In the Woods (2007)

Madeline

The book is narrated by Rob Ryan, a former detective on the Irish murder squad. He is haunted by his past. In the summer of 1984, Bob was out playing in the woods with two of his friends. Only Bob was found (clinging to a tree with blood soaking his shoes) but he could not remember a thing. Neither of his friends were ever found. Twenty years later Bob lands back in his home town and is now working on a murder case in the same area where he grew up and where his friends went missing. He has confided his past to his partner, Detective Cassie Maddox, and the two work together to solve the new murder and possibly the uncover the truth about Bob's mysterious past. ( )

I would have loved to give this book the full 5/5 stars (I'm technically giving it a 4.5), but there was just something about this Tana French novel that didn't resonate as strongly with me as the "The Likeness". I realized too late that I read this series out of order and I absolutely loved Tana's writing style right away. She forces me to broaden my vocabulary as well and thankfully I can look up words on my Kindle quickly and easily.

French's writing is so beautifully pieced together. She does a brilliantly job of "showing" versus "telling" the many descriptions of people, places, and events. She crafts a very well put together story that always keeps me guessing "who dun it".

I wish the person telling the story (Detective Ryan) hadn't been such a schlump. French did a great job depicting things through his eyes, but I couldn't get over how self-centered he was and unfortunately that ruined some parts of the story for me. I think I much preferred the third person point of view that French uses in "The Likeness".

With that being said, I really did enjoy this book. It kept me guessing who the murderer was and what the motive was behind it all. I saw something wrong with Rosalind (I mean, Detectives Maddox and Ryan did point it out for us the very first time they visited the Devlin's house), but I never would have guessed the magnitude of the issues within the house after they were able to rule out abuse and rape.

Overall, I rate this book at a 4.5 (too bad Detective Ryan was a bit of a prick), but will give it the full 5 stars because I love Tana French so much. ( )

Ireland
1 Budding Ballerina
1 Identical Twin
1 Tragically Vulnerable Elder Sister (Boy Catnip)
2 Rather Bad Parents
1 Dysfunctional Family
1 Archaeological Site about to be Demolished by Progress

1 Effortless Partnership
2 Troubled Pasts
1 Summer of Lost/Repressed Traumatic Memories
1 Unofficial Profiler (with Psychopath Experience)
Several Shady Land Deals
Countless Bottles of Wine

1 Cold Case
2 Pre-Teen Disappearances
Too Much Blood
1 Hidden Rape ( )

Started off great then long and drawn out. Murder int he woods. Cop couple need to solve the crime. ( )