negative reviews from fans of Tana French's previous work. I haven't read any of that, but I did (mostly) enjoy this one. I had to stick with it, as I was initially put off by the slow pace, and the unlikeability of the main character, who is one of the braying overprivileged Ballsbridge wankers I tried my hardest to avoid when I was living in Dublin. Once you get past that though, it's a gripping read of a crime and its consequences echoing down the years, with the additional enjoyment of an unreliable narrator who knows he's unreliable. His descent from golden boy to...something else is the thematic heart of the book. It's well executed, if easier to admire than to like. Overall, I enjoyed this one. It put me very much in mind of Iain Banks' The Crow Road, a tale of a young man's life against a background of generational skullduggery and murder. I didn't like it as much as that book (but then again, the Crow Road is one of my very favourite novels), but it's still a good involving read.

Toby goes out with his friends for a drunken night, later he gets a nasty bump to his head. Recovering from his injuries he goes to stay with his uncle Hugo, when things turn for the worse.

The Wych Elm is a standalone novel set in Dublin and is told from Toby’s point of view. It is a mystery that is very slowly revealed, why Toby got that nasty bump to his head and the secrets held within The Wych Elm, a tree in his uncle Hugo’s garden.

I found The Wych Elm to be an awful read and dreadfully slow. It drags on and on with very little happening indeed. I developed no empathy for Toby at all. There was no bite to this story and the whole text just padded out the tale giving the impression you were stuck in a huge balloon of cotton wool. There was nothing entertaining about The Wych Elm and I took nothing away from this book.

Toby’s cousin Susanna did brighten up this story a little but even her contribution was painfully slow and was like trying to get blood out of a stone. The writing quality of this book was POOR, nothing was fresh or engaging, it was the same as when you hear a knock on your front door and encounter a God Botherer who you let speak for 60 seconds before you tell them to go away. The only part I thought Tana handled well was the death in hospital of a family member and their funeral. That part was spot on and brought back memories of my own mother’s death.

I have read ALL six of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, giving each book the top score of 5 stars, except The Secret Place #5 which I was very disappointed with and gave 2 stars. If I had not enjoyed Tana’s other books, I would have given up The Wych Elm after 30 minutes of reading, snapped off a quick review stating Did Not Finish and explaining why. I have never started a book without finishing it before but The Wych Elm would have been my very first Did Not Finish - however, I thought I should take one for the team.

Sadly I found The Wych Elm such a BAD read, I can only give this book the bare minimum score of 1 star. This for me is clearly a book to AVOID which is a shame as I really enjoyed five of her other books.

I have loved Tana French’s books for many different reasons.

The books that preceded this one have been compelling contemporary police procedurals, with a wonderfully real Irish settings. They have been was a compelling character studies, written with real insight and understanding. They have been perceptive state of the nation novels, speaking profoundly about a particular time and place …. and they have been linked, but not quite in the way series are usually linked.

Each book was centered around a member of the Dublin Murder Squad, who had usually appeared in an earlier book before becoming the protagonist of their own story. A story that would usually draw out their own story as well as the part they had to play in the investigation of a crime.

That was a wonderfully effective way to both link books and allow then to stand alone; but this book breaks the chain.

All of the familiar elements are there but the perspective is different. This time the character at the centre of the story has no connection to the police or law enforcement.

Toby is a good-looking young man, he is bright and charming, and he comes from a comfortably off and closely-knit middle-class family. His passage though life had been smooth, and he had just survived a crisis at work that would have felled most others, when woke up to find burglars in his flat and was violently attacked. He was left with physical and psychological damage.

His recovery was slow, and so he retired to the family home to convalesce. His uncle – who was terminally ill – had always lived there and other family members – his parents, his aunts and uncles, and his cousins – congregated there for lunch every Sunday and passed though often.

It was after Sunday lunch that the two young children of one of Toby’s cousins made a grisly discovery in the old wych elm at the bottom of the garden. That discovery led to a police investigation, and to the realisation that someone he knew had been murdered and that the evidence pointed to one or more of his family being involved.

Toby began to question his memories of his family, of his past and of his own nature. He tried to work out what happened but he feared what he might learn ….

I don’t want to say more than that about the plot, because I don’t want to spoil the story, and because it is difficult to pull things out and have them make sense on their own.

