In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)

Aug 14, 2012 Nataliya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Nataliya by: Catie

Shelves: catie-knows-best, 2012-reads, favorites, first-in-a-series

"What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this - two things: I crave truth. And I lie."

This book is brilliantly cruel - a story of deep and painfully real psychological f*ckery masquerading as a murder mystery. There's nothing "feel good" about it. If you like a book to leave you feeling warm and fuzzy at the end, it's not for you. If you like neat resolutions - it's not for you (and if you already read this book, you know exactly what I'm talking about). If you hate being left with...more "What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this - two things: I crave truth. And I lie."

This book is brilliantly cruel - a story of deep and painfully real psychological f*ckery masquerading as a murder mystery. There's nothing "feel good" about it. If you like a book to leave you feeling warm and fuzzy at the end, it's not for you. If you like neat resolutions - it's not for you (and if you already read this book, you know exactly what I'm talking about). If you hate being left with a new question for each question that this story answered - well, yet again, it's not a book for you.

But I loved it. I loved every page of it, every wordy paragraph, every depressing turn of the story, every soul-shattering instance, every painfully real mistake of the protagonist. I chose reading this book over sleep - a decision I almost came to regret later, having to work a 14-hour day on 3 hours of sleep ("Hi, it's Dr. (yawn) Nataliya returning a (yawn) page (yawn)... Scalpel (yawn) please!)- but hey, we all make decisions we wish we could take back (hey, just like Rob Ryan in this book!). And it ultimately was fully worth it.

"I suppose you can 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."

Rob Ryan is a detective in the (imaginary) Dublin Murder Squad, assigned to investigate a senseless murder case of a 12-year-old ballet dancer Katy in a little town of Knocknaree. What his supervisors don't know is that 20 years ago he was among the three children who went to play in the woods near Knocknaree, and was the only one to come back under unbelievably strange circumstances, wearing shoes full of blood, and with no memory of what happened to his best friends who forever disappeared in the woods. The investigation forces Rob to revisit the place that has such painful associations for him, and slowly, day by day, rips his heart to shreds and destroys him a little bit at a time. And it's not the murder story (stories?) but Rob's despair, mistakes, pain, and downward spiral and self-destruction that makes this book so painfully real and fascinating to read. It is a reminder that our worst monsters ultimately do live within ourselves, and that we are our own worst enemies even without ever meaning to be.

"And then, too, I had learned early to assume something dark and lethal hidden at the heart of anything I loved. When I couldn't find it, I responded, bewildered and wary, in the only way I knew how: by planting it there myself."

The heart of this book is the story of a friendship between Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox (view spoiler). Rob and Cassie start off enjoying that incredible, intense and yet easy, all-forgiving and natural closeness of a friendship I think every person in the world (non-sociopathic, to be exact) longs for. It's a friendship too beautiful to not be doomed. It is a friendship that many people do not have a privilege to enjoy after they have grown out of their childhood. It's a friendship that brings nostalgic longing from the very first pages on which it is described. And it is, without a doubt, my favorite part of this book.

"But a girl who goes into battle beside you and keeps your back is a different thing, a thing to make you shiver. Think of the first time you slept with someone, or the first time you fell in love: that blinding explosion that left you crackling to the fingertips with electricity, initiated and transformed. I tell you that was nothing, nothing at all, beside the power of putting your lives, simply and daily, into each other's hands."

This book takes us onto a journey to the sadness and bleakness and hopelessness. The mystery of what happened twenty years ago to Rob, the psychological fallout he still suffers from decades later, the senselessness of the new murder, (view spoiler), the burden of crushing loneliness, the habitual cruelty of the world, the casual mentions of the depressing parts of the society like the persistent corruption. None of this is a feel-good reading. None of this has a resolution that the readers hope for (or any resolution at all for some of the above!). It is painful and yet touching and beautiful, and so unbelievably close to perfect - at least it was for me.

"For a moment, I felt as if the universe had turned upside down and we were falling softly into an enormous black bowl of stars, and I knew, beyond any doubt, that everything was going to be alright."

I loved this book to pieces, even though I could not shake off the overwhelming feeling of sadness and hollowness after finishing it. I loved it despite (or maybe because?) of the frustrating incompleteness of some plot lines, the frequent lack of resolution, and the unfulfillment of my wishes for the characters and events. I know I will read it again in the future, curious to know how my reading experience will be changed once I know what's coming. In the meantime, I highly recommend it. 5 stars with no hesitation.

"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."

