In the Woods by Tana French

In the Woods

Author:  Tana French

Publisher:  Viking Adult

Genre:  Mystery/Thriller

Date Published:  May 17th 2007

 In the Woods has some flaws but I found the story Tana French weaved engrossing.

Detective Rob Ryan along with his partner Detective Cassie Maddox get assigned the case of 12 yr. old Katy Devlin, who was found murdered at a archaeological site in Knocknaree, Ireland. The site of the murder brings back painful memories for Detective Rob Ryan. 12 yr old Rob along with his two best friends Jamie and Paul went into the woods in Knocknaree where the archaeological site is now and only Rob came back. Covered in blood and completely traumatized he has no memory of that day, so consequentially the case of Jamie and Paul remains unsolved. The case of Katy Devlin brings back some memories that affect Detective Ryan as well as her case.

I was quickly grabbed by In the Woods, and it did not let me go until I read the last page. I don’t often read mystery/thrillers but after reading this I wondered why the hell I don’t. It was thrilling, and I was kept on pins and needles wondering who killed Katy, and what happened in those woods twenty years before. I thought Ms. French did a wonderful job intertwining both these cases making for double the ride.

As I mentioned in the beginning there were flaws in In the Woods that irked me. Detective Rob Ryan appeared totally incompetent as a detective at times. I would find myself wondering how someone could be so stupid and not realize something especially a detective. Detective Cassie Maddox was a way better detective in my opinion, and I wanted her to shoot her partner a couple of times for being plain stupid. The biggest no-no though was the ending. This could have been a 5 star book even with the Detective Barney Fife (Rob Ryan), but the ending shattered it. It didn’t put this book super low that I won’t recommend it, because even with the ending I thought it was a pretty good solid debut.

Would I recommend this, yes but I’m warning you the ending could possibly piss you off. I am looking forward to the reading the next book, The Likeness, and I do believe I found another author to keep a look out for.

End the end, did I luurve it..no, but I really really liked it.