In the Woods

This novel enthralled me at the start. I suffered through some rather dull patches, assured that the ending would somehow wow me. I anticipated some answers or connections of the two mysteries but was completely let down. It left a lot to be desired. It did not stop me from reading her next mystery, The Likeness, which was a sort of interesting in a very luke-warm sort of way.

You can tell French is in love with her words on the first page. It's this characteristic that makes the novel slower than most psychological whodunits. As to whodunit, no surprise in the first case, left unresolved in the second. The protagonist Ryan has to be the dullest soul on earth. I don't get the hype or the awards, but as they say, reading is an individual experience and not all novels are everyone's cup of tea.

I agree that there are disappointments with the denouement of this beautifully written novel. But it is meant to be more than a mystery or police procedural. It is a tragedy about lost opportunities. Katy Devlin's life of promise was cruelly cut short, but so was Adam Ryan's. So, indeed, are the lives of many of the people in Knockaree, in Ireland, everywhere. But the author also offers her readers the promise of how people can rise above their painful experiences.

Spoiler Alert for those who haven't read the book:

The last remaining memory held by Rob Ryan regarding life before his best friends were taken presents a beautiful world full of infinite possibilities. This is seen with the innate optimism of children who have not yet experienced loss and the harsh realities of life. The fact that all of this light and joy would be destroyed in one horrible afternoon is terribly sad. It doesn't really matter who or what took his friends. Life's tragedies don't always have easily identifiable villains. Adam Ryan made it out of the woods, but he was broken - perhaps irrevocably.

As Ryan's work as a Murder detective is the only thing that gives him a sense of success and personal fulfillment, his demotion is cruel. But it is just. He himself has been cruel to those who loved him. His inability to allow real intimacy and commitment explains, but does not justify, his callous treatment of Cassie and others. Perhaps a few years of reflection on his choices will lead him to some kind of salvation. Perhaps not.

Beyond the mixed success of Katy's murder investigation, Tana French offers us one hopeful, if not dramatic, resolution. Cassie, drawn to Ryan by her own complexity and history of personal injury, ultimately chooses to move beyond pain and tragedy. Her easy happiness with Sam shows how she, unlike her former partner, can move forward. She has found a place of affection, support and comfort. She has chosen mental health and contentment. Sam may be a yokel. But there is truly an important difference between intriging and damaged.

this book could have been so great. i feel cheated. i really enjoyed the first 98% of the book though. sorry if this is a spoiler but i am doing you a favor. no one likes to feel angry after finishing a book.

French's debut really is everything it's cracked up to be: literate, taught, and consummately spooky. Her characters are achingly believable, from the police, victim and villains right down to the not-so-innocent bystanders. The central mystery is satisfying as well, though it's less puzzle than psychodrama, with the damaged detective-narrator playing the main role. His gradual disintegration, and subsequent self-understanding, would be compelling reading in any genre.

Readers may be unsettled, however, by the book's fantastic element. This is not a novel that plays by strict generic rules: those who ONLY like mysteries might be exasperated by French's cagy blend of fantasy, horror, and mystery. The woods of the title are haunted, maybe literally, by echoes of both the narrator's past and the nation's; by the god Pan, and the fear he is supposed to inspire in lonely places. It's about wildness and childhood, as well as a particular crime. Personally, I thought it was perfect. It's reminiscent of the best in English ghost stories, but anchored by the police procedural plot--think Algernon Blackwood or M. R. James by way of Ian Rankin. For a blustery October night, what could be better?