-------------
Catie's wonderful review that made me pick up this book is here.

My review of the sequel, The Likeness, is here.(less)

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Nov 13, 2012 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes mysteries, psychological analysis, lovely word-smithing

Shelves: mystery, male-lead

I started this series out of chronological order, which only increased my appreciation for French. By some odd chance, I happened upon a new copy of her second book, The Likeness, in the library just waiting to be checked out, while In the Woods had a wait list of at least 100 people. I followed with Faithful Place, immersed myself in Ireland of forty years ago and promptly forgot to get on the waiting list for Woods. Nataliya's lovely review reminded me what I was missing (here: http://www.good ...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. If I could, I'd probably rate this at 1.5 stars-- it ultimately pissed me off, and annoyed me throughout, but it was good enough to keep me reading and I suppose that should count for something.

Maybe my opinion has been influenced by reading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO immediately prior to this one. That book wasn't perfect, but it had characters you rooted for, didn't wallow too much in pop culture references, and most importantly IT SOLVED THE FRIGGING MYSTERY.

Let's go through a few of th...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of dark mysteries

Recommended to Tatiana by: Megan

Shelves: 2011, mysteries-thrillers-horror, b, series-in-progress-still-like

As seen on The Readventurer

In the Woods reminded me a lot of Gillian Flynn's novels (Sharp Objects and Dark Places). All these books are very dark mysteries/psychological thrillers and they all are as much about particular crimes the narrators investigate as they are about the narrators themselves, a disturbed bunch.

Rob Ryan, a detective on the Dublin Murder squad, and his partner Cassie Maddox are assigned to investigate a murder of a pre-teen girl. The thing is, the girl's body is found in the...more

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Jun 02, 2008 Monique rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 20, 2012 Keertana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-linger

Rating: 3.75 (?!) Stars

In the Woods is one of those books that you finish feeling bereft – bereft of answers, bereft of joy, bereft of happiness. Suddenly, grief and sorrow and despair are your companions as this is a novel that leaves you feeling so, so sad and heartbroken. It’s a story that will shock you to your very core, rattle your nerves, and make you re-think everything you ever thought was true. It is, in every sense of the term, a psychological thriller like no other.

When Katy Devlin...more

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Mar 15, 2009 J.D. rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 13, 2008 Loren rated it 3 of 5 stars

From ISawLightningFall.blogspot.com

Three-and-a-half stars

Years ago, one of my father’s clients -- a man from the Emerald Isle named Cosgrove -- dropped by our place and, during the evening, got an insatiable hankering for the hard stuff. So my mother (who was essentially a teetotaler) found a bottle of small-batch scotch someone had given her as a gift and poured him four fingers’ worth. My father began to rib him about his prodigious thirst, but Cosgrove looked at him over his highball with dea...more From ISawLightningFall.blogspot.com

Three-and-a-half stars

Years ago, one of my father’s clients -- a man from the Emerald Isle named Cosgrove -- dropped by our place and, during the evening, got an insatiable hankering for the hard stuff. So my mother (who was essentially a teetotaler) found a bottle of small-batch scotch someone had given her as a gift and poured him four fingers’ worth. My father began to rib him about his prodigious thirst, but Cosgrove looked at him over his highball with deadly seriousness and said, “Lee, if you were Irish, you’d drink too.”

Detective Robert Ryan, the protagonist of Tana French’s In the Woods, has a few reasons to drink in addition to sharing Cosgrove’s nationality. He’s on the Irish police force’s murder squad, which means he’s hip-deep in grisly murders most of the time. A stabbed convenience store clerk. A homeless man beaten to a pulp. And now a pubescent girl named Katy Devlin found near the Knocknaree woods with her skull caved in. But not only is Ryan an investigator of crimes, he’s a victim of one. Twenty years ago, he and two friends disappeared into the very same forest. Only he came out, dazed and amnesiac, his shoes filled with blood. Has he found a key to his past, or will he crumble beneath the weight of hidden memories?

In the Woods is a first novel, and as such suffers from some flaws. French has a tendency to embed sentences within sentences, piling on em dashes and parentheses, colons and semicolons, until your head's spinning. But after you get a grip on the overgrown style, you have to deal with the genre, which wavers between literary and mystery, only firmly clicking into procedural mode in the book’s second half. And then there’s the problem of Ryan himself, who is more than a little unlikable. He falls into a myopic funk seemingly at every other thought of Knocknaree, ignores crucial clues, bullies witnesses, betrays his partner’s trust, downs stultifying amounts of grog and generally makes a mess of the case. “I am intensely aware, by the way,” he narrates in the closing pages, “that this story does not show me in a particularly flattering light.”

