In the Woods - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
A gorgeously written novel that marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.

Customer Reviews: Read 227 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

A great read June 14, 2007
95 out of 116 found this review helpful

First of all, beware that the review from K. Schlotterback (baaaad ending) contains a spoiler!!! So don't read it if you don't want to know one of the ending points. On to the story, really compelling! The interaction of the partners as they investigate the murder, was great reading. I hope we haven't seen the last of these characters! As an aside, the Ireland setting is fun too, as is deciphering the Irish colloquialisms. Terrific first outing!

4 out of 5 stars

A Great Novel with an Annoying Ending August 12, 2007
52 out of 57 found this review helpful

This novel takes a bit to get going, but once it does you're sucked into a really great mystery novel. The character are flawed but still very real and you find yourself caring about what's happening to them, asking yourself why they are making decisions that are obviously bad, and annoyed when you don't get the ending you've been waiting for since page one. Even better, Tana French immerses us into modern Ireland; a country that continues to ride the Celtic Tiger economy while dealing with all that implies. There are two issues I have with the novel. First, the author basically gives us two plots and gives equal time to both; however, only one of those plots ever reaches any sort of conclusion and the one we most want to see solved is left open ended. Second, while the other plot is resolved it's resolved in way that was very annoying and a major letdown. Maybe the author thought she was being different but ending the novel this way, but it didn't work. No, I don't think every novel has to conclude with everything nicely tidied up, but when I turned the last page I was just left with a feeling of disappointment. Still, it's great novel, especially for an author's first published work.

3 out of 5 stars

Dubliner detectives, doers of dastardly deeds; a dazzling debut with a dud denouement August 17, 2007
49 out of 63 found this review helpful

In the Woods is smartly written and rich in uncommon vocabulary and vivid descriptions. So much so that some readers may be able to forgive the ridiculous plot. During the first few hundred pages, it would be tough to complain about the story, clues and character development in a book of this genre. But once the perpetrator and the motive are revealed, the reader will be too busy scratching his or her head to pay much attention to the rest, which is just as well since some major plot details are never resolved and others just plain don't make sense. A happy ending in a murder mystery is neither required nor expected; however, a cohesive resolution is. Killer writing, lifeless plot. Better but different: The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks and An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.

1 out of 5 stars

A book in three acts--CAUTION: SPOILERS. July 28, 2007
43 out of 46 found this review helpful

"In the Woods" can be summarized as a book with three acts.

Act I superbly sets up an interesting and even compelling mystery. One of the best openings I have ever read. The heart-rending murder of a child seems to promise a deep and appropriate cause commensurate with the magnitude of the crime.

But then Ms. French runs out of gas. Act II is a tedious bore going nowhere and featuring the wimpish hero's drunkeness and smoking as time fillers.

And Act III is an anti-climatic disappointment of the first order. After beginning a seeming epic of evil, the perp turns out out to be motivated by the most banal of motives. The murder of a little girl is trivialized and the excellent build-up ruined.

And dont even get me started on the author's cheating the reader by leaving the other major mystery unresolved. Indeed, the author spends an inordinate amount of time telling us about the personal life of her detective. One would expect this to have something to do with the two mysteries she constructs. It does not.

In sum, a mystery that promises much and delivers little.

5 out of 5 stars

Is There Something Out There? March 31, 2007
40 out of 48 found this review helpful

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the United States and Malawi. She has lived in Dublin since 1990. She trained as an actress, at Trinity College in Dublin and has worked in the theatre and film. In the Woods is her first novel.

I don't know if it is because this book is the first novel of the author or just a coincidence, but the book just seemed to have a "fresh" feel to it. Taking it out of the run of the mill mystery/suspense/thriller. Even the cover of the book seemed more like a work of art than many of the brash book covers that are supposed to leap off the shelf at you.

The book begins when a young boy of twelve went playing in the woods with his two best friends. The boy, Adam Ryan never saw his friends again. The bodies of his two friends were never found and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against a tree and his shoes were full of blood, but Adam has no recollection of what has occurred.

Twenty years on and Adam, using his second name Rob is a detective with the Dublin police force. None of his colleagues know about his past. When the body of a young girl is found at the site of an archaeological dig, Rob and his partner Cassie are given the case. It is only when they arrive at the crime scene that Rob realises that it is the exact same spot where his childhood nightmare took place.

Rob knows that if his past came to light he would be thrown off the case, so he makes a decision to keep quiet. Is there a connection between the old unsolved crime and the recent one of the young girl, called Katy Devlin . . .

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