In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Oct 05, 2011 Gina rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own-read, mystery, suspense, murder, thriller, mystery-crime, challenges-2012, part-of-a-series, mystery-detective, book-club

This was a fantastic book! It drew me in from the very start and I stayed up a few nights way past my bedtime. The writing was superb and the characters were so well developed I felt like I would know them if I passed them in the street. There are 2 things that annoyed me enough to not give it 5 stars.

1. Ryan's long winded monologues and self-reflections that occurred over and over along the way. It eventually took away from the plot and I actually skimmed many of them near the end.
2. The flowe ...more

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Jul 11, 2013 Darlene rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, bought, audiobook, audio-1000, read-in-2018, mystery

I have long wanted to start this series, but I am somewhat put off by longer books. I decided to listen to this one while painting my children's rooms over a three-day weekend because I could listen for long periods without a break.

The author describes Detective Rob Ryan as someone who craves the truth but lies. I thought that was an odd statement. The event that takes place in the beginning of the book happened during Rob's (then known as Adam) childhood in 1984. He, with two friends, went into I have long wanted to start this series, but I am somewhat put off by longer books. I decided to listen to this one while painting my children's rooms over a three-day weekend because I could listen for long periods without a break.

The author describes Detective Rob Ryan as someone who craves the truth but lies. I thought that was an odd statement. The event that takes place in the beginning of the book happened during Rob's (then known as Adam) childhood in 1984. He, with two friends, went into the woods near his home in Knocknarea and he was the only one who came back out. His shoes were filled with blood, and he was catatonic from shock. He has no memory of what happened, and the other two kids were never found. The story then moves forward to the present, when a case brings him back to Knocknarea.

I have to admit that I struggled a bit with this one. It took me a while to get into it, so I was thankful that the painting kept me listening for 6+ hours at a stretch. I did like the book but it moves slowly and it's quite long (20+ hours on audio). I think if I would have been listening to this one solely on my work commute, it would have frustrated me and taken me forever to get through. For me, I really needed to get a good chunk of listening in to be fully immersed into the story.

While the present-day mystery gets wrapped up by the end of the book, we still do not find out what happened to Rob in those woods when he was a child. We get a few glimpses, but we are still pretty much in the dark. I would love to know whether that part of his past is revealed in the next book in this series, The Likeness. I actually already bought that one in paperback format before I listened to this one, so I'll be continuing on with the series regardless.

Narrator Steven Crossley is very good, and I enjoyed him. As I mentioned earlier, this is a long book so he definitely did a fine job at keeping me listening. I note that other reviewers have complained that his accent should be Irish not British but the author explains the character's lack of an Irish accent on his schooling in England. Still, that doesn't explain why none of other characters have Irish accents.

This review was posted on my book blog:
https://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com... ...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Lori rated it liked it · review of another edition

This would have been 5 except that after the half way point there was about 150 pages of nothing. Nothing that really added to the story or pushed the storyline. I hated the ending, when you invest this much time you want a resolution, at least for me.

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