For all these niggles, though, French succeeds where more-experienced authors fail. Why? She keeps you reading. Indeed, she destroyed my sleep schedule for a week and had me pacing the hallway one Sunday afternoon, book in hand, until my wife began to fear for my mental wellbeing. In the Woods’ action is as tense as a tightrope, and for her skill in keeping me moving to the next chapter, I’ll buy French a pint if she ever shows up in my neck of the woods. Heck, let’s make it two. (less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Alyssa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERYONE.

Recommended to Alyssa by: Catie

Shelves: 2012-read, emotional, get-with-library, highly-anticipated, historical, i-love-this-cover, mystery-suspense, mystery, reccomended, really-excited-for, a-favourite-author, actually-funny, awesome-adult, confused-feelings, great-books, read-it-but-just-buy-it-anyway, surprised-me, four-leaf-clovers, own

I desperately need to talk about this book because since the second I put it down, I haven’t been able to think of anything else.

When I was younger, Nancy Drew was my best friend and biggest hero. I gobbled down her mysteries like they were candy, took solace in her intricate relationships and practically-impossible ability to come up with an answer, idolized the particular and intent way she did everything in her life. Maybe it was my obsession with her that has made me more susceptible to fig...more I desperately need to talk about this book because since the second I put it down, I haven’t been able to think of anything else.

When I was younger, Nancy Drew was my best friend and biggest hero. I gobbled down her mysteries like they were candy, took solace in her intricate relationships and practically-impossible ability to come up with an answer, idolized the particular and intent way she did everything in her life. Maybe it was my obsession with her that has made me more susceptible to figuring out whodunit, or maybe it’s simply French’s style of writing, but it doesn’t really matter that I found the missing puzzle piece quickly, as this book was still wholly captivating and immensely satisfying to experience. In the Woods is much more than a mystery or a thriller: it’s pathological and psychological, and it’s a story that basically forces you to devote all you have to it at all times.

French’s writing is a dream; suspense, and a strong sense of urgency, is constantly present and pressuring, made possible by soft description and the precious way tragedy and helplessness is depicted through sorrow and anger. I can’t even begin to describe how thoroughly I was emotionally invested in Rob’s mind, how shockingly realistic and true his voice is. I felt as if I were honestly reading from the perspective of a detective during his cold and detached moments, and then a chapter later, as if I were exploring the universally-recognized feeling of breaking down. The strong characterization, next to the fascinating and excellent dynamics between characters, blew my mind and interested me far more than the mystery aspect of the novel, which in comparison, was less-developed, though still important and carefully written in a different way. There were many times, when reading, that I felt my tears welling and pulse quickening, and if anything, I suggest you read this book for its ability to get under your skin.

I just wish this book had a more sensible ending. Many elements of In the Woods were given certain closure near the end, but I still feel as if this huge piece of my soul has been ripped out and been left swaying from this tree branch that’s just a little bit too tall for me to reach. That’s how this story is left off: details are dangling in the wind, states of mind are left off awkwardly, characters are thrown away and left for the reader to wonder after, and nothing seems quite definite. I know there are more books to this series, but I still firmly believe that a reader deserves a little bit of hope, especially after reading such an emotional and traumatizing story.

In the Woods is not a book that will leave me anytime soon, and right now, my most immediate concern is whether or not I’ll be able to get a hold of The Likeness before something important pops up IRL. Still, my recommendation has a condition: definitely find a copy of this book as soon as you can, but just make sure you have the sequels hiding somewhere on your bookshelf before you start.

4.5 stars

(less)

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Jul 28, 2008 Dera Weaver rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 11, 2011 Martha rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, crime-detective-mystery

I kept going back and forth between being drawn in by this book and getting bored with it and wanting to put it down. The idea of a detective having to deal with a case that hits home personally is kind of done to death, but I heard the author interviewed on the radio and thought this book might be interesting. She said she planned to write a series with the same characters, but there would be a different lead character in each one. That seemed like a good idea, since series novels can get repet...more

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Feb 28, 2008 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: booksread2008, mysteryhorror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This gets 4 stars for being not only quite well written, but completely page turning. It's like an Irish Law and Order SVU but with some really excellent prose. Tana French is indeed a very good writer, I commend her on this debut novel and I would most definitely read her next book, when she writes it.

