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)

Long Long long

This book is ridiculously long with wsy yo much babbling on about mess that had no point.

There is a good story there. But you have to wait hours and hours to “move it along” and hear it.
I cannot imagine how this made the best seller list because I can’t imagine many people having the time and patience to sit through it. The only reason I made it through was because it was an audio book and I had wasted a point on it

Story comes to life with Steven Crossley

Although I loved the story, I have to say that I found the narrator, Steven Crossley, to bring it all to life. Every character sounded distinct and appropriate which, of course, added to the realism of the story.

Lives up to the hype

I’d heard a lot about how amazing this book was and all of the best book lists it made. I was ready to not believe it. To roll my eyes. But it really is a good book and it carves out an interesting place between literary fiction and police procedural. There’s plenty written about this series by vastly better reviewers so who am I. But personally I have never read anything quite like it. I’m a voracious reader of everything from Agatha Christie to Henning Mankell. This is well written, emotional ride.

Is it perfect? Nope. Overwritten in places and I beat the protagonists to some plot points. But I was absolutely, completely immersed. I had all the feels from the first moment to the last.

Not my cup of tea...

I had high hopes after reading the summary, but this book lost me in all the unnecessary details. It’s not all bad, but the story takes forever to unfold and was a bit too fantastic for my taste. I found myself thinking “give me a break” way too often. I also saw the ending coming from a mile away.

Childhood trauma

Great story very suspenseful. Characters prove very interesting. I want to read ore of detective Ryan

I was gut sick over the Character Ryan’s

I was gut sick over the Character Ryan’s continued and long suffering reactions to having sex with his partner Cassie. I really don’t understand exposing the listener to the eventual weakening of the character.

His previous childhood trauma doesn’t justify his fall from his original stronger adult profile, which the author went to great lengths to setup.

The build up of the character and the relationship and then the destructive story line and teasing of it that went on forever. It was unnecessary.

If the intended message was “this is the reason criminal detectives should get involved personally in cases that involved their past, etc”. . . well I can see that, but come on . . . who wants to be depressed and feel anticlimactic in the end?

I will give the next book in line a chance, but I won’t read the third if it’s more supercilious tripe.

Great writing, Meh story

The book is set and written well, even if the ending leaves a lot to be desired. My harshest criticism would be that the main character Rob is a bit difficult to care for. It is relatively obvious (at least to me) that he is a flawed and yet idealistically constructed projection of the author. While that may speak to some people, it put me off. He is a semi cliché example of the tough-guy with a dark past and a secret, while also being pretty pathetic. Overall the book itself is good six or seven out of ten.

Great Story

I loved that the reader changed his voice for the different characters. This made the book so much more enjoyable!

The Reason For British Accent Is Explained

Someone complained that this Irish crime novel was a narrated in a British accent and was upset. The accent is explained at the very beginning ... Now I must get back to this exciting story!

Well written

Not fanciful. Well developed characters. Good performance. Pleasantly surprised. No complaints. Need to meet 15 word minimum.