In the Woods

A Novel

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony Award winner

Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel winner

Macavity Award winner

The bestselling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter and “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post).

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.”—The New York Times

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.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.

©2007 Tana French (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Critic reviews

"[An] ambitious and extraordinary first novel...rank it high." (The Washington Post)

"Part whodunit, part psychological thriller, and wholly successful...French’s plot twists and turns will bamboozle even the most astute reader.... A well-written, expertly plotted thriller." (NPR)

"In the Woods is as creepily imaginative as it gets." (USA Today)

Couldn’t get it out of my head.

Tara French’s debut novel was both unnerving and compelling. Two storylines merge and divide throughout keeping the reader on edge. Steven Crossley sets the right tone and captures the author’s pacing. I can’t wait to download more of French’s writing and Crossley’s narration.

Great build up.... to nothing

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

In the beginning it was, but she dropped the ball on the ending. I wasn't impressed.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Explain what actually happened in the woods with Adam and his friends which the story seems to be built around.

Which character – as performed by Steven Crossley – was your favorite?

The variation between Cassie and the Police Captain was excellent. I enjoyed the performance.

Do you think In the Woods needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, I hope she eventually explains what happened in the wood all those years ago.

A crime novel that rivots

Would you recommend In the Woods to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend to friends. My husband recommended this book to me, even though he knows I'm not really into crime/mystery/murder novels. This book is really a unique entity, while it's a crime/murder/mystery/detective novel, it's really more about the character and his past than about the trail to find the killer.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last chapter or two were very interesting for me. I loved it and hated it at the same time. It was so real and gritty and human. We always want things to end 'happily ever after', and we want to love our main character all the time. The author pushes us to accept that the protagonist isn't someone we'd like all the time, and that things in the real world don't always wrap up nicely or end happily every after. I respect that very much, however it does kind of leave you hanging at the end of the book.

Best Tana French Yet

What made the experience of listening to In the Woods the most enjoyable?

Extremely creep and VERY timely- strikes a chord with our world economic situation-I absolutely loved this book and I listened to it twice! I highly recommend it if you like psch thrillers- lots of atmosphere

What did you like best about this story?

I can see how the story could happen anywhere
loved the description of the Spains' relationship

Which scene was your favorite?

First entrance into the Spain house

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I hated the neighbors

Any additional comments?

THIS NARRATOR IS FANTASTIC !!!! Please use him again!

Bought it on sale, so I was happy

This has two stories, with only one ending. I kept hoping ... The writing talent was superb. The voice-over talent was excellent, but the annoying background noises, distracting.

Who dunit right!

Great book if you like detective stories and try to figure out who is the culprit! The books provides a very descriptive view into Ireland’s country side! AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

A draggy story

This was an okay story, I guess, although I had pretty much figured out who the culprit was about halfway through. It wasn’t very original, had no interesting twists, and absolutely nothing was left to the imagination as each detail was described or explained as nauseam. As a result I felt like the story just continued to drag on and on. I think about 5 chapters worth of material could easily have been cut without losing anything. There was quite a bit of tell and not enough show.

The side story about the disappearances some 20 years earlier did nothing to move the story forward either. Instead I thought it was an annoying and confusing diversion, since sometimes it was difficult to tell when the story was jumping back to the past. Maybe that’s because I was listening to it on Audible instead of reading it, but since the 20-year-old mystery was never resolved, I just don’t get how the flashbacks helped anyway or why anyone would even care. I would have thought that if the author introduced mysterious happenings in a character’s past, and spent so much time on it, somewhere in the story past and present would merge and both would be solved.

The man reading the story did a good job of voicing the different characters but I also heard background noises from time to time that were mildly irritating.

meh

Anticlimactic. I had the same questions at the end as at the beginning. What the...?

oh the ambivalence

Compelling, but at one point felt like I needed a support group to get through it.

Tana, again, grabs you like a terrier!

Excellent-this was a re-read for me, and I think I enjoyed it more this time. Beautifully developed characters, warmly blended inner relationships and an irrisistably fluid unreeling plot held me captive to the last wistful words. Great book; defs recommend!