That being said, (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!), I guessed who was responsible for the murder pretty early on. This is pretty routine for me (no, I would never succeed at having a career as a det...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Nomes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, crime, uk

3.5

this was one of those books that I LOVED reading while I was reading it, but every time I put it down I didn't feel a huge compulsion to rush back to it.

I loved the prose which was occasionally literary (love seeing literary in crime fic)

I loved the narration which had a sense of humour that appealed to me.

Characters were fab and interesting and the setting was brilliantly done ~ Ireland (one of my fave aspects)

I was also intrigued about the whole murder investigation and the past disappearan...more

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Feb 12, 2010 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: it-is-for-class, littry-fiction, distant-lands

it must be really hard to write convincing mystery novels. you can't have your killer be too obvious or no one will bother reading past the third chapter. but you can't have them be too unexpected, without textual support, or you will be accused of cheating. the super-saturation of police procedurals in all their manifestations: literary and film and teevee, sets the genre up for failure - it just adds up to a steaming bowl of repetition and a dessicated medium. there are about five ways a murde...more it must be really hard to write convincing mystery novels. you can't have your killer be too obvious or no one will bother reading past the third chapter. but you can't have them be too unexpected, without textual support, or you will be accused of cheating. the super-saturation of police procedurals in all their manifestations: literary and film and teevee, sets the genre up for failure - it just adds up to a steaming bowl of repetition and a dessicated medium. there are about five ways a murder plot can resolve itself, and the rest is wallpaper and window dressing.

and then there is this. and for the most part, it falls into the same traps - the main-plot resolution is facile and a little yawn-y, but tana french has massive balls for her treatment of the subplot. she evidently does not care about infuriating her readers. i am reading the second novel now, just out of anger - technically it is for class, but it's above and beyond the demands of the syllabus. i have never read a book out of rage at the author before. can i get a plaque??

and i refuse to say why and how and when this book began to push my wrath-buttons, but push them it did, and those of you who have read this will understand me when i howl, (and maybe one of you can tell me why i am still watching lost when it started failing me like three seasons ago - but this is the diseased impulse we are working with here - i will see this second tana french book through, even though it is not doing for me what i had hoped the first one would do for me. is this coded enough?? good.)

i asked the near-mythical tom fuller about his take on this book, and he said "i liked it until i didn't". which sounds forrest gumpy, but is spot-on the way i felt about it. it has its good points: the irish setting is well-rendered, there are some great descriptions of people, places, and things, the two detectives have a wonderful rapport... until they don't . (see how flexible that kind of assessment is??) it's not all "wee bairns" and Lebor Gabála Érenn, but syntactically it is delightfully irish, and that part of it is a pleasure to read.

dunno - this isn't the worst, i just figured that genre fiction had to play by certain rules in order to be invited into the clubhouse. tana french is a subversive lass, aye, to be sure.

go ahead, read it, and come howl with me.(less)

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Apr 15, 2012 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, literary-fiction

The One Sentence Summary: A detective investigates a child murder in the same small town outside Dublin where, in his childhood, two friends disappeared while he played in the wood with them, an event of which he had repressed all memory.

The Meat and Potatoes: In the summer of 1984, Detective Rob Ryan was found in the woods abutting his property development, terrified, with a large quantity of blood on his clothing. The two friends that he had been playing with that evening were never seen agai...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Slygly rated it 5 of 5 stars

I spent nearly the entire weekend chewing on this book. It was impossible to put down, even with a throbbing head and shoulders sore from rigidity and blurry vision. I can't believe that I let this one languish on my list for almost a year. A follow-up novel, The Likeness, will be released next month. I might buy a hardcover copy of that one to avoid the library wait, and I never do that. Well, not often, anyway.

Synopsis: Three children disappear in the woods of a small Irish town in the 1980s....more I spent nearly the entire weekend chewing on this book. It was impossible to put down, even with a throbbing head and shoulders sore from rigidity and blurry vision. I can't believe that I let this one languish on my list for almost a year. A follow-up novel, The Likeness, will be released next month. I might buy a hardcover copy of that one to avoid the library wait, and I never do that. Well, not often, anyway.

Synopsis: Three children disappear in the woods of a small Irish town in the 1980s. Two are lost forever but one of them, Rob Ryan, is discovered gripping a tree trunk, covered in blood, and unable to remember anything. Twenty years later, Ryan is a murder detective investigating a different case in the same woods with striking similarities to the original. Memories from Ryan's past emerge from the mists of the woods to accompany and complement the maze of unexpected plot twists from the investigation.

