In the Woods

This debut novel from Tana French is a traditional police procedural mystery, which I don't usually care for but can manage maybe once a year. The reason I picked this one up in particular was due to its Irish setting, since Ireland is one of my favorite locales for fiction.

It's done pretty well, I think. It's a pure first-person narration, told by detective Rob Ryan as he and his new partner, Cassie Maddox, investigate the gruesome murder of a twelve-year old girl. The suspects are many: her parents, a team of researchers on a dig site where her body was found, a local group protesting the dig - and the group just happens to have a particular tie to the girl's father - and the list goes on. What only Cassie and the reader know is that Rob has closer ties to the murder and its location than anyone else realizes: as children twenty years earlier, he and his two closest friends had been playing in those same woods when the other two children disappeared and Rob - known by his first name Adam then - was found clinging to a tree with blood in his shoes and a completely wiped-out memory. The crime was never solved, the other children never found. Not too long afterwards his family moved away from the area and Adam/Rob went to a boarding school, and over time changed his name and obscured his personal history enough to conceal who he had been so that his bosses don't know the truth and the media can't hound him.

From the beginning of the case he knows he's breaking all the rules and jeopardizing his career by not revealing his identity and obvious conflict of interest to the higher-ups, but because he has never entirely recovered from that tragedy and still does not remember what happened, he feels driven to investigate this new case on the feeling that it may be tied to that day twenty years ago, and possibly solve the mystery of what happened to his missing friends.

Although at times I didn't feel that the author quite got the POV right - i.e., it was sometimes painfully obvious that it was a woman trying to write from a man's perspective - I thought the very personal self-examination Rob subjects himself to throughout the book, and the very real and frustrating flaws he shows, especially towards the end, were compelling. I was not entirely satisfied by the ending but can't reveal why without spoiling, so you'll have to read it yourself to find out! I don't know if my question is ever answered. I do know that there's a follow-up called The Likeness, and although I haven't read it yet I'm intrigued by the fact that in that one the narrative is apparently given by Cassie. I'm interested to get her perspective this time around, both on what went on during this case as well as the new one. I plan to read it in the next few months or so after I whittle down the pile a bit.

All in all a pretty impressive debut, I thought. I'm no expert on police procedurals so I can't pick it apart like a pro, but aside from a few darker moments (human beings really are the most savage race on earth), I enjoyed it and look forward to reading The Likeness.

I thought this was a superior work of fiction. I was amazed that it was a first book for the author. It reminded me of "Mystic River', which is very high praise. It is the type of book that lingers with you long after you have finished. I figured out the mystery part, as the clues were right there, however; this did not take away from the suspense. I do not agree with some of the reviews. I knew after a few chapters, that this was a book that would not give away all it's secrets. Detective Rob Ryan, the narrator of the story, makes that clear from the beginning, as he attempts to come to grips with his childhood demons. While he does appear to have gained some insight by the end of the story, he still has a long way to go. I had hoped that this book would be one of a series, and that Cassie, his partner, would be back also. She is a strong and dynamic character. One who is so smart in profiling, but who appears to make the same mistakes, when it comes to friendships. I felt that there was so much story left to write about both of them. I felt that I had plenty of time to wait. I highly recommend this book.

Back in the waning days of the summer of 1984, three twelve year olds go into the woods, beside where they live, in the small village of Knocknaree. Two are never seen again, and the one boy that is found, is so traumitised he doesn't recall anything that happened on that fateful day.

Fast forward to the present day, and a young girls's body is found on an aracheological dig at Knocknaree, and detectives Rob Ryan, and Cassie Maddox are sent to investigate. However, Rob Ryan, was that child who was found alone in the woods, all those years ago.

Having read the back of this book, I could not wait it read it all! For the most part I was not disappointed. I thought the plot storyline and characters were excellent. My suspicions went from one person and then to another. I was also intrigued, as to how, or if, the modern day case would tie in with the one from 1984.

However, as many other reviewers have also noted, the ending was a major disappointment! I feel there was no satisfactory resolution, and as I write this I still feel somewhat robbed.

This book was definitely heading for five stars, from me, until the ending. I am going to give it four stars, as it was for the most part, a very enjoyable murder mystery, but the ending could have been so much better.

Two great things about this book. First, a terrific sense of place with the Dublin neighborhood. Second, it's mostly sleuthing. And by that I mean it's about thinking and working on a case. There are few distractions. One big coincidence drives this book and you buy it. Why? Because the writing draws you in, the point of view is solid, consistent and compelling. "What we do is crude, crass and nasty," says Detective Rob Ryan in the self-effacing opening and he is, of course, dead on. He tells the story from just a bit in the future, looking back on his own mistakes and his better moments, too. So the tone of the book is splashed with a touch of melancholy, but nothing sappy or sentimental.

Nothing happens easily here. Progress is as slow as an archaeological dig. But it's methodical, inexorable and it eventually reveals the necessary information, the stuff that was buried there all along. The writing isn't flashy, just images and ideas told with a spot-on eye for the convincing detail, layered with Detective Ryan's analysis of his own interior and exterior landscape. Most of that has to do with the dance around cohort Cassie Maddox and we all know what's coming, don't we? Or do we? Ryan is not exactly a joy to be around but he has a good story to tell about how he works and you get to see his mind working up close, warts and self-loathing and all.

While the end isn't wrapped up all neat and tidy, well, I think this was a bold approach too, to have the possibility of a nifty "cases all closed" at the end appear...and then vanish. Seems a bit more realistic, plausible and grounded.

Do authors read these reviews too?

Hands up all those who spotted the murderer by about chapter 5? Not exactly a tough one was it. I started listening to this on CD in the car but got so annoyed by the scenes involving Ryan and Number 1 Suspect (I'm giving the character this pseudonym so not to spoil the ending for others) that I picked up the book in the library and read the last few chapters right there just so I won't have to sit thro another 10 discs of this claptrap. The fact that the most intriguing mystery in the story (ie; the missing kids from 20 years ago) is left open-ended just added to my frustration. I also found several of the characters unconvincing. I couldn't believe Ryan was so gullible - surely no murder detective would be taken in by such an obviously manipulative personality! Frankly, almost all the female characters in this story are vapid, shallow, irritating and unrealistic and the males don't fare much better.

It's a shame that Ms French wrote something that starts out so well and fizzles into a morass of unresolved issues. Perhaps the next book involving Ryan, Cassie and Sam will move things along to a more satisfactory conclusion but I'll be hesitant to read it.