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Tana French

Goodreads Author

Born

in Ireland

Website

http://www.tanafrench.com/

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

Member Since

September 2014

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/Tana_French

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Tana French is the New York Times bestselling author of In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, The Secret Place, The Trespasser and The Witch Elm. Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry Awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.

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Popular Answered Questions

I LOVE your books and am about to start The Secret Place. I am sure you have been asked this before, but are we ever going to find out, what happened "In the Woods"?

Tana French

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[ Thank you very much!

The thing about In the Woods is that Rob Ryan is - possibly because of whatever happened when he was twelve, possibly just because…more Thank you very much!

The thing about In the Woods is that Rob Ryan is - possibly because of whatever happened when he was twelve, possibly just because of who he is - the kind of person who's incapable of taking any irrevocable leap. Whenever he gets close to anything that's irrevocable, he runs as far and as fast as he can - he does it in his relationship with Cassie, for example. So when he gets to the verge of remembering what happened, that's what he does: he runs.

So when it came to the ending of In the Woods, I had three choices:

1 - Turn the narrator into a totally different character at the end of the book, for the sake of a neat plot resolution: shoddy and dishonest.

2 - Have some other character do a deus ex machina and find out for him: forced and cheap.

3 - Complete the arc of his psychological journey (which for me was the core plot arc of the book) and the arc of the modern-day mystery, but leave the old one unsolved.

I went with the third one - because that was the one that was true to the character and the rest of the book, and because I always saw In the Woods as a book about Rob and what that old mystery resurfacing does to him, rather than a book about the mystery itself. I knew some readers would be furious that it didn't stick to the conventions of the mystery genre, and I could see why - but on the other hand, I also knew some readers would be furious if I sold out my narrator in the last chapter for easy closure. I figured all I could do was write the best book I was capable of writing, and hope it was good enough.

This is a long-winded way of saying that, at the moment, I can't see any way I'd be able to resolve that mystery - again, the answer is in Rob's head, and his nature means that he'll never have the courage to take that leap and find it. But I haven't ruled out the possibility that I'll find a way to clear it up, somewhere down the line.

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Why aren't more of your narrators female? All of your detectives are such real people that I can connect to each of them in different ways, but I would love to see a book of yours told from a female perspective again.

Tana French Coming right up in Book 6, if I ever (fingers crossed) get it finished :-)

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Tana French’s books

Average rating: 3.86 · 707,322 ratings · 63,329 reviews · 15 distinct works • Similar authors

	In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) 3.77 avg rating — 277,524 ratings — published 2007 — 101 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2) 4.06 avg rating — 110,873 ratings — published 2008 — 70 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad #3) 3.98 avg rating — 83,809 ratings — published 2010 — 78 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad, #4) 3.94 avg rating — 69,395 ratings — published 2012 — 65 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad #5) 3.85 avg rating — 56,525 ratings — published 2014 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) 3.96 avg rating — 56,090 ratings — published 2016 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Witch Elm 3.54 avg rating — 52,749 ratings — published 2018 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Littekenweefsel 3.83 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Soso no niwa. 1. [葬送の庭（上] 3.69 avg rating — 13 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Soso no niwa. 2. [葬送の庭（下）] 3.56 avg rating — 9 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Tana French

Dublin Murder Squad (6 books)
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Tana French (Goodreads Author)

3.89 avg rating — 654,217 ratings

A great audiobook requires not only fantastic source material, but also a narrator who can translate that text into an amazing...

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Tana French answered Eric Swanson's question: How has your theatrical background influenced your writing? I definitely write like an actor, for better or for worse. I think the acting background is why, until The Secret Place, I've always written in the first person. That's what I'm used to doing: working to create a real, three-dimensional character,... See Full Answer
Oct 01, 2014 03:27PM · 44 likes · like
Tana French answered Corey's question: Perhaps what I find most compelling about your novels is the detailed backstories and vibrant descriptions of the characters and settings that make both linger. Can you point to other writers that you think share this particular talent, either contemporaries or perhaps those that influenced you? And, what was the last great book you've read that you would recommend? Thanks! Thank you very much :-) When you mention in-depth, vibrant characterisation and settings, some of the first writers who spring to mind are Patricia Highsmith, Donna Tartt, Daniel Woodrell and T.H. White. All of them bring their characters to life... See Full Answer
Oct 01, 2014 01:19PM · 33 likes · like
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Sep 23, 2014 02:19PM · Be the first to ask Tana French a question

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Quotes by Tana French

“I've always loved strong women, which is lucky for me because once you're over about twenty-five there is no other kind. Women blow my mind. The stuff that routinely gets done to them would make most men curl up and die, but women turn to steel and keep on coming. Any man who claims he's not into strong women is fooling himself mindless; he's into strong women who know how to pout prettily and put on baby voices, and who will end up keeping his balls in her makeup bags.”
― Tana French, Faithful Place

tags: beauty, cruelty, independence, love, men, strength, survival, women

556 likes

“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.”
― Tana French, In the Woods

tags: darkness, fear, heart

351 likes

“I am not good at noticing when I'm happy, except in retrospect.”
― Tana French, In the Woods

tags: happiness, life

335 likes

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