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Tana French

The Wych Elm: The Sunday Times bestseller Paperback – 29 October 2018

by Tana French (Author)

1,020 ratings

Edition: 1^st

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For me it all goes back to that night, the dark corroded hinge between before and after, the slipped-in sheet of trick glass that tints everything on one side in its own murky colours and leaves everything on the other luminous and untouchable.

One night changes everything for Toby. A brutal attack leaves him traumatised, unsure even of the person he used to be. He seeks refuge at the family's ancestral home, the Ivy House, filled with cherished memories of wild-strawberry summers and teenage parties with his cousins.

But not long after Toby's arrival, a discovery is made. A skull, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden.

As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself.

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Product details

Publisher : Viking; 1st edition (29 October 2018)
Language : English
Paperback : 480 pages
ISBN-10 : 0241379512
ISBN-13 : 978-0241379516
Dimensions : 15.3 x 3.8 x 23.4 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 194,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 244 in Social Fiction
- 1,828 in Gothic Fiction
- 6,140 in Women's Fiction About Domestic Life

Customer Reviews:
1,020 ratings

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Review

A truly great writer -- Gillian Flynn

The Wych Elm is her best novel yet -- Erin Kelly

Lyrical, suspenseful, unpredictable

My favourite novel of last year -- Sophie Hannah

Terrific - terrifying, amazing, and the prose is incandescent -- Stephen King

A masterpiece -- John Boyne

The finest crime writer around right now ― Mail on Sunday

One of the most compulsive psychological mysteries since Donna Tartt's The Secret History...impossible to put down ― The Times

The Wych Elm should cement French's place in the first rank of great literary novelists ― Observer

Her storytelling skills are incredible -- Sarra Manning ― Red

Book Description

A spellbinding standalone from a literary writer who turns the crime genre inside out, The Wych Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, if we no longer know who we are.

5 star		39%
4 star		27%
3 star		20%
2 star		8%
1 star		5%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Jennifer Brown

Absolutely brilliant novel

Reviewed in Australia on 14 February 2020

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This story really groups you, from the beginning right to the unexpected end. Poor Toby goes from being a healthy happy young man to the villain/victim. You decide I know in my heart I could not help but feel sorry for him.
Taking us on a journey through the childhood with adventures with their wonderful uncle to a macabre and horrid and seen. Between Toby and his cousins secrets are revealed that are astounding and quite sad, as the main victim turns out to be an old man died of cancer.
I don’t want to say too much as I would rather not spoil it for you, but it is worth a read and I will definitely read more from this author.

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Amazon Customer

A head snapping switch and bait story that keeps you guessing

Reviewed in Australia on 28 July 2019

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As usual, when I read a book, I tried to predict where the story was going. And as usual, when I read a book written by Tana French, I never had a hope of getting it all right. Even when I got part of it right, it was framed in a different story.
This book drags at first, and I was starting to think of giving up on it when an event occurred and I was hooked. By the time I finished the book I knew that the slow beginning was needed. So trust the writer - this " boring bit" becomes vital information later.
The ending should have been depressing . But by the time you get there you., like Toby, will be older and wiser. A happy ending would be far too trite for the book, and too trite for you.
This is one of those books one has to be ready to read. Don't like it now? Keep the book and try again in 5 years. If you still don't like it, wait another few years before trying again. It will be worth it.

One person found this helpful

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Jay Wakefield

For skimming

Reviewed in Australia on 31 December 2020

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What’s the difference between a novel you actually read and one you skim? Quality of the writing, some people would say, though that’s not it. Writers who aspire to ‘quality’ can be excruciating. First and foremost, it’s to do with how genuine the story is. Most thriller aficionados will have tick boxes for that: sense of place, psychological realism, well researched detail, etc.
The problem is, you can tick every box, and it’s just that.
It’s someone too conscious of writing well and ticking boxes.
This novel is largely taken up with a sequence of characters telling eachother different parts of the plot, at great length.
There was no dramatic immediacy to haul me in and make me want to follow unfolding events. Just a ‘clever’ design, dragging a hefty back story. Mainstream reviewers have predictably gone off the scale with laudatory statements, because that’s the way the industry works.

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Margaret Jaffé

Review of The Wych Elm

Reviewed in Australia on 14 December 2018

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This book was a struggle right from the start. Far too much detail about the state of his health.
Far too much detail on the family Sunday lunches Very repetitive. Poorly written.
Margaret Jaffe

One person found this helpful

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Don Lamb

The writing is excellent

Reviewed in Australia on 11 April 2021

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This is the second novel after the ‘Searcher’ by Tana French that I have read, I thoroughly enjoyed the Searcher and the rhythm of French’s writing. The Wych Elm is a different human story of the main character’s troubles and associations throughout his life. It was beautifully written.

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Ole

Different

Reviewed in Australia on 21 November 2018

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Quite different from her previous books. Well written but I found the characters very neurotic, tiresome, not eliciting much sympathy and the plot contrived. Would have benefitted from some pruning like the elm of the title.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Not one thing or another.

Reviewed in Australia on 5 April 2021

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Skillfully written but tries too hard to be a literary thriller and as a result falls between two stools and fails.

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Molly

A GREAT READ !

Reviewed in Australia on 30 November 2018

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This book was the best Tana French book I have read and I have read all of them!
I really enjoyed this book. It was a great read.

