Status
Checked out
Series
Genres
Publication
Penguin Books (2008), Edition: Reprint, 464 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: A gifted voice in psychological suspense, Tana French delivers a mesmerizing debut thriller. After a 12-year-old Irish lad and his two pals fail to return from a day in the woods, searchers find only the terrified sixth grader??with blood-filled shoes and no memory of what happened. Now 32, the tragedy's sole survivor Rob Ryan is a detective on Dublin's Murder Squad. A current investigation takes Rob to the exact site of his childhood trauma. With the present case chillingly similar to his 20-year-old nightmare, Rob hopes to unlock the shrouded secrets of his past.
Media reviews
Although she overburdens the traditional police-procedural form with the weight of romance, psychological suspense, social history and mythic legend, she sets a vivid scene for her complex characters, who seem entirely capable of doing the unexpected. Drawn by the grim nature of her plot and the
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lyrical ferocity of her writing, even smart people who should know better will be able to lose themselves in these dark woods. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Joycepa
In 1984, three 12 year old children in a small Dublin town of Knocknaree do not return home for supper. Alarmed, parents and friends search the nearby woods, which was the children’s favorite playground. Only one, Adam Ryan, is found, back pressed to a tree, shirt ripped, and shoes filled with
20 years later, Detective Rob Ryan is a member of the Dublin Murder Squad, working out of the Castle in Dublin. His partner is Cassie Maddox who is his best friend and almost alter ego. The two “catch” a case of a dead 12 year old girl--in Knocknaree.
From an almost standard--certainly nothing truly unusual--beginning of a police procedural, Tana French’s In The Woods rapidly develops into a high- powered, high tension psychological thriller that yet remains true to its police procedural roots. The combination is tremendously effective, as inevitably Rob’s past becomes entangled in the present.
Adding both to the tension and to the overall impact is French’s lyrical but offbeat prose:
This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping-chants.
This contrasts brilliantly with very matter of fact dialogue, in which the two detectives, joined by a third, Sam, work on the case.
The story is narrated by Rob; as the case drags on and Rob becomes ever more unable to fend off his past, his resulting descent into surreality adds a third powerful element to the emotional impact of the harrowing story.
The plot is very good although not outstanding, but that’s not important--what’s important is the interaction of three very believable characters and the relentless buildup of tension in the narration by the three elements mentioned. At one point, the pace seems to hang fire; you begin to wonder if this is ever going anywhere--and then it does.
Unusually, French carries the story on long after the denouement, which normally is a no-no, but it works, wonderfully.
A brilliant debut novel. Highly recommended.
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blood. He has no memory of what happened before he was found. The other children are never found. The family moves; Adam takes on his middle name of Rob.20 years later, Detective Rob Ryan is a member of the Dublin Murder Squad, working out of the Castle in Dublin. His partner is Cassie Maddox who is his best friend and almost alter ego. The two “catch” a case of a dead 12 year old girl--in Knocknaree.
From an almost standard--certainly nothing truly unusual--beginning of a police procedural, Tana French’s In The Woods rapidly develops into a high- powered, high tension psychological thriller that yet remains true to its police procedural roots. The combination is tremendously effective, as inevitably Rob’s past becomes entangled in the present.
Adding both to the tension and to the overall impact is French’s lyrical but offbeat prose:
This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping-chants.
This contrasts brilliantly with very matter of fact dialogue, in which the two detectives, joined by a third, Sam, work on the case.
The story is narrated by Rob; as the case drags on and Rob becomes ever more unable to fend off his past, his resulting descent into surreality adds a third powerful element to the emotional impact of the harrowing story.
The plot is very good although not outstanding, but that’s not important--what’s important is the interaction of three very believable characters and the relentless buildup of tension in the narration by the three elements mentioned. At one point, the pace seems to hang fire; you begin to wonder if this is ever going anywhere--and then it does.
Unusually, French carries the story on long after the denouement, which normally is a no-no, but it works, wonderfully.
A brilliant debut novel. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member kylenapoli
Excellent, steaming with regret, and completely heartbreaking. If you like your mysteries--or narratives in general--wrapped up in a neat little bow, this one isn't for you. The story is less about solving the mystery and more about the way the past puts a distorting lens over the present,
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complicating every choice. Show Less
LibraryThing member Talbin
In the Woods, by Tana French, is a taut psychological thriller. Outside of Dublin, in a little town called Knocknaree, the body of 12-year-old Katy Devlin is discovered at an archeological dig that is being fast-tracked because a highway is planned for the site. She was murdered and sexually
In the Woods is the type of book that gets under your skin. The book is written in the first person, and our narrator is Rob Ryan, whose viewpoint (from the reader's perspective) is fundamentally flawed. He is too close to the case, he has no memory of what happened to him when he was 12, and he even tells us in the first chapter, "What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this - two things: I crave truth. And I lie." I normally am not a huge fan of the first person narrator in mysteries. No real theoretical reason, really, just that I've found in the past that the author often can't (or doesn't) handle the paradoxes inherent in a first person narrator very well. However, French is up to the task. Because Ryan is our narrator, we are never quite sure what is "true" and what we are seeing through his eyes. This leaves the author just as off-kilter as Ryan and the other characters in the book (especially Cassie Maddox). We only know Ryan's reasons and rationalizations, which make a big difference as the story progresses.
Although I think, perhaps, French tried to bring in one or two too many threads into the story, and I think the eventual whodunnit was perhaps not as effective as it could have been, I really enjoyed In the Woods. French does a wonderful job of drawing unique characters and really getting into their heads, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
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assaulted, then placed on an ancient sacrificial stone. Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox are called to the scene, but unbeknownst to everyone, Ryan's childhood is inextricably bound with the woods of Knocknaree. As a child, he had been playing in the woods with his two friends. Jamie and Peter disappeared, but Rob (then known as Adam) was found - terrified, fingernails digging into a tree, blood filling his shoes, and no memory of what had happened. Twenty years later, Ryan still doesn't remember what happened, but he feels compelled to take Katy's case even though he knows he would be thrown off the squad if they found out his potential connection to site. As Ryan and Maddox work the case, it brings up more and more issues for Ryan, eventually straining his extremely close relationship with Cassie and bringing back fragments of memory that never quite fall into place. Meanwhile, the investigation never quite clicks. The suspects include everyone from the archeologists working at the site to the developers who stand to profit from the highway to the victim's family itself.In the Woods is the type of book that gets under your skin. The book is written in the first person, and our narrator is Rob Ryan, whose viewpoint (from the reader's perspective) is fundamentally flawed. He is too close to the case, he has no memory of what happened to him when he was 12, and he even tells us in the first chapter, "What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this - two things: I crave truth. And I lie." I normally am not a huge fan of the first person narrator in mysteries. No real theoretical reason, really, just that I've found in the past that the author often can't (or doesn't) handle the paradoxes inherent in a first person narrator very well. However, French is up to the task. Because Ryan is our narrator, we are never quite sure what is "true" and what we are seeing through his eyes. This leaves the author just as off-kilter as Ryan and the other characters in the book (especially Cassie Maddox). We only know Ryan's reasons and rationalizations, which make a big difference as the story progresses.
Although I think, perhaps, French tried to bring in one or two too many threads into the story, and I think the eventual whodunnit was perhaps not as effective as it could have been, I really enjoyed In the Woods. French does a wonderful job of drawing unique characters and really getting into their heads, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
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LibraryThing member Crazymamie
I really loved this book. The writing is beautiful, the characters are interesting and three-dimensional and flawed, and the story line is very interesting. It's not so much about mystery although there is plenty of mystery in it; it is more about the psychology of the crime. The prologue takes you
"Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland's subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur's palate, watercolor nuances within a pinch-sized range of cloud and soft rain; this is summer full-throated and extravagant in a hot pure silkscreen blue. This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping-chants, One! Two! Three! This summer will never end. It starts every day with a shower of Mr. Whippy notes and and your best friend's knock at the door, finishes it with long slow twilight and mothers silhouetted in doorways calling you to come in..."