My take: I was completely riveted from page one and right until the end. I adore detail-oriented and complicated plots with a cast of names to remember. I was extremely careful to weigh every suspect's hints and motives and yet my armchair sleuthing was still a failure; I was surprised at the ending.

In the Woods immersed me in its atmosphere entirely. On Saturday I started reading after breakfast, looked up for a moment to wonder why I felt weak, saw that lunchtime was long overdue, and kept reading anyway. I felt like I lived in Knocknaree myself. I was Rob Ryan.

This is a murder mystery and a psychological thriller, but I did not find it to be scary. It's not a barrel of laughs but I was not afraid to stay in the house alone or anything like that. Actually, I relished being alone to read it. My house is situated in a jungly feral wood of its own, and it was delicious to imagine myself in Ireland while the thunder rumbled outside.

Tip: A "torch" not only a thick branch of pine set on fire and ensconced conveniently on cave walls for Indiana Jones movies. A "torch" may also be a flashlight. That may save you a few paragraphs of incredulity. (You saw a torch in the woods that night and didn't think to mention it right away?!)

Representative sentence:

"All through this case, since the moment the car crested the hill and we saw Knocknaree spread out in front of us, the opaque membrane between me and that day in the wood had been slowly, relentlessly thinning; it had grown so fine that I could hear the small furtive movements on the other side, beating wings and tiny scrabbling feet like a moth battering against your cupped hands."
(less)

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Jun 17, 2010 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mmx, contemporary, gr-friend-recommendations

Huh? Seriously?
That’s all you’ve got? No freaking
way. Life is too short.

This book was okay
This book did not change my life
The font is too small

It did supply me
with a dysfunctional man
with a haunted past

Sometimes, when you are
close to someone, you miss things
Yes, she said...he said.

Now, I have to read
the damn sequel, (life is short)
Do you want marvels?

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Oct 12, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller-horror

In the Woods is a very unique novel, and an excellent debut by Irish author, Tana French. I was completely enthralled by the story, the writing, and the characters. Classifying this book as a mystery is a bit of misnomer, because while there are a couple mysteries, it is so much more than that. It is also a character study of a deeply disturbed individual.

One of the strongest aspects of this book is the writing. French is able to craft wonderfully atmospheric sentences not often found in the my...more In the Woods is a very unique novel, and an excellent debut by Irish author, Tana French. I was completely enthralled by the story, the writing, and the characters. Classifying this book as a mystery is a bit of misnomer, because while there are a couple mysteries, it is so much more than that. It is also a character study of a deeply disturbed individual.

One of the strongest aspects of this book is the writing. French is able to craft wonderfully atmospheric sentences not often found in the mystery/thriller/crime fiction genre. Her descriptions are simply beautiful, and the dark melancholic tone was effectively conveyed through the prose. The suspense in this novel is not of the in-your-face variety, but rather a subtle feeling that slowly builds as the story progresses.

The characters and their relationships with each other were also beautifully drawn. Rob Ryan is your text book unreliable narrator and he tells the reader so from the very first chapter with this quote: "What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this—two things: I crave truth. And I lie." Despite this warning, I found myself falling for his delusions and fabrications. Cassie Maddox, Rob's partner, was also well written. She's a tough, intelligent female character with just the right amount of vulnerability and softness to be believable.

But even more compelling than either of their individual characters, is the relationship between them. Their chemistry is phenomenal. The synchronicity between them, their shared understanding, and the building sexual tension were extremely well done. (view spoiler) In addition to the main characters, I also enjoyed the side characters. They each had their quirks and idiosyncrasies that made them believable, and their relationships with the main duo were also intriguing.

Both the mystery of the murdered twelve year old girl, and the mystery of Rob's past were engaging, although I figured out the answer to one of them pretty early on. (view spoiler) Still, this didn't ruin my enjoyment because the other mystery kept me intrigued and because I was invested in the characters.

This would have been a five star read if not for the ending, which was extremely unsatisfying. (view spoiler) Although my main grievance with the ending, and the story as a whole, is contained in the spoiler above, I was also disappointed by the lack of resolution for Rob's character. I hope that one of the sequels will provide a satisfying conclusion to both.

Other than the ending, the only other issue that stood out was my skepticism about the police being ignorant of Rob's past. Do police officers in Ireland not have to undergo extensive background checks like they do in the United States? Rob's past identity and involvement in a missing persons case surely would have come up even in a cursory investigation. Perhaps this is one of this differences between the U.S. and Ireland, but it really affected the believability of the story for me.

