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)

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.

Dragged and Poor Ending

This book struggled to keep my attention. Only at a few points throughout the book was my curiosity piqued enough to want to not put it down and, in the end, I kept listening just to find out what actually happened to the 3 kids that went into the woods. Boy was I disappointed.

Overall, the book doesn't have enough gripping content for its length.

Still Not Sure How I Feel

I am still not sure how I feel about this book! It was deep and interesting and kept me up way too late a number of nights. I became very involved in the characters, which is not always a good thing when one strays from the ....happily ever after guaranteed books....;. But it was the kind of story that has you thinking about it after you are done listening. Another note, the ending felt unsettling to me.

There is no doubt in my mind that French is a talented, detailed writer, now I just have to decide if it is too detailed for me. I did enjoy learning about Dublin and Crossley does a fine job. I can say with certainty that it is worth a credit.

Excellent tale. But ending left me unfulfilled.

This is my first book by this author. She can certainly weave a story! The descriptions and emotions were captivating. I did figure out who-dun-it, mostly, from the first third of the book.. however, there were multiple sub-plots which were all blended together to make a great story! My highly suspecting the culprit didn't detract at all from my enjoyment. I still couldn't stop listening!

However, that being said.. the ending isn't the type I like. One central mystery in left in limbo and the ending is just plain sad.. I suppose this is just my taste.. I like "happily-ever-after" and "the good guys always win" endings.

This is great story if you like solving puzzles, introspection, and serious studies on profiling/personalities.

Major disappointment

This book left me with a really bad taste in my mouth and brain. A waste of time and money.

No Heroes in the real world

I always say that there very few actual bad books, just books with different styles, the ones you would need the right mind and mood to read them. So I will not say this book is downright bad. But I definitely wasn't with the right mind to read it. My final impression after I spent the 14 hours or so to complete it, is that Tana French built a story of mystery and intrigue that you care about, characters that you relate with and a pinpoint narrative that sticks you to the earphones, so she can make it look like a carefully crafted building that you admire, then she sticks dynamite on it and blow it up sky high.
The central core of the story is as cliche as it can be, but even for that, she does not deliver a satisfying ending. All the mysteries she creates, sometimes even hinting to the supernatural, is only to deviate your attention from the obvious conclusions. And. I feel obliged to tell you that. the main mystery of the book, the one that in certain moments puts you the edge of seat, goes out UNSOLVED. The author makes a point until the very last minute (I'm not exaggerating on this) to tease you that now, at long last, she you reveal the secret behind Ryan's past, but no. She does not.
I could go on on other things she makes you care about, just to destroy them at your face, but that is unnecessary.
What looks like in the end is that the biggest villain in the book, is Tana French herself.