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)

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!

Forgettable

The book isn't terrible, but it isn't memorable. There are two mysteries, only one of which is solved. The one that isn't was far more intriguing, while that one that is had a completely predictable twist. The author uses repetitive language, some elements of the story are entirely pointless, and it drags on in several places. The main character sucks. I wouldn't recommend this book, but I don't actively hate it or anything.

Lyrical, captivating mystery

I loved this book. It’s so well-written in a way that is a bit atypical of mystery novels. Don’t get me wrong - mysteries are my favorite genre, but they can sometimes be lacking in lyricism. In the Woods is different. The writing is beautiful, but not at the expense of an enthralling, suspenseful, captivating plot line. I loved the way the story unfolds. Please just read this book. You won’t be able to put it down.

Some of the writing is downright lyrical

It's a deeply disturbing story about characters that aren't really that compelling. You don't identify with much about them, you don't find out the truth (really) about the main character and you want the woman detective to be more dazzling. But it's entertaining and some of the sentences flow together beautifully.

Good story, okay narrator

Good story, kept me with it, but the narrator needs a little work in mastering believable female voices. His characterization of Rosalind (sp?) gave up too much in foreshadowing, and most of the time just sounded like a guy trying to imitate a woman. That was sort of my stumbling point… I’ll try another in the series but hopefully it will be with a different narrator!

I can hear everything!

I can hear all the background noise from the narrator. I could hear hammering and tapping on the table.

Excellent

Tana French is a talented writer. This book, as well as her more recent work, The Likeness, were intriguing, compelling stories with complex, believable characters. I eagerly await her next novel.

Interesting story

Loved the story - disappointed by the ending. Loved The characters and dialogue and insight into police murder work. Love t. French - will listen to anything she writes!