Just as In the Woods defies genres, it also defies any sort of book rating system. Although I rated this book four stars, I seriously considered rating it one star and could have easily rated it five stars. In fact, I could justify rating it two stars or three as well. It is simultaneously wonderful, tortuous, frustrating, and engrossing. I whole heartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries, crime fiction, beautiful writing, and compelling characters, but be prepared to be left dissatisfied at the end.(less)

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Aug 11, 2012 Moira Russell added it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, on-the-kindle, 2011-50-new-books-challenge

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is not at all a real review, more a collection of scattered thoughts; someone asked me about the book on Twitter and I began thinking about it again, and thought I'd post about it here because, why not. Sadly, no awesome conceits like big funny pictures or author interviews or personal anecdotes, tho.

- I read this with perhaps the lowest of expectations, after reading The Likeness, French's second novel, which I got because it sounded intriguing, I liked the first few pages, and the ARC was...more This is not at all a real review, more a collection of scattered thoughts; someone asked me about the book on Twitter and I began thinking about it again, and thought I'd post about it here because, why not. Sadly, no awesome conceits like big funny pictures or author interviews or personal anecdotes, tho.

- I read this with perhaps the lowest of expectations, after reading The Likeness, French's second novel, which I got because it sounded intriguing, I liked the first few pages, and the ARC was about $8 at the local Half Price. That novel was pretty damn good -- a great narrator, interesting setup and characters, and while that particular undercover would never, ever have happened and the prose got purple in patches, I enjoyed it a lot. I wanted to read the first book not on its own merits, but to get more backstory on Cassie.

- I also was thoroughly spoiled for both the killer's identity and the unresolved subplot (yes I read the ending beforehand, what can I say, I'm a terrible person), which meant I wasn't hung up on them at all. I do think it's a little amusing to see so many people here go 'OMG NO RESOLUTION FROTH VITRIOL,' when the narrator pretty clearly outlines himself as a Lying Liar Who Lies from the start, and the book does read like a mainstream novel spliced together pretty well with a thriller. But I liked that kind of roughness and unconventionality. The Likeness is much better-constructed, but also has a much more acceptable plot. It's actually a real procedural (a kind of novel I greatly enjoy, I should say). This isn't really a procedural, any more than Mystic River was; it's more like a psychological thriller. This story is much more about the aftereffects of crime, not just on "Rob" but on the surrounding people and community in general.

- I'm really glad I encountered Cassie Maddox first because I did not find Rob believable at all -- not as a person (he was that too-well-read character all too common in most first novels), and not as a man. He reminded me a lot of Daniel in The Likeness, except Daniel wasn't the narrator or even the central character of that book. Most of the time, yes, he was mopey, dreary, and annoying, altho it was a pretty good picture of someone so wounded with so many walls up he pushed away everyone and everything. -- French did much better at men with Frank in her second novel, and especially Sam; Sam is maybe my favourite creation of hers, after Cassie of course, and I'd love to see a future story told by him, instead of just the "sexy" narrators (Rob, Cassie, Frank). Rob seemed more like a wispy overly literary narrative voice, rather than a real person (when you compare him with the opening of French's third novel in Frank's voice, the difference is really striking).

- Maybe I didn't read enough reviews, but it struck me how many people missed the supernatural elements. The victim dies on a sacrificial stone, you have Mark the Asshole Archaeologist keeping vigil and pouring libations (even tho that's mocked), you have both the rape victim and a perpetrator talking about the big horned goat flappy winged thing or whatever it was, and Rob's constant references to Cassie nearly being seduced away by "marvels"/marbles. (Not to mention Rob's final climactic vision about what really happened up to the disappearance.) Do I think there's an actual supernatural solution to the mystery? No, but it threw new light on the "is there a ghost or isn't there" passages in The Likeness. Were Jamie and Peter sacrificial victims to a kind of evil natural spirit? Was Cassie driven to carry out Lexie's revenge by her ghost? There's no "yes" or "no" answer, which makes it interesting. I wouldn't say the possible evil natural spirit in this book is a metaphor for Rosalind, the born monster moving without conscience through the world, or that Lexie possesses Cassie or is an alternate self in The Likeness, but both these concepts are used in a kind of metaphorical way to explore the aftermath of violence. -- I'm not putting it at all well, but I don't think these supernatural elements are meant to "explain" what happens in the plot, and I think that's deliberate on the part of the author, rather than a fuckup.