Chapter one takes us back to the present day where we learn that the narrator of this story is a detective in Ireland assigned to the Murder Squad. His life is about to be shaken up by a murder that will send him back to the deep mystery that is his childhood. If you love mysteries, like I do, and you enjoy the process of trying to figure out on your own whodunit, then you might be disappointed with this book at first because you will quickly be able to discern this particular truth. But keep reading because what you will find is that the story itself will keep you on your toes. It is like a Columbo mystery, except that the reader is Columbo - you are waiting for the detectives on the case to catch up with your logical conclusions, but in the meantime you are being treated to a story that is all about peeling layers away and exposing what lies beneath the surface. It is beautifully and breathtakingly done.
"I remember that moment because, if I am honest, I have them so seldom. I am not good at noticing when I'm happy, except in retrospect. My gift, or fatal flaw, is for nostalgia. I have sometimes been accused of demanding perfection, of rejecting heart's desires as soon as I get close enough that the mysterious impressionistic gloss disperses into plain solid dots, but the truth is less simplistic than that. I know very well that perfection is made up of frayed, off-struck mundanities. I suppose you could say my real weakness is a kind of long-sightedness: usually it is only at a distance, and much too late, that I can see the pattern."
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back to the main character's childhood and it is so beautifully rendered that the writing reminded me of Ray Bradbury - pure magic in the imagery and flow of words."Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland's subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur's palate, watercolor nuances within a pinch-sized range of cloud and soft rain; this is summer full-throated and extravagant in a hot pure silkscreen blue. This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping-chants, One! Two! Three! This summer will never end. It starts every day with a shower of Mr. Whippy notes and and your best friend's knock at the door, finishes it with long slow twilight and mothers silhouetted in doorways calling you to come in..."
Chapter one takes us back to the present day where we learn that the narrator of this story is a detective in Ireland assigned to the Murder Squad. His life is about to be shaken up by a murder that will send him back to the deep mystery that is his childhood. If you love mysteries, like I do, and you enjoy the process of trying to figure out on your own whodunit, then you might be disappointed with this book at first because you will quickly be able to discern this particular truth. But keep reading because what you will find is that the story itself will keep you on your toes. It is like a Columbo mystery, except that the reader is Columbo - you are waiting for the detectives on the case to catch up with your logical conclusions, but in the meantime you are being treated to a story that is all about peeling layers away and exposing what lies beneath the surface. It is beautifully and breathtakingly done.
"I remember that moment because, if I am honest, I have them so seldom. I am not good at noticing when I'm happy, except in retrospect. My gift, or fatal flaw, is for nostalgia. I have sometimes been accused of demanding perfection, of rejecting heart's desires as soon as I get close enough that the mysterious impressionistic gloss disperses into plain solid dots, but the truth is less simplistic than that. I know very well that perfection is made up of frayed, off-struck mundanities. I suppose you could say my real weakness is a kind of long-sightedness: usually it is only at a distance, and much too late, that I can see the pattern."
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LibraryThing member JGoto
Tana French’s first novel, In the Woods, is all you could ask for in a murder mystery. It’s got suspense, romance, characters you can care about and a strong sense of place – the Irish countryside where the murder occurs. French’s descriptions are vivid and sensuous.
“My steps were padded
The body of a raped and murdered twelve year old girl is found on the site of an archeological dig that is next to what’s left of the woods in Knocknaree, a suburb of Dublin. Twenty years earlier three children had gone missing in those same woods. One boy was found, covered in blood and with no memory of what happened to his two friends, who remained missing. The boy, Adam Ryan, left the Dublin area, only to return many years later as a homicide detective, who gets assigned the case of the twelve year old’s murder. Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, work the case, which may or may not have a connection to Ryan’s past. Almost more interesting than the crime, which involves family secrets and local politics, is the relationship between the two detectives. French has written a second mystery pairing Ryan and Maddox together again. I can’t wait to read it!
“My steps were padded
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by deep, springy layers of fallen leaves; when I stopped and turned over a chunk with my shoe, I smelled rich rot and saw dark wet earth, acorn caps, the pale frantic wriggle of a worm. Birds darted and called in the branches, and small warning scurries exploded as I passed.”The body of a raped and murdered twelve year old girl is found on the site of an archeological dig that is next to what’s left of the woods in Knocknaree, a suburb of Dublin. Twenty years earlier three children had gone missing in those same woods. One boy was found, covered in blood and with no memory of what happened to his two friends, who remained missing. The boy, Adam Ryan, left the Dublin area, only to return many years later as a homicide detective, who gets assigned the case of the twelve year old’s murder. Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, work the case, which may or may not have a connection to Ryan’s past. Almost more interesting than the crime, which involves family secrets and local politics, is the relationship between the two detectives. French has written a second mystery pairing Ryan and Maddox together again. I can’t wait to read it!
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LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: Twenty years ago, three twelve-year-old children ran off to play in the woods near their Dublin suburb. When they don't return home, a search party is mounted, and only one of the children is found, digging his fingernails into a tree trunk in terror, his t-shirt torn in four diagonal
Review: This book affected me more profoundly than anything I've read for a long time. I read the first half of the book relatively slowly, taking my time and savoring French's wonderful way with the language, but then I sat and read the entire second half of the book in one evening... and it may have been the fact that I was up way past my normal bedtime, or the fact that I had been sitting still for so long, or my scratchy contacts, or something, but man, the last hundred pages just absolutely wrung me out, left me feeling sad and heavy and hollow, and with a sore throat like I'd been holding back tears for a few hours. That's not something I expect from a mystery (not something I expect from any book ever, really), but here's the thing: relatively little of that feeling had to do with the actual mystery itself.
The wonderful thing about this novel is that while it's ostensibly a mystery, it's really a character-driven story dressed up in a mystery's clothing. I fell in love with Ryan and Maddox very soon after meeting them, and watching the ways the investigation affected them was far more compelling than watching the investigation itself. It's not that the murder case wasn't interesting - I'll cop to watching the odd episode of a police procedural now and again, and In the Woods's case was well-done, with all of the clues on the table and the solution complex enough not to be obvious, but not so complex as to be implausible. It's just that Ryan and Maddox are the heart of the story, and they're enough to keep things ticking along during the inevitable part where the investigation stalls out - in fact, the only parts I thought dragged were the parts where the focus was too much on the details of the police work and not enough on the people doing it. Likewise, the murder is essentially solved with almost 100 pages left in the book, but it doesn't feel like French is dragging out the denoument - because while the murder's over, the story wasn't. The ending didn't leave me completely satisfied, but it didn't exactly leave me dissatisfied, either, and I can see that other ways of wrapping things up wouldn't have had the same narrative power... And judging by how I felt when I finished, power is one thing In the Woods has in spades.
Another thing Tana French has in abundance is a flair for wordcraft. It's very rare that I write down quotes from the book I'm reading, but this book made me want to. The only reason I didn't is that I realized by page 20 that there was a paragraph I wanted to copy out verbatim from every page, and that by spending the time copying them down, I was missing out on actually reading them. There's something about French's language that is so beautiful and evocative that you just want to roll around in it, let it sit on your tongue and in your brain, wrap yourself up in it like a pile of warm laundry. I can't quite believe that a story this well crafted and this evocatively written is a first novel - but it is, and I will absolutely be reading the rest of French's work. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Between this and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I'm starting to rethink my aversion to detective mysteries. Although they've got some differences, if you like one, I think you'll like the other, and if you like your stories character-driven, I bet you'll like both, no matter what your favorite genre.
