In the Woods (2007)

IN THE WOODS is a well-written, realistic and gritty psychological crime thriller set in Dublin.

What I loved about the book: Beautiful use of language; rich descriptions, complex characters and intriguing plot, although I correctly guessed the main villain early.

What I disliked about the book: too often the main protagonist (Detective Rob/Adam Ryan) acted, thought and sounded like a teenage girl (throughout the book I was fully aware that I was reading from a male point of view as written by a female author); also, I prefer more resolution and less melancholy in the endings to the novels I read for relaxation (I want reassurance that good will triumph, even if only between the pages of a book.)

However, once I started IN THE WOODS, I read compulsively until the end - there's an edge to it that keeps you reading long after midnight. ( )

So, it was okay. The mystery was interesting and the characters were compelling, but something just didn't quite click for me in this book and I struggled to get into the story. To be fair, I'm a very hit-and-miss mystery reader, so more dedicated readers might really love this book. ( )

I enjoyed this book right up to the point that the main character started acting irredeemably stupidly and obnoxiously. Unfortunately, I wasn't nearly as fooled or shocked at the big reveal as the main character and that really brought the book to an unsatisfactory conclusion for me. That said, I very much enjoyed the trip almost all the way to the end and if not for the feeling of frustration at not being able to follow the main character all the way through, I would have given this book 4 stars or more. ( )

I enjoyed this book right up to the point that the main character started acting irredeemably stupidly and obnoxiously. Unfortunately, I wasn't nearly as fooled or shocked at the big reveal as the main character and that really brought the book to an unsatisfactory conclusion for me. That said, I very much enjoyed the trip almost all the way to the end and if not for the feeling of frustration at not being able to follow the main character all the way through, I would have given this book 4 stars or more. ( )

I am guilty of having high expectations for books when I see the amount of ratings and reviews on a book here on Goodreads. This was the case for Tana's French "In The Woods". I was expecting a fast paced crime mystery novel. Or at least an intriguing twisted plot. A story that grabs you. A mystery that keeps waiting for an answer. None of this is happening in the woods.

Stunningly the book is slow paced and repetitive. The opening mystery never got resolved, just
throwing its shadows into another crime. Usually the first person prescriptive is intriguing as I can see the story and hear it from the protagonist's point of view. But not in this novel. Telling the story from Rob / Adam Ryan prescriptive, didn't connect with me at all. Sometimes I didn't even feel it was a 1st person prescriptive anymore. The whole idea of a fictional plot is to make it believable and real. In several parts of the book with the amount of several unbelievable actions like So a police detective works in a police force in "a small Dublin suburb" yet the head of police has no idea he was the same kid that lost two of his friends in the same woods? Not investigating the shed where the crime happened? Her sister spilling everything out to detective Cassie was totally unbelievable. But yeah, we know that Cassie was a psychopath detector through a silly background story, probably just thrown in for that ending.

I am really baffled that such a 2 star crime novel would get such high exposure. ( )