- It's hard to tell since I was so thoroughly spoiled, but Rosalind stuck out a country mile. She was artificial, affected, cliched, &c &c. I did appreciate all the little hints woven through the book about her (Cassie's story about the psychopath she knew in college, &c) but she really, truly didn't work well as a character. This was unfortunate, since Rob (and his colleagues) are chasing her throughout the entire book. Lexie wasn't much better in The Likeness, but that wasn't as disastrous because she was dead and her identities were slippery to begin with. Rosalind's sister Jessica and her parents also were very thinly drawn, so you had no idea about her background either. I don't really know of this was inept characterization and how much was the result of peering out through Rob's grief-muzzled viewpoint, like trying to make out shapes through a dirty windshield in the rain, but it just meant for the most part the reader is as cut off from everyone as Rob is, which gets annoying after a while.

- Really, I would encourage people to skip this and read the second book, even tho I didn't hate it. I'm really looking forward to the third.(less)

10 likes · like · see review

Dec 22, 2010 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, not-mine-library, favorites

Excellent! I can't say how much I loved In the Woods. Fantastic mystery with enough hints thrown in that I was guessing the entire time and still didn't get it right. Even better, this is a crime drama that doesn't focus on the unsettling details of the crime, or the disturbing particulars of the perpetrator. Rather, Tana French introduces the reader to the detectives working the case and lets us view all of the icky details through their jaded eyes.

Initially I wondered if a female author can g...more

15 likes · like · see review

Mar 10, 2009 Molly rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Molly by: fleurfisherwordpress - TT

Shelves: mystery-thriller-suspense

Eh. That's pretty much how I feel about this book. From the opening pages the author's writing style just didn't grab me and that was a problem since the book went on and on and on like that.

The narrator, Rob (aka Adam) Ryan, is a detective in Ireland working on a murder case that just so happens to have taken place in his childhood home town. The story follows his life during this particular case and flashes back to his childhood when he and his 2 best friends went missing in the woods, with hi...more

16 likes · like · see review

Sep 04, 2008 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars

At first, this book reminded me of a hipper, cooler, Irish version of Law and Order: there's a feisty female detective who's as sharp as a pin, and a hip but somewhat elusive male detective who are partnered up and working on the case of their careers - the seemingly senseless murder of a young girl.

And then there's the twist (this isn't a spoiler - it's right there on the book jacket): the male detective, Rob Ryan, was also involved in a missing children's case... as a victim. As a child, he wa...more

15 likes · like · see review

Jun 05, 2008 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, mystery

On my way back from my sister's Colorado wedding, I saw this in an airport bookstore while I was looking for a good suspense read for my airplane. I don't read a lot of mysteries, and even if you don't either, it's worth looking at Tana French's tightly wound tale In the Woods.

The hook that pulled me in was the paragraph on the back that described a freaky scene reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project. Three 12-year-olds set out to explore the forest in their backyards in the summer in the 1950s....more

11 likes · like · see review

Jan 05, 2008 Salma rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone- especially those who have a fondness for Du Maurier novels.

Shelves: mystery-must-reads, favorites

I've been looking for a good 'literary' mystery/thriller for ages, so I was stoked to find this one. Taking place in Irish country, the story follows Detective Rob Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox as the two of them attempt to solve the murder of a twelve-year-old girl. What makes this story unique? Rob Ryan was a victim of a similar crime as a little boy (though not murdered, obviously) in the same place the girl was found. His friends though, weren't so lucky. So you have these two mysteries...more

8 likes · like · see review

Aug 21, 2012 Reynje rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Reynje by: Catie

Shelves: read-2012, mystery-thriller-noir, writing-envy

”And then, too, I had learned early to assume something dark and lethal hidden at the heart of anything I loved. When I couldn't find it, I responded, bewildered and wary, in the only way I knew how: by planting it there myself.”

While Tana French’s debut is full of equally powerful and beautiful writing, I chose this quote for two reasons. Firstly, because it spoke to me in a very direct manner as an idea I can relate to all too well. And secondly because it speaks to French’s mastery of chara...more

23 likes · like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: highly-recommend, books-that-changed-me

Welcome to my "Books That Changed Me" reading list! The books on this list are not necessarily the best books I've ever read, although some are, but are rather novels that changed the way I view literature, how I read, or influenced me in some way during a period of my life. Please be warned: some of the review/commentary may contain spoilers!

Why is this a "Book That Changed Me":

You had me at Chapter 1...

About 15 pages into this book I felt reborn! Not kidding. I felt this mystery/thriller had...more Welcome to my "Books That Changed Me" reading list! The books on this list are not necessarily the best books I've ever read, although some are, but are rather novels that changed the way I view literature, how I read, or influenced me in some way during a period of my life. Please be warned: some of the review/commentary may contain spoilers!

