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)

Untinished

the ending left too many loose ends. One of the main plots was unfinished. It left me frustrated.

Just OK. I was Disappointed to say the least!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I like mysteries because I like to figure out the mystery. To me this one is more of a romance novel and less of a murder mystery. I found myself having to make myself listen to the rest of the book because there just weren't any clues leading me to figure out who the killer was. The story was OK, just not what I was expecting it to be.

If you’ve listened to books by Tana French before, how does this one compare?

N/A

What does Steven Crossley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I felt that Steven did a good job animating the characters.

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

No. There was no information in the book I was left wondering about.

Any additional comments?

When I purchased this book I thought I was getting a murder mystery, but felt it was more of a romance novel instead. It was just not what I was looking for.

Why did I wait so long???

Ok, I have to admit this book was one of the very first download I got from audible.com over two years ago! I know, I know and no I don't know why it took me so long to listen to it. Now that I am finished I can't believe I waited so long. I LOVED IT.

It is so much more than a mystery and has enough twists to keep us all guessing. The audio version was out of this world with a narrator that did a darn good job of bringing the characters to life. By the end of the book I felt like I was old friends with everyone and I hated to see them go.

I especially liked Cassie. She's a smart mouth, tough as nails police woman who partners with our main character Rob Ryan to find out who killed a young girl and why. Rob and Cassie play off of each other perfectly. He is the straight man to her and she is the one that tries to keep him centered.

Ryan was a victim of a crime when he was just a young boy and there is something about the murder of this young girl that brings all his buried past back to the surface.

I now understand why I have heard and read so much about this thriller. Honestly, I don't know if I would have enjoyed the print book as much. Well, actually I think I would have but Steven Crossley's narration was what made it so enjoyable to me. It's not often that I have a problem turning off the player once I get to work, etc but with IN THE WOODS I sure did. I am going in search of the second book. Highly recommended.

Great story!

This book made me remember why I used to almost exclusively read murder mysteries. I loved the excitement and anticipation in this book. A lot of the complaints I have read about the story was that it was long and a bit slow. I do think both of those descriptions are accurate, but it didn't bother be because there was a lot of great character development.

I was intrigued by the mystery of the missing kids from 1984 from the get-go. I can't imagine how horrible it must be to have survived a tragedy so gruesome that your mind blocks your memory just so you will be able to cope and move on. I really felt like this was an interesting plot detail, and it may have been the one that kept me listening). It's not that I didn't want to know who killed Katie and why, but I really wanted to know what happened to those kids in the woods.

What kept this book from being a five star experience for me was the ending. It's at bit ambiguous to say the least. I'm very interested in following this series and seeing where it goes.

The only thing I didn't like about this particular version was that the narrator was a little breathy. I would like for the publisher to have edited out the bits where you can hear him breathing or swallowing.

I could not stop listening!

This is one of the best books I've ever listen to. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. I would recommend this book, actually I already have recommended this book to a couple of people. If someone asks me for a recommendation for a good book to read, this book will be the book I recommend. I loved her writing. Tana French's development of characters was extremely Vivid through the narrator's voice. Best piece of writing I have listen to in quite a while.

Enjoyable

Enjoyable from start to finish. Nice twisting plot, leaves the reader with something to think about.

Not finished but...something wrong with the chronological order of the audio...

Got halfway through the book and got to a new chapter but...it said it was chapter 1... I had been listening to half the book starting from chapter 9. No wonder some things didn't make sense. Writing this in case other people are experiencing this...

Glad I didn't listen to the negative reviews

Couldn't stop listening! Yes, the main character is a bit frustrating, but he has a traumatic past. The investigation lagged a little, but I imagine that's what happens in real life so it didn't bother me a bit. The narration was fantastic. Will be reading more by Ms. French.

good book

I enjoyed this book glad I came across it.
scary how close to home the actual monsters are.

Very drawn out but with decent characters

I sit here trying to figure out how to review this book without giving away too many details about the story. It is very difficult to discuss the good and the bad without spoiling it for other readers. I will try to keep my review to the main points that influenced my rating the most.

So first off I listened to this book as an unabridged Audible book and it clocks in at over 20 hours. The first problem is at about 60% of the way through the book – it all clicks on the mystery and you realize “Aw Hell” there is still like 40% of the book left. The story basically starts slowing down to almost actual time and it just drags on and on.

The characters of Rob, Cassie and Sam have great chemistry and I did like their interactions and the team dynamic throughout the mystery. Rob and Cassie have a great ease about their relationship that is genuine and built on a strong past. The story is told from Rob’s point of view but I would have liked to hear the other two’s thoughts and observations. Rob as a main character is very intriguing and you are instantly drawn into his world but he is not that likable of guy.

I never really got a sense of geography or layout of spaces from the author but I got a great sense of what people look like and their expressions. The narrator Stephen Crossley did a fine job with the book and really gave a voice to the characters to match the authors great descriptions.