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slashes, wearing sneakers filled with someone else's blood, and with absolutely no memory of whatever happened to him and his friends. That boy has grown up to be Detective Rob Ryan, and although he has never recovered his memories, he's not particularly traumatized by the event, and he works on the Murder squad with his partner Cassie Maddox with nary a problem. That is, until they get handed a case of a young girl found murdered at an archaeological dig... in the same woods where his childhood friends went missing. Although two decades separate the cases, Ryan can't quite shake the conviction that they're connected... and that the latest murder will wind up rattling everything in his life that he had previously thought was stable.Review: This book affected me more profoundly than anything I've read for a long time. I read the first half of the book relatively slowly, taking my time and savoring French's wonderful way with the language, but then I sat and read the entire second half of the book in one evening... and it may have been the fact that I was up way past my normal bedtime, or the fact that I had been sitting still for so long, or my scratchy contacts, or something, but man, the last hundred pages just absolutely wrung me out, left me feeling sad and heavy and hollow, and with a sore throat like I'd been holding back tears for a few hours. That's not something I expect from a mystery (not something I expect from any book ever, really), but here's the thing: relatively little of that feeling had to do with the actual mystery itself.
The wonderful thing about this novel is that while it's ostensibly a mystery, it's really a character-driven story dressed up in a mystery's clothing. I fell in love with Ryan and Maddox very soon after meeting them, and watching the ways the investigation affected them was far more compelling than watching the investigation itself. It's not that the murder case wasn't interesting - I'll cop to watching the odd episode of a police procedural now and again, and In the Woods's case was well-done, with all of the clues on the table and the solution complex enough not to be obvious, but not so complex as to be implausible. It's just that Ryan and Maddox are the heart of the story, and they're enough to keep things ticking along during the inevitable part where the investigation stalls out - in fact, the only parts I thought dragged were the parts where the focus was too much on the details of the police work and not enough on the people doing it. Likewise, the murder is essentially solved with almost 100 pages left in the book, but it doesn't feel like French is dragging out the denoument - because while the murder's over, the story wasn't. The ending didn't leave me completely satisfied, but it didn't exactly leave me dissatisfied, either, and I can see that other ways of wrapping things up wouldn't have had the same narrative power... And judging by how I felt when I finished, power is one thing In the Woods has in spades.
Another thing Tana French has in abundance is a flair for wordcraft. It's very rare that I write down quotes from the book I'm reading, but this book made me want to. The only reason I didn't is that I realized by page 20 that there was a paragraph I wanted to copy out verbatim from every page, and that by spending the time copying them down, I was missing out on actually reading them. There's something about French's language that is so beautiful and evocative that you just want to roll around in it, let it sit on your tongue and in your brain, wrap yourself up in it like a pile of warm laundry. I can't quite believe that a story this well crafted and this evocatively written is a first novel - but it is, and I will absolutely be reading the rest of French's work. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Between this and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I'm starting to rethink my aversion to detective mysteries. Although they've got some differences, if you like one, I think you'll like the other, and if you like your stories character-driven, I bet you'll like both, no matter what your favorite genre.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
I am finding this an incredibly difficult book to review without giving away major plot points. In fact, I am going to have to forego that particular policy for this review because my feelings about the book are directly tied to what occurs within its pages. Therefore, consider yourself forewarned.
The book is a murder mystery and a psychological thriller, and the two are not necessarily the same plot line. Ryan's past, and the effects of that ongoing mystery, impact every action Ryan makes both in the past and in what the reader sees. The suspense lies in the idea of Ryan being able to recognize the damage done in 1984 before it ruins the current murder investigation. Because of this dichotomy, I found myself alternating between cheering for Ryan. I hoped he would be the hero who conquers his demons and solves both mysteries by the last page. I also wanted to shake and slap him upside the head when he started to fall apart.
The shocking conclusion to the story does provoke its own questions. Does the hero deserve a happy ending? Was it justified? While it shakes every idea I ever held regarding endings and what is supposed to happen in them, I do feel that In the Woods does have an appropriate resolution. The point of the story is not whether Ryan ever remembers what occurred in the woods in 1984. Rather, it is about realizing the psychological impact that day had on him and the rest of his life. The event in 1984 and the current-day murder are just two events that help him confront his demons.
Throughout the novel, he faces tests of basic assumptions he has held over the years - never giving thought to what he lost that day, never considering what his life would have been like had nothing ever occurred. This psychological torment is both fascinating and painful to watch, and yet a reader cannot turn away. I contribute this to Ms. French's ability to write. Each sentence was so vivid in its clarity and impact that I felt I was an active participant physically present in each scene of the investigation. She has chosen each word for maximum impact on the reader, and she is very successful at it. Each sentence literally compels the reader to continue to read, resulting in many a late night.
In the end, I found this an absolutely fascinating novel. I was sufficiently impressed with Ms. French's writing to add her next book to my wish list. I loved the emotional roller coaster I was on while reading; it kept me actively engaged and eager to continue to read. The differences between the primary and secondary plot are subtle and masterfully maneuvered. I will be highly recommending this to anyone who enjoys psychological mysteries.
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There may be spoilers ahead.The book is a murder mystery and a psychological thriller, and the two are not necessarily the same plot line. Ryan's past, and the effects of that ongoing mystery, impact every action Ryan makes both in the past and in what the reader sees. The suspense lies in the idea of Ryan being able to recognize the damage done in 1984 before it ruins the current murder investigation. Because of this dichotomy, I found myself alternating between cheering for Ryan. I hoped he would be the hero who conquers his demons and solves both mysteries by the last page. I also wanted to shake and slap him upside the head when he started to fall apart.
The shocking conclusion to the story does provoke its own questions. Does the hero deserve a happy ending? Was it justified? While it shakes every idea I ever held regarding endings and what is supposed to happen in them, I do feel that In the Woods does have an appropriate resolution. The point of the story is not whether Ryan ever remembers what occurred in the woods in 1984. Rather, it is about realizing the psychological impact that day had on him and the rest of his life. The event in 1984 and the current-day murder are just two events that help him confront his demons.
Throughout the novel, he faces tests of basic assumptions he has held over the years - never giving thought to what he lost that day, never considering what his life would have been like had nothing ever occurred. This psychological torment is both fascinating and painful to watch, and yet a reader cannot turn away. I contribute this to Ms. French's ability to write. Each sentence was so vivid in its clarity and impact that I felt I was an active participant physically present in each scene of the investigation. She has chosen each word for maximum impact on the reader, and she is very successful at it. Each sentence literally compels the reader to continue to read, resulting in many a late night.
In the end, I found this an absolutely fascinating novel. I was sufficiently impressed with Ms. French's writing to add her next book to my wish list. I loved the emotional roller coaster I was on while reading; it kept me actively engaged and eager to continue to read. The differences between the primary and secondary plot are subtle and masterfully maneuvered. I will be highly recommending this to anyone who enjoys psychological mysteries.
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LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
Obviously Tana French was not writing a Hollywood movie. The narrator becomes quite an unappealing guy, and where's the tie ups for all the loose endings? I'm ambivalent about mysteries. I've never known someone who was murdered or who was a murderer, so as far as I'm concerned they don't really
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represent my life. On the other hand they are interesting and keep the reader guessing. So what does Tana French do but write a novel about people who might actually exist. Yes there is a mystery, more than one, with all the attendant interest that provokes, but more than that there are real people involved on all sides. You know how they say in a play if you see a gun in the first act someone is going to get shot in the third? Well, in this novel you see lots of things, some lead to ends, some just lead to more things. Characters act in both expected and very unexpected ways. Victims and perpetrators have back stories, and then there are more back stories, and then there are "what the heck?" Sometimes a story ends with a very contrived lead in to the next novel. French leaves us wanting more but not directing us where to find it. This is just about a perfect mystery. Show Less
LibraryThing member Aly_Locatelli
There was a time when I believed I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever freak tide carried Peter and Jamie away. Not any more. In ways too dark and crucial to be called metaphorical, I never left that wood.
My copy is so much better than yours, aHA!
When I was around
Anyway, it usually took us about 20 minutes to get to school, but that morning half the roads were closed. A kid a few years older than me had been hit by a car, died on impact. They said he didn't suffer, that the driver had not seen him fly into the road, and the school was going to be shut for the day due to the weather.
To this day, I remember the news. I don't, however, remember the boy's name, or what he looked like or what year he was in.
