In the Woods

A Novel

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

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

“Drawn by the grim nature of her plot and the lyrical ferocity of her writing, even smart people who should know better will be able to lose themselves in these dark woods.”
—The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Tana French

“When you read Ms. French — and she has become required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting — make only one assumption: All of your initial assumptions are wrong”
—The New York Times

"It has become increasingly clear that American-born, Dublin-based Tana French is the most interesting, most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years."
—The Washington Post

"[Tana French] inspires cultic devotion in readers…most crime fiction is diverting; French's is consuming."
—The New Yorker

“To say Tana French is one of the great thriller writers is really too limiting. Rather she’s simply this: a truly great writer.”­
—Gillian Flynn

“French is a poet of mood and a master builder of plots.” ­
—The Washington Post

“One of the most distinct and exciting new voices in crime writing.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“French does something fresh with every novel, each one as powerful as the last but in a very different manner. Perhaps she has superpowers of her own? Whatever the source of her gift, it’s only growing more miraculous with every book.”
—Salon.com

A near-flawless audiobook (but for one thing...)

One of the best-written and best read combinations around. I put off reading Tana French for a long time because I've been suckered too often, but when I was barely 1/4 way through Part One (of 3), I sat down and ordered the next two books she has written. The writing is THAT good. The story is elegant and moving and convincing, and the characters are more-real than most of the people in your own life. Steven Crossley has an amazing, rich and varied voice, an almost-beautiful thing to hear.

Here comes the flaw. This is a book which takes place in Ireland, in small town Ireland, amongst working class Irish people. ALL of them are Irish, but NONE of their accents are. The first-person narrator explains away his English accent by conveniently spending his teen years in English boarding school, but what of everyone else? It might be a sin for an English actor to attempt an Irish accent and do it badly, and I do love Crossley's voice, but surely there are Irish narrators looking for work? I've enjoyed many other Irish novels read by Irish readers -- in fact it is one reason I choose an audiobook over the print version sometimes. So, the English reader loses a star for this otherwise brilliant book.

Nicely done.

NOt sure how to write this without being overly sexist so...

This is a book written by a female with a male lead that does not seem as if it was written by a female. Hmmm...what does that mean?

Well, to me, I find that female writers have a different sense of male characters than females. Mars and Venus perhaps? Ultimately, I find too often that males are more of a characiture (sp?) than recognizable. Now many would say this is true, and perhaps male writers do the same to females characters.

BUT! I gambled on this book, hoping for something not to obvious and bombastic. I was delighted. Characters are developed by their relationships with others, not simply described. Multiple layers of plot keep you going in circles, although the clues are put out for you to see. This is like a book version of "Usual Suspects." Read it a second time and it is a different book altogether.

Narration is strong. Good pace and inflection.

Too long

I would have given 3.5 stars if it had been possible as I enjoyed the story but the main character's self wallowing pity got on my nerves. At least 2 hours could have been saved if this had been kept down to the necessary minimum. Shame there weren't any Irish accents as I tended to forget that it was set in Ireland. Worth listening to, but don't tempt it if you're feeling depressed as it'll send you over the edge.

Good writing but a lot of dead air

Tana French wrote a good novel, but Steven Crossley, normally a proficient narrator, narrates this audiobook way...too...slow. While the audiobook is about 20 hours long, Crossley could have easily cut down the time by at least two hours by merely reading in a consistent conversational pace. There are inexplicably many, many long pauses, leaving the listener with a lot of dead air, and painfully slow-paced reading as if the narrator thinks he is reading to an audience who doesn't understand English very well. Nevertheless, Steven Crossley is blessed with a great vocal quality, and Tana French knows how to write a good story. If Crossley had had a speed-up button I could have pushed, this might have been a great audiobook.

Clever AND Heartfelt

Coincidentally, I just finished Benjamin Black's "Vengeance", another procedural set in Dublin. Black's novel is skillfully written, but is no match for French's, kicking with life and clear-eyed observation. She has, for instance, a hardened detective, but he is no romantic figure: he is, as she both demonstrates and remarks, merely "****ed up". All her characters are palpably human, and, quite rare in any fiction, she portrays a convincing "besties" friendship between a male and a female. Amid the general dark mayhem lurks a keen sense of humor.