In the Woods

I was absorbed reading this book. The characters were rich and multidimensional. The dual mysteries were intriguing, but it ended with one unresolved.

I just finished reading "In the Woods," which was no small feat and took up much of my free time. Soon after finishing the last sentence, the book was swiftly tossed across the floor in an act of utter disappointment and I immediately started searching the web for reader's reviews. Most of what I found were raving accolades for Tana French's accomplishments and plenty of "atta girls" for publishing an amazing first work. I scratched my head and thought..."Did my copy of this book experience some fluke mis-print that left out the 'real' final chapter?" Nay, nay. Then, I found this site and was relieved that I was not the only person who was cheated out of an acceptable ending. As many other reader's mentioned, I enjoyed the book so much and was so excited to get the answers to the 1984 mystery that I overlooked several things about the plot.

#1--The irritating relationship between Cassie and Rob where WAY too much time was spent beating the readers to death with the details of their teenage eye-batting and cutesy one-line zingers. I guess it was meant to be endearing but it was just ridiculous.

#2--The irritating relationship between Adam, Peter & Jamie whose bond was strange and unrealistic. None of that made sense.

#3--The obvious fact that Rosalind was a total wack-job who seemed to be the most apparent suspect in the death of Katy (so much so that I immediately ruled her out)

#4--The fact that when Katy's murder is solved, it's done with little climax compared to how much time was spent through most of the book investigating all possible scenarios--it wasn't much of a surprise where you think, "Wow, that is crazy!!"

#5--The awkward placement of Sam, the sweet-natured bumble-head, who didn't really fit into the "mix" of Cassie & Rob's irritating relationship, which only made it more irritating to add him into their friendship-fold.

#6--The ridiculousness of Cassie and Sam getting engaged. Where did that come from and who the hell cares?

#7--The detectives suspecting that Katy's illness was due to someone poisoning her and then miraculously, Katy describing it in her diary almost exactly the same way as the Detectives had pondered it previously. And how did she hide her diary behind some poster at the dance studio without people seeing her do this for months on end every day??

#8--The lack of explanation for Jessica's "issues."

#9--The randomness of Rob's treatment of Cassie after they spend the night together romantically. The way the author built up the strength of their relationship as friends and partners, it doesn't seem (again) realistic that Rob would take such a 180 degree turn towards his treatment of her, even if he had prior issues with women.

#10--The continual, tiring statements made by Rob that he has no memory of the past. God help us,that went on forever.

And of course, what made all of this maddening was that I held out to the bitter end, waiting to find out how this brilliant new author was going to weave everything together at the end. I was so committed to this book that I actually believed that in the last few pages, when the construction worker gave Rob the artifact, that it would somehow provide the link that would spark Rob's memory (finally!) and he'd tie the whole mystery of the past and present together. Um no. Wishful thinking.

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm no literary expert who can disect plot lines and character development, etc. I'm just a girl who likes to read and feel satisfied when I close the book for good. I don't know what the author was trying to accomplish by leaving everyone hanging, but if it was supposed to be "clever," much as the Sopranos ending was speculated to be, she better come up with another book that explains what happened. At least I immediately suspected that's what the Sopranos' writers were looking to do--lead into a movie that we'd all go run out and see to find out the true ending.

I always donate my used books to the local library but this time...I just can't burden others in my community with this major disappointment.

While I enjoyed much of this book, as it became clearer and clearer towards the end that the most compelling reason to keep reading (a 20 yr old murder mystery) would not even be explained, I truly was incredulous. The reader is given many hints as to the who, what, and how of this 20 year old case, and one can't help but engage in much enjoyable speculation and anticipate a fantasic twist of an ending. I couldn't have been more shocked, disappointed, and angry. I felt entirely bamboozled like many other readers. Very few books grab my attention like this one, where I actually control myself from reading ahead because I don't want to ruin it.
Instead, the reader is left with no closure, no explanations, no hints of any kind. Now we all know that many instances, missing persons cases are not resolved. However, one actually buys this book because of the enticing lure of this 20 year old mystery (the paragraph on the back cover talking about a boy found with bloody shoes clinging to a tree)so it's practically criminal not to give some resolution to the reader at the end. You are teased with animal sightings, strange people from the past, and visits to the same woods where the crime (s) occured. And yet at the end- nothing.

Add to that some trite dialogue and the laughable scenario of the two main characters (male and female) having dinner and sleepovers without any sexual activity, and you have a novel that wastes huge potential.

Don't waste your time.

Irish writer Tana French takes the shocking murder of a twelve-year-old girl, expose the naked motives of the killer and create a dramatic tension that speaks as much to the intimacies of friendship as the motive for murder. Not content with a mystery, the detectives dissecting every aspect of the small village of Knocknaree and its inhabitants in deconstructing the crime, French adds layers of complex emotions to her characters and their histories, the back-story as riveting as the murder. The body of Katy Devlin is found at a local archeological dig, the excavation threatened by a politically-sensitive road soon to be built through the village. Protests and suits have not deterred the government, time critical to the solution of the murders.