A few years later, Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal. This, I remember as if it were yesterday. It was all over the news, parents became a hundred times more protective. Police came to the schools and gave talks about safety in numbers, of never leaving a group of people and wandering off unsupervised and teachers lectured us about leaving school without confirmation of a buddy or parents picking up.
We didn't realise back then just how big the case would become. I remember talking to my friend and she said, "This whole thing has nothing to do with us, Maddie wasn't even in England at the time." But it was terrifying to know that a child could just vanish in the middle of the night, never to be found again.
You're probably wondering where I'm going with this, so I'll tell you. With the death of my school mate, the town had closure. We knew who did it, we knew it was an accident, and there was nothing we could do about it.
With the disappearance of Maddie, there was no closure, and with it came that sense of helplessness you just can't shake off. Like, you know you should be doing something to help, but what? What can you possibly do to help? Even now, she dominates the news -- random sightings, quick updates on the family, what Maddie would look like today and, lately, the family's book release and the ensuing Twitter abuse.
In the Woods shows exactly what lack of closure and/or involvement can do to a person. In the case of Maddie, there's still that desperate want to know. It's in our psyche to want information, and Maddie's disappearance gave us none. We thrive on knowledge, because we know what to do or how to act; but there was no knowledge with her. To this day, reading about the case gives me chills. Rob, however, lives the nightmare every single day, trying to dig through those lost memories to find out what happened, exactly, that summer day in Knocknaree.
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Rob Ryan is now a detective in the Murder squad and, with the appearance of the body of a twelve year old girl, Rob and his partner Cassie take it upon themselves to find out the truth... even if it means Rob has to go back to the woods, where everything began.
In the Woods is emotionally investing. I don't think I've ever felt so many emotions, enough to make me stop reading for a few days. You go into it with doomed certainty that something terrible happens or the author just about plays Russian roulette with your feelings. I've never felt such a feeling of hollowness, sadness, abandonment, of complete unfulfilment. It sneaks up on you, guys, and you don't even realise it's happening. Next thing you know, you're sobbing, clutching a pack of cigarettes to your chest and reaching for the vodka with your spare hand.
Rob Ryan... I have a lot to say about him. He's the type of character you fall in love with, you hate, you scorn, you mock. He isn't just a made up person on paper, he's as real as you and I.
Adolescent conversations, no doubt, and made more so by the fact that Cassie and I brought out the brat in each other ("Bite me, Ryan," she would say, narrowing her eyes at me across the futon, and I would grab her arm and bite her wrist till she yelled for mercy), but I had never had them in my adolescence and I loved them, I loved every moment.
Not only are you bound to fall in love with Rob, but also with Cassie. The narration bringing you their friendship and partnership is incredibly stark, raw and real. You feel everything they feel, see it all through their eyes, and when things become ugly and desperate, you jump right onto that wagon with them.
Even after all this time, I find it difficult to describe them to you. They were so full of little things, things that at the time seemed insignificant and disconnected as the jumble of objects in some bizarre parlor game: faces and phrases and sitting rooms and phone calls, all running together into a single strobe-light blur. It was only much later, in the stale cold light of hindisight, that the little things rose up and rearranged themselves and clicked neatly into place to form the pattern we should have seen all along.
As I said before, it starts with this doomed certainty, with these mentions of "hindsight", that I found myself terrified and excited to carry on.
I wasn't disappointed. Tana French has become number one on my top-authors-to-read list.
My copy is so much better than yours, aHA!
When I was around
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seven or eight, my dad took me to school like any other morning. I remember it was raining -- those nasty sheets of water that make it difficult to see the palm right in front of your face -- and the local radio kept warning everyone to "be good" on the road. My sister and I were singing some random lyrics we heard off the TV in the back of the car, and my dad kept telling us to shut up because he couldn't concentrate. It wasn't until I grew up that I realised just how important it is to concentrate whilst driving.Anyway, it usually took us about 20 minutes to get to school, but that morning half the roads were closed. A kid a few years older than me had been hit by a car, died on impact. They said he didn't suffer, that the driver had not seen him fly into the road, and the school was going to be shut for the day due to the weather.
To this day, I remember the news. I don't, however, remember the boy's name, or what he looked like or what year he was in.
A few years later, Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal. This, I remember as if it were yesterday. It was all over the news, parents became a hundred times more protective. Police came to the schools and gave talks about safety in numbers, of never leaving a group of people and wandering off unsupervised and teachers lectured us about leaving school without confirmation of a buddy or parents picking up.
We didn't realise back then just how big the case would become. I remember talking to my friend and she said, "This whole thing has nothing to do with us, Maddie wasn't even in England at the time." But it was terrifying to know that a child could just vanish in the middle of the night, never to be found again.
You're probably wondering where I'm going with this, so I'll tell you. With the death of my school mate, the town had closure. We knew who did it, we knew it was an accident, and there was nothing we could do about it.
With the disappearance of Maddie, there was no closure, and with it came that sense of helplessness you just can't shake off. Like, you know you should be doing something to help, but what? What can you possibly do to help? Even now, she dominates the news -- random sightings, quick updates on the family, what Maddie would look like today and, lately, the family's book release and the ensuing Twitter abuse.
In the Woods shows exactly what lack of closure and/or involvement can do to a person. In the case of Maddie, there's still that desperate want to know. It's in our psyche to want information, and Maddie's disappearance gave us none. We thrive on knowledge, because we know what to do or how to act; but there was no knowledge with her. To this day, reading about the case gives me chills. Rob, however, lives the nightmare every single day, trying to dig through those lost memories to find out what happened, exactly, that summer day in Knocknaree.
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Rob Ryan is now a detective in the Murder squad and, with the appearance of the body of a twelve year old girl, Rob and his partner Cassie take it upon themselves to find out the truth... even if it means Rob has to go back to the woods, where everything began.
In the Woods is emotionally investing. I don't think I've ever felt so many emotions, enough to make me stop reading for a few days. You go into it with doomed certainty that something terrible happens or the author just about plays Russian roulette with your feelings. I've never felt such a feeling of hollowness, sadness, abandonment, of complete unfulfilment. It sneaks up on you, guys, and you don't even realise it's happening. Next thing you know, you're sobbing, clutching a pack of cigarettes to your chest and reaching for the vodka with your spare hand.
Rob Ryan... I have a lot to say about him. He's the type of character you fall in love with, you hate, you scorn, you mock. He isn't just a made up person on paper, he's as real as you and I.
Adolescent conversations, no doubt, and made more so by the fact that Cassie and I brought out the brat in each other ("Bite me, Ryan," she would say, narrowing her eyes at me across the futon, and I would grab her arm and bite her wrist till she yelled for mercy), but I had never had them in my adolescence and I loved them, I loved every moment.
Not only are you bound to fall in love with Rob, but also with Cassie. The narration bringing you their friendship and partnership is incredibly stark, raw and real. You feel everything they feel, see it all through their eyes, and when things become ugly and desperate, you jump right onto that wagon with them.
Even after all this time, I find it difficult to describe them to you. They were so full of little things, things that at the time seemed insignificant and disconnected as the jumble of objects in some bizarre parlor game: faces and phrases and sitting rooms and phone calls, all running together into a single strobe-light blur. It was only much later, in the stale cold light of hindisight, that the little things rose up and rearranged themselves and clicked neatly into place to form the pattern we should have seen all along.
As I said before, it starts with this doomed certainty, with these mentions of "hindsight", that I found myself terrified and excited to carry on.
I wasn't disappointed. Tana French has become number one on my top-authors-to-read list.
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LibraryThing member invisiblelizard
Not bad. I picked up this book because it appeared on some website's list of "Thrillers That Even Literary Snobs Will Enjoy." (Or something to that effect.) Not that I consider myself in that exact category, but I do feel I have certain standards when it comes to the books I read. I like good
1) Tana French threw in a couple of big clues as to who the "bad guy" was. I won't spoil anything here, but it was sort of obvious. From that point onward, I lost interest in the whodunit part of the story. (Funny enough, later in the book French breaks the fourth wall and says to us [we the readers], through her main character, that "[this person] fooled you, too." Sorry Tana. Not really.)