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Christine Frost

A novel with morbid obesity

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2019

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I am now over Tana French. I read 'In the Woods' and enjoyed it very much. Off the back of that experience I tried 'The Secret Place' and gave up halfway through. I took one more chance - as the newly published 'The Wych Elm' has been marketed with such glowing accolades. I fell for the hype. This is not a terrible novel, but the story is buried under French's serious problem with over writing. There is too much irrelevant detail piled into every scene, that you sometimes give up hope that the story will ever progress. As one reviewer has commented, at times I felt I'd been reading the book for weeks without getting anywhere. This novel could have been pared down by at least 200 hundred pages, and been much better for the cuts. Other reviewers have summarized the plot, so I won't bother - but if you do choose to read this novel you must approach it with the patience of a saint. There is a story in there, but it takes awhile to emerge!

98 people found this helpful

O E J

Cheaply made book. Must be down to the world of austerity we live in

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 February 2019

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"An absolute masterpiece" (says John Byrne) - the cheque's in the post, John.

I'm posting a review of the physical book first before I read it later - see below. I'm really annoyed! I've never posted a review of a book before reading it, but I feel I have a right to in this case.

Tana French is one of my favourite authors and I'm expecting a great story. My one-star slagging off has nothing to do with her work, it's all about cost-cutting by Penguin/Viking. Back in the day, a hardback book, newly released, was a thing to admire, to hold with pride. They often smelt nice, too. But this? This looks like a re-cycled book that's already 30 years old. It's small, for a start, almost pocket-sized, and while some will find that convenient, if I wanted convenience I would have ordered it for my Kindle. No, I wanted a well-made, large hardback book and having paid top money for it on publication date I think I am entitled to that. It's what I've received on countless previous occasions.

So Tana: If you're reading this, this is not a criticism of your latest novel, which I fully expect to be a special reading experience. Thanks to Penguin-Viking however, it will be a constant distraction to hold such a cheap and nasty book. If the publishers would like to send me a decent quality copy as a replacement, I will delete this review.

*Update*

I have now read the book in full, and I didn't like it at all. Characters were uninteresting such that I didn't care what happened to them one way or another. Writing style was bland and the story unengaging. The overall impression was that someone else wrote this, because it wasn't like a Tana French novel at all. I've given every other novel she has written 5 stars (I've read every single one), but this is utterly different in every way and I just hope that she returns to form next time around with the kind of work she is more than capable of. I must repeat that Tana French has been one of my most highly-rated novelists of the past decade, but it this had been my first experience of her work, I doubt that I would try again. Fortunately she has an outstanding back-catalogue and if you have yet to try any of her previous books, you're in for a treat. This one, however, is a dud.

78 people found this helpful

A. Linton

There's no doubting French's ability but this book left me wishing I had never read it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2019

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Despite the constant fanfare from Amazon about 'sensational' new authors; Tana French is to my mind, the only really exciting new thriller writer to emerge over the last decade or so. I was delighted to hear the she was writing a standalone novel, because much as I enjoyed her Dublin police squad books, I felt that they had really run their course and it was time for something new From the first word I was totally absorbed in the story and wished that it would never end. However by the actual end I was feeling that the book had outstayed it's welcome, missed it's natural conclusion and dragged on to a miserable ending which left me feeling diminished and sorry that I had invested so much time and money in it. (The last time I felt like this was when I watched the film 'Awakenings')
I totally appreciated the point that French makes early on in the novel that it is easy for some people to be happy go lucky and not worry too much because they know their natural attributes/cushion of financial security (or both) will ensure that they will end up on their feet. I have commented on this myself in the past. I totally got how Toby's perspective changed once he found himself an object of pity/derision/no longer the alpha male in charge of every situation. I did feel, however, that she did hammer this point home a time too often and personally I didn't feel it was fair that Toby ending up bearing the burden of guilt that he did - sure he took his charmed life for granted - but who doesn't? and as far as I can see the majority of teenagers are pretty much self-absorbed and oblivious to what is going on in other people's lives.
The pacing of the book is a little off for me. After a tense and gripping first chapter, the whole thing slows down a lot when Toby and Melissa start living at Hugo's, and even after the grim discovery they make shortly after, the book still has long slow sections where nothing much happens. Hate to say this but at the least the police procedural format gave her books some kind of structure which is sorely missing here. The outcome of the murder plot comes far too soon (I was left looking at the amount left to go on my kindle and thinking - where do we go from here?). Well then comes another violent surprise which leads the book in quite another direction - French does her best with it, but it's a misguided plot twist, in my opinion, more like something you'd find in some dire free on KU 'thriller'.
Weirdly, I usually enjoy books with a depressing subject matter, but there needs to be something hopeful for the reader to catch hold of and the dreary pointless ending here left me feeling quite dejected (and yes I do appreciate that's a tribute to French's talent that it affected me so much). After all that gloom and doom it would have been nice to have a more hopeful ending. The rest of my comments I will put in the notes to avoid spoilers.

75 people found this helpful

Simon4

A treat

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 February 2019

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Tana French is bloody good, and The Wych Elm is bloody brilliant. Comparisons to The Secret History are inevitable, given the privileged lives of the characters; but the book reminded me more of Barbara Vine's sensationally good A Fatal Inversion. In its way, The Wych Elm is every bit the equal of both, drawing the reader in, and teasing out the truths and consequences behind "whodunnit". Beautifully written and expertly paced, this is the perfect fireside read.

43 people found this helpful

Huckle

Boring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 March 2019

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I thought this was book so so boring. None of the characters were sympathetic.They were all 2 dimensional. The main protagonist, Toby, was particularly dull as well as his wimpy girlfriend.
The plot meandered all over the place and by about half way through I just did not care who had done the deed. The big reveal at the end was nonsensical as well as the additional event! (no spoilers!)
I did not like the language used. The characters seem to all speak to each other in a far too jocular way including the police officers.
Save your money and buy something with intrigue and pace.

31 people found this helpful

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