Cassie Maddox and her partner, Rob Ryan, are assigned the case, Cassie the only female on the squad. But Cassie's relationship to her partner is extraordinary. Of like mind, they tackle Katie's murder with predictable thoroughness, interview the workers at the dig, the girl's family and friends, gradually assembling a puzzle that will only be solved by painstaking attention to detail. The one anomaly is Rob's background: twenty years earlier, three twelve-year-olds, Jaimie, Adam and Peter disappear, only Adam found later in the woods, his sneakers filled with blood. Traumatized, the boy has no memory of that terrible day. Now another murder has occurred in the same area, detective Rob Ryan the boy found in the woods two decades ago. When Cassie realizes her partner is Adam Ryan, Rob promises to remain objective, to remove himself from the case if he endangers the investigation. What Rob doesn't realize is that such objectivity is out of his control, his emotions heightened the closer they get to the truth, his judgment impaired as the past claims his attention in spite of his best intentions.

Like most murders, this one is rooted in the twisted motives of the killer, the more profound drama playing out in the Murder Squad, where Maddox and Ryan perform their intricate dance with witnesses and suspects, meeting after-hours at Cassie's place late into the night, exploring the dynamics of the case. What Cassie and Rob have not forseen is an emotional complication that that undermines a carefully constructed level of intimacy and mutual respect, Rob's perspective distorted by his childhood trauma, Cassie unable to navigate this treacherous terrain without damaging their friendship, the result painful to both. In spite of their problems, Maddox and Ryan solve Katy's murder and the shocking involvement of an unexpected character, causing a rift between the partners. Life conflicting with career, an intense friendship suffers the consequences of secrets and rash judgments. Luan Gaines/2009.

** spoiler alert **

If I could, I'd probably rate this at 1.5 stars-- it ultimately upset me greatly, and annoyed me throughout, but it was good enough to keep me reading and I suppose that should count for something.

Maybe my opinion has been influenced by reading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO immediately prior to this one. That book wasn't perfect, but it had characters you rooted for, didn't wallow too much in pop culture references, and most importantly IT SOLVED THE DARN MYSTERY.

Let's go through a few of these points. First, I don't think I've ever read a mystery novel with a less likable main character/narrator. Rob (Adam) Ryan is a majorly unpleasant jerk, plain and simple. Sure, he's been warped by his childhood and circumstances, but he does just about every annoying thing you could possibly imagine-- he constantly navel-gazes and feels self pity, he sleeps with then immediately plays the stereotypical male "I don't want anything to do with you now" role with his female partner (the person we were told was his best friend, and whom he would never ever sleep with), he acts like an idiot over the 17 year old villain/ temptress/ psychopath/ whatever betraying his partner, and by the end of the book he is worse off than ever. I know that lots of detectives (esp. in hard-boild stories) are unlikable, and have many personal issues, but this guy just took the cake. I wanted to take a baseball bat to his head. To make matters worse, French throws in this little gem towards the end of the novel:

"I am intensely aware, by the way, that this story does not show me in a particularly flattering light. I am aware that, within an impressively short time of meeting me, Rosalind had me coming to heel like a well-trained dog: running up and down stairs to bring her coffee, nodding along while she bitched about my partner, imagining like some starstruck teenager that she was a kindred soul. But before you decide to despise me too thoroughly, consider this: she fooled you, too. You had as good a chance as I did. I told you everything I saw, as I saw it at the time. And if that was in itself deceptive, remember, I told you that, too: I warned you, right from the beginning, that I lie."

As if that excused anything... and NO, she didn't "fool" me, because YOU'RE the narrator and YOU'RE the one telling the story. This paragraph probably ticked me off more than anything else in the book.

Second, the book seriously dates itself with little pop culture references... from Simpsons quotes to mentions of Ricky Martin and The Simple Life. Gah. The beginning of the book felt like a very special episode of FRIENDS where Chandler, Monica and Ross solve a mystery. I'm a pretty big pop culture type of guy, but the references dropped in this novel just annoyed me.

The last part is a bit more controversial I suppose. There are two central mysteries in this book-- the first, what happened to Katy, DOES get solved in the course of the novel (the "big break" in the case is our hero realizing suddenly that the murder probably took place in a shed about 20 feet from where the body was found! Really?? No one bothered to think of that for a month?), but the deeper mystery about what happened to Rob/Adam and his friends is never resolved. Your mileage may vary about how annoying that is. Truth be told, it didn't annoy me as much as the fact that the true "villain" of the modern mystery walks without being punished in any way. How incredibly unsatisfying.

I know this was a first novel, so hopefully things will improve for her second book. I know, also, that this book won a major award and that lots of people seem to love it to death, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.