2) French forced her main character, Rob, to go in a direction he clearly didn't want to go. I see this often enough. Writers know they need their character to zig, but they've written a guy who consistently zags, such that later, the zig she writes, when forced, feels foreign.
People have written about the ending (minor spoiler alert here) being a bit somber. Actually, I liked the turn it took, but (per point 2 above) it didn't feel right. Rob felt like two different people. The Rob from the first half of the book wouldn't know the second-half Rob from Adam. (Ha ha. That's an in-joke for anyone who's read the book.)
So yeah. Not bad. A bit obvious. A bit forced. Besides that, the writing was decent. This "Literary Snob" had fun reading it. The first half of it, anyway.
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writing, believable characters (who do something interesting) and a plot at least strong enough to keep me interested (it can be minimal, but I need something to pull me along). I have to say, the first half of In the Woods fit those criteria and was quite good. Unfortunately, at the half-way mark, two things happened to turn "quite good" into simply "not bad."1) Tana French threw in a couple of big clues as to who the "bad guy" was. I won't spoil anything here, but it was sort of obvious. From that point onward, I lost interest in the whodunit part of the story. (Funny enough, later in the book French breaks the fourth wall and says to us [we the readers], through her main character, that "[this person] fooled you, too." Sorry Tana. Not really.)
2) French forced her main character, Rob, to go in a direction he clearly didn't want to go. I see this often enough. Writers know they need their character to zig, but they've written a guy who consistently zags, such that later, the zig she writes, when forced, feels foreign.
People have written about the ending (minor spoiler alert here) being a bit somber. Actually, I liked the turn it took, but (per point 2 above) it didn't feel right. Rob felt like two different people. The Rob from the first half of the book wouldn't know the second-half Rob from Adam. (Ha ha. That's an in-joke for anyone who's read the book.)
So yeah. Not bad. A bit obvious. A bit forced. Besides that, the writing was decent. This "Literary Snob" had fun reading it. The first half of it, anyway.
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LibraryThing member lit_chick
“What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with truth is fundamental but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies and
A young girl is found murdered at the site of the Knocknaree archaeological dig near Dublin, her body carefully splayed on a stone altar. She is the daughter of a local man who has organized vocal protests against the motorway which will soon obliterate the grounds of the ancient dig. Motive? Or does the altar suggest something more sinister at play? Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox of Dublin’s Murder Squad head up the ensuing investigation. But Detective Ryan is unsettled working in the woods of Knocknaree. He has a secret of his own: at twelve years old, he was adventuring in the woods with his two best friends when something happened. The friends were never seen again. He moved away, changed his name, disappeared into anonymity. But now …
“I was an intruder here now, and I had a deep prickling sense that my presence had instantly been marked and that the wood was watching me, with an equivocal collective gaze, not yet accepting or rejecting; reserving judgement.” (378)
French’s writing is smart and appealing, and In the Woods is an impressive debut novel. I’m not sure it needed to be as long as it is, and the ending is a little loose for my taste; but nonetheless this is well worth the read. Recommended!
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concealment and every variation on deception. The truth is the most desirable woman in the world and we are the most jealous lovers …” (5)A young girl is found murdered at the site of the Knocknaree archaeological dig near Dublin, her body carefully splayed on a stone altar. She is the daughter of a local man who has organized vocal protests against the motorway which will soon obliterate the grounds of the ancient dig. Motive? Or does the altar suggest something more sinister at play? Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox of Dublin’s Murder Squad head up the ensuing investigation. But Detective Ryan is unsettled working in the woods of Knocknaree. He has a secret of his own: at twelve years old, he was adventuring in the woods with his two best friends when something happened. The friends were never seen again. He moved away, changed his name, disappeared into anonymity. But now …
“I was an intruder here now, and I had a deep prickling sense that my presence had instantly been marked and that the wood was watching me, with an equivocal collective gaze, not yet accepting or rejecting; reserving judgement.” (378)
French’s writing is smart and appealing, and In the Woods is an impressive debut novel. I’m not sure it needed to be as long as it is, and the ending is a little loose for my taste; but nonetheless this is well worth the read. Recommended!
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LibraryThing member cbl_tn
A routine day at the office becomes anything but routine when Murder Squad Detectives Cassie Maddox and Rob Ryan take a call reporting the discovery of a child's body on an archaeological site in Knocknaree, a small community outside Dublin. Twenty years earlier, two children the same age as the
By the time I reached the last 100 pages, I had trouble putting the book down. I was absorbed by the story, even though I was often irritated with Rob and Cassie. They behaved more like teenagers than like professionals. In the real world, Rob would never have touched this case. If he hadn't been on the case, though, there wouldn't have been a story, or at least not this story. Other than that, I found the characters very believable, almost disturbingly so. I've actually come across a person like the most chilling character in the book, and the descriptions of this person's behavior and motives really got to me.
This is apparently the first book in a series. The author has already published a second book featuring some of the same characters. However, the book reads like a stand-alone novel. It has the potential to be a good film, given the right cast.
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murdered child had disappeared from the same location, leaving behind a third child too traumatized to remember what had happened to his friends. Rob Ryan was known as Adam then, but only his partner, Cassie, is aware of his connection to the cold case. Are the two cases connected? Will Adam/Rob finally learn the answer to the mystery he's lived with for twenty years?By the time I reached the last 100 pages, I had trouble putting the book down. I was absorbed by the story, even though I was often irritated with Rob and Cassie. They behaved more like teenagers than like professionals. In the real world, Rob would never have touched this case. If he hadn't been on the case, though, there wouldn't have been a story, or at least not this story. Other than that, I found the characters very believable, almost disturbingly so. I've actually come across a person like the most chilling character in the book, and the descriptions of this person's behavior and motives really got to me.
This is apparently the first book in a series. The author has already published a second book featuring some of the same characters. However, the book reads like a stand-alone novel. It has the potential to be a good film, given the right cast.
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
This was a thumping good mystery. Well, 3/4 of it anyway, until it fell apart. Here's the premise: 12-year-old Katy Devlin is found dead, the apparent victim of foul play. Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox are assigned to the case. It just so happens that twenty years earlier, two of Rob's
With three concurrent investigations, the reader meets a myriad of characters and joins Rob and Cassie in poring through forensic evidence. As with any good mystery, we begin making connections and we develop theories. And we come to like Rob and Cassie: they make a great team on the job, and have an unusually deep friendship.
But there are a couple of things that go wrong in this book. I will describe them without spoilers, although it's difficult to convey their full impact. The first problem is Rob. My husband and I have a recurring and inconclusive conversation about whether authors can write authentically about a character of the opposite sex. I suspect this book is one where most men would say about Rob, "guys aren't like that." It's not that he had a highly developed feminine side, he just did and said things a typical guy wouldn't do, especially with Cassie (I'm sorry I can't be more specific). Second, there was a character whose true self was revealed when the case was solved, but their voice wasn't authentic, and they had improbable traits given some basic facts we already knew about them.
Lots of people would probably disagree with me about this. The mystery was realistic, and the book was a page-turner from start to finish. I enjoyed reading it. So if you're intrigued, I say go ahead and read it. And then let's talk about it!
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12-year-old friends disappeared from the very same housing estate. Rob was found, bloody and alone. The others were never found; the case was so notorious Rob changed his name and went to boarding school. Rob remembers nothing from that horrible day, but can't help wondering if the two cases are linked in some way. He begins a parallel investigation, without revealing his personal interest to his superiors. And there's one more angle: a land use dispute over a new motorway, with a barely perceptible whiff of corruption.With three concurrent investigations, the reader meets a myriad of characters and joins Rob and Cassie in poring through forensic evidence. As with any good mystery, we begin making connections and we develop theories. And we come to like Rob and Cassie: they make a great team on the job, and have an unusually deep friendship.