Why is this a "Book That Changed Me":

You had me at Chapter 1...

About 15 pages into this book I felt reborn! Not kidding. I felt this mystery/thriller had been what was missing in my book life. Before I picked up this book, I was in a literary rut. I couldn't seem to find any read that would peak and hold my interest chapter after chapter. I heard about Tana French on NPR on a "Mystery Fiction Writers from Other Countries" segment, and decided to give it a whirl.

Now, first and foremost I should admit that I am definitely a closet mystery fan. I guess I just outted myself. But it's true: I think mysteries and thrillers get a bad rap. Sure, some of the mainstream authors are not great writers and the genre can, at times, appear quite formulaic, but I still enjoy reading the likes of Sue Grafton, Elizabeth George, Kathy Reichs (although not recently), and even a Janet Evanovich every now and again is a fun read. In high school, Dean Koontz and Stephen King were my men.

So when the opportunity arose to read a new writer, I was intrigued. And 3/4 of the novel, I felt it was one of the best mysteries I had ever read in my life. It had it all: Witty repartee between investigators, a snarky police force, possible romance, a very chilling old childhood trauma of kids lost in the woods, and it took place in Dublin, which is a much underused locale. I believe I even muttered the words to my boyfriend: "This is why I read!!"

And then something happened around the last couple pages. There were two mysteries in this novel and the main one about the investigator trying to regain his memory and figure out what happened to his childhood friends who disappeared in the woods (he was the only one to survive!) was not going to be solved. He couldn't do it, couldn't remember.

WHAT?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!

The author makes it very clear this mystery will remain unsolved. There will no sequel, no passing mention in future books of "Oh yeah, that guy. Turns out he killed his friends". NOTHING!! I felt gypped and hugely unsatisfied. Who writes a mystery and doesn't even bother to include the solution??

If anything, this level of dissatisfaction changed how I currently read books. For the longest time, whenever I finish a book that felt like it took a piece of my soul and I needed a break, I move on to what I call my "inbetween books"- fluffy books that don't require much headspace. Sometimes these inbetweeners are, in fact, mysteries though not always. Well, my complete hunger for closure after reading "In the Woods" has caused me to constantly seek out the next big soul shaker - the next book that I can really chew.

There has only been one other book recently that has left me feeling so empty after finishing it and that was "Gone Girl". And it made me analyze why I need closure in a book in the first place. Problems in real life do not get wrapped up so neat and tidy, so why do I require that of my mysteries? Are we moving away from "The Butler Did It" form of writing and into a more gritty re-imagining of what detective work and real life cases actually consist of, that is the "unsolved" factor?

I don't know. All I know is I have never longed for an "inbetweener" ever again, and I have to blame "In the Woods" for that.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 07, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ireland, irish-crime-fiction-and-mystery, mystery-series-first-novel

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 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...more 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 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. (less)

12 likes · like · see review

Mar 25, 2008 Marya rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-mystery

Despite not finishing this book, I could not reconcile what I had read with the blurbs on the back cover. It was almost as though the review authors and I were reading entirely different books.

True, the author is prosaic, but that does not automatically translate into "beautiful and brilliantly evocative prose". I found her prose to be long-winded, and used exclusively for atmospheric descriptions, rather than to further the plot.

Secondly, the blurbs mentioned vivid characters. Indeed, the autho...more

18 likes · like · see review

Nov 26, 2007 Janis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: murder-mystery, read-in-2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

8 likes · like · see review

Nov 14, 2008 Brooke rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, mystery

I started this over a week ago and was so busy I was only able to peck away at it a few pages at a time, which was killing me. Right away in the first few pages, the writing style struck me as almost lyrical and mysterious. The premise was intriguing - Adam Ryan went missing with two of his friends when they were 12. He was the only one to return, with blood in his shoes and without his memory. Many years and one name change later, he's a detective assigned to a murdered child case in the same t...more

7 likes · like · see review

topics	posts	views	last activity
Not Feeling the Love	32	223	May 18, 2013 07:40pm
Detective/Mystery Writing	4	49	Apr 26, 2013 07:23pm
The ending (needless to say, contains spoilers)	72	671	Apr 13, 2013 02:55am
The ending	4	80	Mar 22, 2013 08:27pm
Around the World ...: Rogue traveler	1	20	Jan 12, 2013 01:18pm

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In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1)

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