The story moved slowly and inexorably, and the narrative voice was perfectly realised. I saw that Toby had strengths and weaknesses, and I could understood what made him the person that he was. But I had to ask questions about how reliable he was, whether he really couldn’t remember or whether he had chosen to forget, and just how damaged he really was.

All of the characters around him, everything that happened, was utterly believable. The portrayal of someone who had to struggle for the first time in his life is so well done; and the drawing of a family living with a terminal illness is both acute and sensitive.

The writing is clear, lucid and intelligent, and the conversations were so very well done that I could hear the voices in my head.

It was strange not to come to know the detectives well, not to follow the case from their perspective, not to be able to link them to the Dublin Murder Squad. I understand why that wouldn’t have worked for this story, but I did miss the momentum and the depth that I have found in Tana French’s earlier books.

Following a case with a detective was more rewarding than following one man’s story.

I was always engaged but the story took a little too long to come together. When it did come together it was extraordinary. The crime story was intriguing, but the exploration of what happens when a charmed life is derailed and of coming to terms with the past and with new knowlege about that past is the greater story.

This is a very good book, and if the earlier books hadn’t set my expectations so high, if I didn’t have comprisons to draw, I would be able to focus on the many things done so very well in this book and think much less about my relatively small concerns.

I think that the change of perspective unsettled me’ and I think that I need to see where Tana French goes next to put this book into context ….

An entertaining story with mystery and intrigue albeit far fetched. Interesting characters and story line which keeps the reader hooked.

The Wych Elm is a stand-alone tale of consequences and redemption from one of my favourite crime authors, Tana French. I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of it to review and I am grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for the experience, however I found the book quite hard going for much of the time and although the ending was worth persevering for, I was relieved when it was finally over; at one point I felt as if I’d been reading it for weeks and wasn’t getting any further forward.

Toby, the narrator, has found himself having to cope with his golden existence being shattered when he suffers from a violent burglary, leaving him vulnerable and disabled. Unable to cope with his normal life and career in Dublin, he moves in with his terminally ill uncle and gradually starts to realise that his past carefree actions have badly affected the lives of those around him. His injuries have damaged his memories of the past however, and for the first time in his life he suffers from guilt and self-doubt. When the murdered skeleton of an old school friend is found in the garden of his old family home, Toby can’t remember what happened – could he be a killer or even the indirect cause of the young man’s death?

I found it a frustrating read compared with Ms French’s previous books, but it was still skilfully executed. Toby is so self-centred throughout that most of the other characters seem to be very one dimensional, (but then perhaps this was the author’s intention) – I certainly worked out the whodunit fairly early on, but The Wych Elm is such a slow-burner that it would be difficult not to.

A bit of a hard slog, but still a clever and memorable read from Ms French.

Very enjoyable, fast paced. Love Tana’s writing, she has such a good turn of phrase. Thank you for the opportunity to read, and share with others.

Absolutely loved this book! Even though it was long and detailed, I just couldn't put it down. It was a mixture of thriller, family saga and mystery. It was a really interesting dynamic with lots of sub plots. I have to confess I hadn't paid much attention to the first part prior to Toby's attack, so I had to go back and re read it. Really enjoy Tana French novels.

Although I found this book excellent in parts and repetitive in others I had to keep reading especially towards the end of the book to find out what happens to the main character. I did think the chapters were too long though. Thank you to Netgalley for the read.

This is the first book by the author Tana French that I have read and although I thoroughly enjoyed the experience I found the chapters to be long and laborious and I nearly gave up a couple of times. The book centres on one character "Toby"and his extended family and starts with his suspension from work to the robbery in his flat and him being left for dead. He then spends an extended period in hospital and his release where he goes to live with his uncle who is dying of cancer. It is during this time a skull is found in a hole in the wych elm tree in the garden and the subsequent police investigation.

Took me a bit to get into this book but once in I was hooked. A Brilliant read . Can’t wait for her next book

The description of this novel - particularly the comparison to The Secret History - made me very keen to read it. So, being approved was very exciting.