But there are a couple of things that go wrong in this book. I will describe them without spoilers, although it's difficult to convey their full impact. The first problem is Rob. My husband and I have a recurring and inconclusive conversation about whether authors can write authentically about a character of the opposite sex. I suspect this book is one where most men would say about Rob, "guys aren't like that." It's not that he had a highly developed feminine side, he just did and said things a typical guy wouldn't do, especially with Cassie (I'm sorry I can't be more specific). Second, there was a character whose true self was revealed when the case was solved, but their voice wasn't authentic, and they had improbable traits given some basic facts we already knew about them.
Lots of people would probably disagree with me about this. The mystery was realistic, and the book was a page-turner from start to finish. I enjoyed reading it. So if you're intrigued, I say go ahead and read it. And then let's talk about it!
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LibraryThing member nbmars
This debut novel won the Anthony, Macavity, Barry, and Edgar Awards, and I thought they were well-deserved.
Although this is a police procedural mystery, it has literary qualities uncommon in the genre. French begins by describing the summer when a pivotal crime takes place:
"…this is summer
The story is narrated by 30-year-old murder detective Adam Robert Ryan. He is the survivor of a crime committed in August of 1984 when he and two of his friends, all aged twelve, were playing in the woods. Only Adam came back, covered in blood. He never remembered what happened, and was afraid to try.
When another child is found dead in the same area eighteen years later, Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox draw the case. Ryan and Cassie have become best friends, but no more than that – at first. As the case heats up and Ryan starts to get sporadic memories back, he gets close to a nervous breakdown, and all his relationships as well as his job become threatened. He never knew how happy he had been prior to this case, until it was over….
Evaluation: French is not only an excellent wordsmith, but is expert at character studies as well. At one point Ryan says, “I am intensely aware, by the way, that this story does not show me in a particularly flattering light.” Indeed, French draws her characters with warts and all, making them that more realistic for doing so. And yet, in spite of their failings, you can’t help but like Ryan and Cassie and hope for the best for them. In the end, while you desperately wish this turned out more like a fairy tale, you recognize that the author told the better story.
Although this is a police procedural mystery, it has literary qualities uncommon in the genre. French begins by describing the summer when a pivotal crime takes place:
"…this is summer
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full-throated and extravagant in a hot pure silkscreen blue. This summer explodes on your tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean sweat, Marie biscuits with butter squirting through the holes and shaken bottles of red lemonade picnicked in tree houses. It tingles on your skin with BMX wind in your face, ladybug feet up your arm; it packs every breath full of mown grass and billowing wash lines; it chimes and fountains with birdcalls, bees, leaves and football-bounces and skipping-chants, One! two! three! This summer will never end.”The story is narrated by 30-year-old murder detective Adam Robert Ryan. He is the survivor of a crime committed in August of 1984 when he and two of his friends, all aged twelve, were playing in the woods. Only Adam came back, covered in blood. He never remembered what happened, and was afraid to try.
When another child is found dead in the same area eighteen years later, Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox draw the case. Ryan and Cassie have become best friends, but no more than that – at first. As the case heats up and Ryan starts to get sporadic memories back, he gets close to a nervous breakdown, and all his relationships as well as his job become threatened. He never knew how happy he had been prior to this case, until it was over….
Evaluation: French is not only an excellent wordsmith, but is expert at character studies as well. At one point Ryan says, “I am intensely aware, by the way, that this story does not show me in a particularly flattering light.” Indeed, French draws her characters with warts and all, making them that more realistic for doing so. And yet, in spite of their failings, you can’t help but like Ryan and Cassie and hope for the best for them. In the end, while you desperately wish this turned out more like a fairy tale, you recognize that the author told the better story.
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LibraryThing member askbhr1
Complex plot with surpise twists
LibraryThing member vkb1
I was in the woods with this book most of the way through it--I did not know where it was going to go. I read it in less than two days because I needed to know what happened to the main character, Detective Ryan, in 1984. Due to some lingering, unresolved nonsense, I'm completely vexed and must now
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read THE LIKENESS. Show Less
LibraryThing member amillion
Reading reviews of Tana French's other books, I came across this which I think is perfect:
"The thing about Tana French's books (this is the 2nd I've read) is that while they are immediately involving, wrapping the reader inside the heart, mind and soul of the narrator, binding the reader with
This is exactly how I felt particularly about In the Woods. I read The Likeness first, and was a bit disappointed by In the Woods. It took 2/3 of the book to gain some momentum behind the story even though there was complexity and interest. Not sure whether I'll read the 3rd book or not, I've lost some energy for this author. Maybe a better editor would help...
"The thing about Tana French's books (this is the 2nd I've read) is that while they are immediately involving, wrapping the reader inside the heart, mind and soul of the narrator, binding the reader with
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murder driven plot, and impressing with literary skill, you just know they could be little bit better." - Wyma This is exactly how I felt particularly about In the Woods. I read The Likeness first, and was a bit disappointed by In the Woods. It took 2/3 of the book to gain some momentum behind the story even though there was complexity and interest. Not sure whether I'll read the 3rd book or not, I've lost some energy for this author. Maybe a better editor would help...
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LibraryThing member flying_monkeys
Rating: 3.5 of 5
It took me two months to rate and review In the Woods. Why? Simply, the ending. I'm a huge fan of books and movies that don't tie everything up with a neat little bow. But all those stories had one crucial element: I did not walk away feeling cheated or disappointed. The writers of
So why the high-ish rating? Simply, the brilliant writing. There were several times during In the Woods when I wanted to stop reading. Not because of the prose or the plot (or even the unlikable characters) but because the pace stood still - even in moments of potential breakthroughs and ah-ha moments. It never felt immediate - the conflict, the main character's trauma, anyone's choices, etc. Yet, I couldn't stop because trickster that she is, French knew how to use a few choice words to keep the hooks deep. Unfortunately the hook tended to rely heavily on my need to know what happened to Ryan as a child. (The unspoken promise that I would be rewarded if only I made it to page 429.) The catalyst for Ryan's return to Knocknaree and subsequent descent into obsession with his own past - the mystery of Katy's murder - wasn't as intriguing as the mystery surrounding Adam Ryan and his friends. Frankly, I had almost no curiosity about Katy's death and what actually happened to her.
Here's the thing, French broke my trust. The trust I place in every storyteller: If I sit and listen quietly and patiently enough, my time won't be wasted; I'll leave satisfied. Some writers do that with a likable protagonist and a traditional point a to b to c style. Other writers satisfy with a foul protagonist and an unconventional style. There doesn't have to be a clean, pretty ending with answers to everything and concrete resolution. But the ending MUST satisfy the reader. So if you're the writer of a mystery that features two or more cases, and you don't plan to solve all cases, you best choose the most compelling one.
Sadly, I don't see myself picking up another French novel; I wouldn't want to risk spending my time on another disappointment. Not when there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other stories that won't waste my time.
Status updates:
7/21/2012, page 24, The mystery is a compelling one. I definitely have to know what happened that summer in 1984.
7/22/2012, page 429, Are you serious?!! That ending might possibly be the most I've been disappointed at an ending in ... since I can remember. I feel robbed, honestly. Gonna have to think about this one before I can select the rating.
It took me two months to rate and review In the Woods. Why? Simply, the ending. I'm a huge fan of books and movies that don't tie everything up with a neat little bow. But all those stories had one crucial element: I did not walk away feeling cheated or disappointed. The writers of
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those stories knew how to satisfy my needs and certain expectations whilst resolving little or nothing. French did not; in fact, her ending ruined what would've been a five-star mystery.So why the high-ish rating? Simply, the brilliant writing. There were several times during In the Woods when I wanted to stop reading. Not because of the prose or the plot (or even the unlikable characters) but because the pace stood still - even in moments of potential breakthroughs and ah-ha moments. It never felt immediate - the conflict, the main character's trauma, anyone's choices, etc. Yet, I couldn't stop because trickster that she is, French knew how to use a few choice words to keep the hooks deep. Unfortunately the hook tended to rely heavily on my need to know what happened to Ryan as a child. (The unspoken promise that I would be rewarded if only I made it to page 429.) The catalyst for Ryan's return to Knocknaree and subsequent descent into obsession with his own past - the mystery of Katy's murder - wasn't as intriguing as the mystery surrounding Adam Ryan and his friends. Frankly, I had almost no curiosity about Katy's death and what actually happened to her.
