Looking online, it seems this is a common view. So I had a major problem with the direction the book took near the end, after the big whodunnit reveal. If you haven't read the book, but may do at some point, please stop reading now.
Reviews generally agree that the book's main flaw is that it's too long - one section in particular, which is the subject of this post. It's extremely immersive, and being a 34-year-old guy with a chronic illness, I found the lead character completely plausible, relatable and well-written, if not necessarily 100% likeable.
American author Stephen King, in a review written for The New York Times, praised the novel as "extraordinary".This is going to be super-spoilery discussion of The Wych Elm (Witch Elm in America), which is a crime story in which the protagonist (a civilian, not law enforcement) has his cushy life gradually broken down by disability, PTSD, family trouble and an intense criminal investigation. The novel received mostly positive reviews from critics. įrench was also motivated to write the novel due to an interest in exploring a crime from a perspective other than that of a detective, the primary viewpoint used in her Dublin Murder Squad novels. To accurately depict the protagonist's experience after a traumatic event, French conducted research about PTSD.
French does not find true crime any more recent than the Bella case interesting, partially due to the ongoing impacts on living people caused by more recent crimes. French was also inspired by Bella in the Wych Elm, an unidentified woman found in a wych elm in Hagley in the 1940s.
The novel is a standalone, not related to her Dublin Murder Squad novels.įrench was motivated to write the novel as an exploration of the connection between luck and an individual's ability to feel empathy for others. The Witch Elm (also published as The Wych Elm) is a 2018 novel by Tana French.
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