Toby is living in Dublin, a successful, in-love twenty-something, when he is viciously attacked in his flat. What follows, post-recovery, is a long stay at his uncle Hugo’s the Ivy House, a rambling mansion in an unnamed Dublin suburb. Hugo is terminally ill with a brain tumour and, before long, a horrible discovery is made in his garden - the skeleton of Dominic, a bully who went to school with Toby and his cousins Su and Leon. A murder investigation ensues and, eventually, a surprising turn of events changes the direction of the novel - to an extent, anyway.

Tana French’s new novel is extremely well-written - perhaps, at times, over-long and slightly implausible (the actual hiding of the body in the wych elm is perhaps not the most realistic). However, it’s unnerving how two young people connive to commit a crime that essentially goes unnoticed forever.

French has a brilliant knack at creating atmosphere and character. The prose is atmospheric but, to a degree, lacks a sense of place. The novel could have been set anywhere, aside from some brief references to Dublin landmarks.

All in all, an excellent novel.

An interesting and unusual thriller. Lots of twists and turns and family interactions.Kept me guessing to the end.

I am a little unsure as to where this review is going to be honest because, whilst I really enjoyed the elements of it, it suffered a little for its meandering nature. But the mystery of who put the body that is found in the tree is at first as unknown as the real mystery upon which the novel is based (and I will declare an interest here, as the said tree isn’t far at all from where I live).

The characters are of course crafted really well; central to the story is Toby who we see suffers a brutal beating which leaves him with a brain injury that means he has trouble with his memory, And it’s this struggle for a sense of identity that is so engaging; how much of ourselves is tied up in our memories? How much of a role does memory form in our behaviour? Are we good because we choose to be or because that is who we’ve always been? Likewise are we bad because that is the memory we have of ourselves? Surely if Toby was guilty of murder, he would know that that is something that he is capable of?
Then there is dying Uncle Hugo, seemingly a loveable, dependable man. Is Toby’s feeling about him real, or is he in some way culpable?

I will confess to working out the answer to the mystery fairly early on, but the question of why still remained ensuring that I wanted to keep reading, And not in fact that it matters a whole lot who was responsible in the end anyway. I might be totally off the mark saying that, but the investigation of characters seemed to be far more important, well in my reading of it anyway.

I think if you go into this expecting a thrilling murder crime-ridden read you might be disappointed, and that’s not even because it doesn’t have those elements - it does of course; but it isn’t a detective-led plot line at all. It’s best to go in with no expectations of what you’re going to get, other than a good story.

I've had to DNF this one at the 20% mark. It's well written but incredibly slow, to the extent that after 100 pages I still felt like the book hadn't really started. It's a shame, because many of the lesser characters (especially the cops) were really engaging.

I have read and loved Tana French's previous Dublin Murder Squad books and had little prior information about this standalone book. Once I had realised that it wasn't a standard detective mystery and settled into the story I really enjoyed it. It's hard to categorise The Wych Elm, but what it is, is well written, spooky and unsettling and a departure from bog standard thrillers. Once I was into the last 50% mark and the story started to come together for me, I couldn't wait to find out what had happened. The denouement, when it came, was satisfying and made perfect sense.
If it hadn't taken me so long to get into the main story I would have given it 5 stars. Well worth a read if you fancy something a bit different.
I would like to thank the author, the publisher - Viking, and Netgalley for giving me an advance digital copy of this book.

After a brutal attack radically changes Toby's charmed life in Dublin, he's forced to go and live with his wealthy dying uncle in his mansion house in the countryside. When a skull is found in the wych elm tree in the garden, Toby's memories of the summers he spent there as a teenage come in question. As detectives dig deeper, Toby realises how his perception of the past is not the truth.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this novel - with its elements of The Secret HIstory (privileged youth., wealth, death) and the power to create atmosphere through building and location. Certainly the writing was crisp and taut, moving the book along through it's complex twists and red herrings. Ultimately I didn't love this book mostly because I didn't buy into Toby's character enough. I found it hard to feel any sympathy for the predicaments he found himself in but equally I couldn't feel anger or voyeuristic enjoyment at his mistakes. He was well balanced in some respects but that made it harder to engage with the two different portrayals of him - his own arrogance as a golden boy vs the perspective his teenage friends had of someone who would protect bullies and show a complete lack of self-awareness.

I enjoyed this novel a lot though and am keen to go back and read Tana French''s other books.