Here's the thing, French broke my trust. The trust I place in every storyteller: If I sit and listen quietly and patiently enough, my time won't be wasted; I'll leave satisfied. Some writers do that with a likable protagonist and a traditional point a to b to c style. Other writers satisfy with a foul protagonist and an unconventional style. There doesn't have to be a clean, pretty ending with answers to everything and concrete resolution. But the ending MUST satisfy the reader. So if you're the writer of a mystery that features two or more cases, and you don't plan to solve all cases, you best choose the most compelling one.
Sadly, I don't see myself picking up another French novel; I wouldn't want to risk spending my time on another disappointment. Not when there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other stories that won't waste my time.
Status updates:
7/21/2012, page 24, The mystery is a compelling one. I definitely have to know what happened that summer in 1984.
7/22/2012, page 429, Are you serious?!! That ending might possibly be the most I've been disappointed at an ending in ... since I can remember. I feel robbed, honestly. Gonna have to think about this one before I can select the rating.
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LibraryThing member ReginaR
I need to think about this. Somewhere between 2 and 4 stars. 4 stars for the characters and the writing of the friendship between the main character (Adam Ryan) and his partner Cassie. For the majority of the book I loved reading about their friendship, their dynamic - it was so real and
ETA: I keep thinking about this book. Perhaps that is a sign of a good book and a good writer -- the writing, the characters and the subject matter stays with the reader after it is finished. I am not sure 3 stars is fair, because French's writing style is beautiful, her detail is amazing. I really enjoyed her writing style. I was just so frustrated with the lack of resolution as to the main character. Perhaps it is realistic, he was going to be a mess based on what happened to him when he was young. Life sometimes moves past very intense friendships that Cassie and Adam Ryan experienced, but the way the friendship was written is so real and so attractive. It actually made me think of past friendships I have shared that are no longer there -- when I had time to spend 24 hours a day with a friend day in and day out. And I can't emphasize enough the beauty of how French describes childhood, childhood playing and childhood friendships. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy mysteries and thrillers and also to people who enjoy psychological analyses of friendships and childhood. It is a haunting read -- and sometimes frustrating. I often wanted to reach in to the book and shake the main character. And why the heck wouldn't he just get hypnotized?!!
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attractive. However I knew who the murderer was from the time the character was introduced. And I was very frustrated with how much of an arse Adam turned out to be. Finally, the fact that the big mystery was not solved after 429 pages was very disappointing. Not sure if I will read the next one or not. I will say the story of the relationship between Cassie and Ryan stays with me, the imagery and wording of the story is beautiful. I love how French wrote about childhood, love and friendship. I believe French is a hauntingly beautiful writer but the twists of the story and substance needed work. ETA: I keep thinking about this book. Perhaps that is a sign of a good book and a good writer -- the writing, the characters and the subject matter stays with the reader after it is finished. I am not sure 3 stars is fair, because French's writing style is beautiful, her detail is amazing. I really enjoyed her writing style. I was just so frustrated with the lack of resolution as to the main character. Perhaps it is realistic, he was going to be a mess based on what happened to him when he was young. Life sometimes moves past very intense friendships that Cassie and Adam Ryan experienced, but the way the friendship was written is so real and so attractive. It actually made me think of past friendships I have shared that are no longer there -- when I had time to spend 24 hours a day with a friend day in and day out. And I can't emphasize enough the beauty of how French describes childhood, childhood playing and childhood friendships. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy mysteries and thrillers and also to people who enjoy psychological analyses of friendships and childhood. It is a haunting read -- and sometimes frustrating. I often wanted to reach in to the book and shake the main character. And why the heck wouldn't he just get hypnotized?!!
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LibraryThing member Nickelini
Award-winning Irish mystery writer Tana French's first book, In the Woods combines the story of a recent murder of a 12 year old ballerina, found in the woods next to some homes outside of Dublin, with the story of the detective who works the case and who just happens to be the survivor of a
What I liked:
- Very readable, distinct characters that make the reader care, colourful writing, interesting story. Only one line (and there will be more lines of negative), but all of these are really important.
What I didn't like:
- I figured out who the culprit of one murder was early on, although I had no idea how the murder was done, or more importantly, why.
- At just under 600 pages, this novel was WAY too long. I like a nice, tight 150 - 250 page book, and although I realize some stories need more, this one was easily 200 pages over it's allowance.
- I love a story set in a forest. So much potential for a mysterious, even creepy mood. There was none of this in this book -- a book with a title that pretty much promises me that mood. The whole thing could have been set in a field for all the atmosphere she failed to include.
And some spoiler comments:
About the protagonist:He turns into a complete jerk 2/3 of the way through and never adequately explains why.
About the ending:Two things. First, that the criminal doesn't really get what is deserved is unsatisfying in a crime novel. If you want to write bad guys getting away with stuff, then make it more literary and less mystery novel. Second, the older mystery about the missing kids is never solved. Why even bring that in to it? Huge disappointment
Last year I read Tana French's Broken Harbour and I was really impressed. I wanted to read more by this author. And before that I'd read In the Forest, by Edna O'Brien, which was a murder mystery set in a forest in Ireland. When I posted my comments on LT, several people suggested this book.
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mystery, set in the same woods when he was 12 and his two best friends disappeared. What I liked:
- Very readable, distinct characters that make the reader care, colourful writing, interesting story. Only one line (and there will be more lines of negative), but all of these are really important.
What I didn't like:
- I figured out who the culprit of one murder was early on, although I had no idea how the murder was done, or more importantly, why.
- At just under 600 pages, this novel was WAY too long. I like a nice, tight 150 - 250 page book, and although I realize some stories need more, this one was easily 200 pages over it's allowance.
- I love a story set in a forest. So much potential for a mysterious, even creepy mood. There was none of this in this book -- a book with a title that pretty much promises me that mood. The whole thing could have been set in a field for all the atmosphere she failed to include.
And some spoiler comments:
About the protagonist:
About the ending:
Last year I read Tana French's Broken Harbour and I was really impressed. I wanted to read more by this author. And before that I'd read In the Forest, by Edna O'Brien, which was a murder mystery set in a forest in Ireland. When I posted my comments on LT, several people suggested this book.
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LibraryThing member satxreader
SPOILER AHEAD: I can't believe I wasted hours of my life reading this tripe! The male half of the detective team is the narrator and about as big a wimpy and whiny drama queen as you could ever imagine (re-reading my review of her other book, apparently this is all I can expect, so I doubt I'll
***SPOILER***
And guess what! The entire premise that the book is based on? Yeah, never gets an answer. The kids' bodies are never found, the woods are razed to make way for a highway and no dark creepy howling "things" are unearthed. The detective is punished for his stupidity in handling the case, he thinks he might be in love with his (now former) partner, but she WISELY has married another detective instead. What a miserable sack. I can only assume that in the British Isles, wimpy whiny helplessness is admired in both male and female protagonists, because it happens too often to be a coincidence. Awful book. Criminal waste of my time. Two stars is generous.
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make the mistake of getting another one) There is a murder to be solved--that of a 12-year-old ballet prodigy. But the whole basis of the book begins with three 12-year-old best friends going into the woods and only one returning, nearly catatonic, covered in someone else's blood, and (of course!) with no memory of what happened. This little survivor grows up to be the sad-sack detective who is investigating the recent murder that happened in the same woods. There is some occasional mention of a mythical "bogeyman" type monster that lives in the woods, and periodically this miserable detective imagines he sees creepy slithery things from the corner of his eye, that of course no one else can see. ***SPOILER***
And guess what! The entire premise that the book is based on? Yeah, never gets an answer. The kids' bodies are never found, the woods are razed to make way for a highway and no dark creepy howling "things" are unearthed. The detective is punished for his stupidity in handling the case, he thinks he might be in love with his (now former) partner, but she WISELY has married another detective instead. What a miserable sack. I can only assume that in the British Isles, wimpy whiny helplessness is admired in both male and female protagonists, because it happens too often to be a coincidence. Awful book. Criminal waste of my time. Two stars is generous.
