I read this crime novel while on holidays recently and it was one of the most gripping, well-written books I’ve ever read. I stayed awake until 3am reading it one night and, after that, was unable to sleep!
The book centres on a creepy forest in Ireland and two crimes that may or may not be linked. The first takes place in 1984 and involves the disappearance of two children in the woods. The third child is found, his socks soaked in blood, clinging to a tree, but unable to tell the police what has happened to his friends. Twenty years later, a child is found murdered in the woods and Detective Ryan (who happens to be the child left behind) is working on the case.
Tana French does an amazing job in creating the characters and the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the woods. Murky memories of 1984 rise to the surface and the reader struggles to put things together, desperate to find out what exactly has happened and what is happening in the woods of Knocknaree.
I highly recommend this book! If you’ve read it and have thoughts, please post a comment.
It may be worth noting that Tana French’s “In the Woods” has just been shortlisted for a 2008 Edgar award for Best First Novel by an American Author. (She qualifies due to having been born in Vermont, though she has since lived in Malawi, Italy, and – since 1990 – Ireland, where the story takes place.) The book is out in 22 languages and was ranked by the editors at Amazon.com as No. 13 of all books published in 2007. There’s a certain amount of controversy about the way it breaks “rules” of the mystery genre, but I was blown away by its portrayal of one of the scariest (in part because of being so unobtrusive) sociopaths in recent fiction. And yes, it’s beautifully-written!
I loved your review of this book. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve linked to it as part of my own.
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