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LibraryThing member LiterateHousewife
Rob Ryan is the equivalent of an American homicide detective in Dublin, Ireland. He is good at what he does, but he doesn't quite fit in to the department as well as he would like. It might not help that he has changed his name to avoid any connection to a mysterious disappearance that took place
Before reading In the Woods, I was in my second reading slump of the year. I was no more than four or five pages in to In the Woods and I couldn't put the book down. I found the mystery surrounding Ryan's past, the mystery of the dead girl in the woods, the working relationship with Ryan and Cassie, and everything else about this novel engrossing. I loved the details about the neighborhood's history and the profiling that went into the current case. The night - make that morning - I finished this novel, I only got 4 hours of sleep. I didn't care. Finishing that book was much more important. The ending was so satisfying to me, even if it didn't spell every single thing out.I never felt that loss of sleep anyway. I was too busy talking the book up at work.
My Final Thoughts
After reading In the Woods, Mystery/Thriller has become a "Go To" genre for me and Tana French has become a new favorite author. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - and I'm not alone.
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in his childhood neighborhood. He and his two best friends went into the woods behind their suburban neighborhood one afternoon just before the beginning of a new school year. He was the only one found. His memories of that time are foggy at best. The disappearance of his friends was never solved and his life changed immeasurably as a result. This never really played any role at all with his job until the day another adolescent girl was found murdered in the same woods. Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, are assigned to the case, which tests the strength of their partnership as well as Ryan's stability. Are the two cases related? Can Ryan remain on the case and do his job well given his background?Before reading In the Woods, I was in my second reading slump of the year. I was no more than four or five pages in to In the Woods and I couldn't put the book down. I found the mystery surrounding Ryan's past, the mystery of the dead girl in the woods, the working relationship with Ryan and Cassie, and everything else about this novel engrossing. I loved the details about the neighborhood's history and the profiling that went into the current case. The night - make that morning - I finished this novel, I only got 4 hours of sleep. I didn't care. Finishing that book was much more important. The ending was so satisfying to me, even if it didn't spell every single thing out.I never felt that loss of sleep anyway. I was too busy talking the book up at work.
My Final Thoughts
After reading In the Woods, Mystery/Thriller has become a "Go To" genre for me and Tana French has become a new favorite author. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - and I'm not alone.
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
Without going into the plot, Ms. French's book was really quite good, considering this is her debut novel. I don't often say that about many people's first work; most of the time I feel like the writer's second novel will be more fully fleshed out and more satisfying to me as a reader. I picked
Personally, I really enjoyed this novel and I'm a tough mystery novel reader. If I don't like it, the author doesn't make his or her reappearance on any of my shelves. I won't be saying that about Tana French. Her next novel (and probably any other one she writes based on these characters) is guaranteed a spot.
This book would appeal to people who enjoy reading crime fiction set in Ireland, as well as to those people who like a very good mystery story. However, if you're going to get irate that the author does not package things in neat little bows to your satisfaction (thereby imitating real life) you may want to move on to something where everything's spelled out. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.
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this book up this morning and did not move until I had finished it. I just could not put it down, it was that good. I liked the characters, the twists and turns that the story took, the police procedural aspect of it, and I especially liked the fact (unlike some authors) that Ms. French stuck to the point and didn't wander off with more subplots or add more murders in her story -- I get so annoyed when that happens. So imagine my surprise when I went to another website to look at reviews by other readers when I'd finished and found that they all felt cheated by the author at the end! At first I thought I must have looked up the wrong book, because I was perfectly okay with how this book ended. I mean (and I've said this before in many other reviews), there are some things in life that simply have no resolution -- and in real life, we don't have the luxury of a deus ex machina to help us through our trials and tribulations, and in real life police work, the answers or breaks needed to solve a case just simply do not exist. Personally, I really enjoyed this novel and I'm a tough mystery novel reader. If I don't like it, the author doesn't make his or her reappearance on any of my shelves. I won't be saying that about Tana French. Her next novel (and probably any other one she writes based on these characters) is guaranteed a spot.
This book would appeal to people who enjoy reading crime fiction set in Ireland, as well as to those people who like a very good mystery story. However, if you're going to get irate that the author does not package things in neat little bows to your satisfaction (thereby imitating real life) you may want to move on to something where everything's spelled out. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.
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LibraryThing member kathay
This was a great book from a great author. I even like the way that the ending doesn't quite wrap things up as tightly as you'd normally expect. The unfolding story, and memories, are perfectly timed. The book engages from beginning to end. And lots of good information about sociopaths. If you
I wish I could read this again for the first time. If you're lucky enough to be looking at it for the first time - I envy you.
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can't invest in "the psychopath test" (but you should) then this should give you a pretty firm grip of the subject.I wish I could read this again for the first time. If you're lucky enough to be looking at it for the first time - I envy you.
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LibraryThing member ecw0647
Firstly, let me say that this is an excellent book and I will be reading more in the series. The following are not intended as criticisms, merely as observations.
No point in relating the basics of the plot. What makes the book interesting is the relationship between the two detectives and other
I liked the way the investigation into the death of a child, an identical twin, unfolded, and how the author mixed in the childhood memories, or lack thereof, of Ryan. What really made the book special was the unfolding of the relationship between Cassie, Rob and Sam, the third detective assigned to the case. It’s almost idyllic the way they work twelve hours trying to sort out the different witness statements looking for hints and contradictions, then reconvene to Cassie’s for dinner and more dissection of the case followed by a bottle of wine and discussion of themselves and all manner of ideas and thoughts. There are some very surprising turns as the book unfolds, so I won't say more. Just remember that the narrator tells you right up front that he lies.
French has some lovely writing and turns-of-phrase. For example, the young priest at the child’s funeral falling back on his “frail seminary arsenal of cliches.” That’s so evocative and descriptive.
My wife and I listened to this book over several different trips. The book is very well read, but at times Rob's overly detailed introspection we both felt got in the way of the story. There can be such a thing as redundant characterization. I do look forward to the second book in the series.
No point in relating the basics of the plot. What makes the book interesting is the relationship between the two detectives and other
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characterizations. I did note, however, that the POV is that of the male detective, Rob Ryan, (changed to that of his partner, Cassie Maddox, in the second of the series, I read somewhere,) and that it seemed to me that some of his comments were those I don't think most men would make, but definitely those a woman might, e.g., related to the way a teenager wore makeup, the way the corpse looked, etc.I liked the way the investigation into the death of a child, an identical twin, unfolded, and how the author mixed in the childhood memories, or lack thereof, of Ryan. What really made the book special was the unfolding of the relationship between Cassie, Rob and Sam, the third detective assigned to the case. It’s almost idyllic the way they work twelve hours trying to sort out the different witness statements looking for hints and contradictions, then reconvene to Cassie’s for dinner and more dissection of the case followed by a bottle of wine and discussion of themselves and all manner of ideas and thoughts. There are some very surprising turns as the book unfolds, so I won't say more. Just remember that the narrator tells you right up front that he lies.
French has some lovely writing and turns-of-phrase. For example, the young priest at the child’s funeral falling back on his “frail seminary arsenal of cliches.” That’s so evocative and descriptive.
My wife and I listened to this book over several different trips. The book is very well read, but at times Rob's overly detailed introspection we both felt got in the way of the story. There can be such a thing as redundant characterization. I do look forward to the second book in the series.
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Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — First Novel — 2008)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Mystery/Thriller — 2007)
Anthony Award (Nominee — First Novel — 2008)
Macavity Award (Winner — First Novel — 2008)
Barry Award (Winner — First Novel — 2008)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007
Physical description
464 p.; 5.47 inches
ISBN
0143113496 / 9780143113492