There was a time when I believed, with the police and the media and my stunned parents, that I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever freak tide carried Peter and Jamie away. Not any more. In ways too dark and crucial to be called metaphorical, I never left that wood.
In Knocknaree, Ireland in 1984, young Adam Ryan and two of his friends disappeared into the woods near their home. Ryan was later found standing in the woods, his shoes filled with blood, in a near-catatonic state. He has no memory of what happened in the woods or where his friends ended up, and he’s done everything he can to forget the experience, move on with his life, and prevent people from finding out that he was the boy who came back.
Now, twenty years later, Adam Ryan has become Rob Ryan, and he’s a homicide detective. When a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in a clearing where Knocknaree’s woods used to be, Rob and his partner (and very close friend) Cassie Maddox are called to investigate, and Rob, wondering if this murder is somehow connected to the long-ago disappearance of his friends, is simultaneously excited and terrified.
What if he gets answers? What if he remembers something he’d really rather not? What if the truth about his identity gets out, and what if the truth about what happened to him is even worse than what he’s imagined for the last twenty years?
Tana French’s debut novel In the Woods is a deliciously creepy psychological thriller of the very best sort. While the whodunit element of the story is certainly important and well-written, the real beauty of In the Woods lies in French’s depiction of the easy, comfortable intimacy between Rob and Cassie—the sort we all feel with our very closest friends but can rarely put into words—and her vivid imagining of the effects the investigation has on Rob. Unable to keep his usual professional distance from this case, Rob finds himself slowly falling apart. A crack here. A slip there. One drink too many some night or other. They’re small things, but he is both painfully aware of them and unable to make himself stop, and they become impossible to ignore.
Not only does French craft a smart, unpredictable, well-told mystery that will keep readers guessing AND bring her characters to life with spot-on descriptions and true-to-life relationships, she does it all with wonderful writing. I don’t always expect that from mysteries, since the linchpin of a mystery really is the plot, and it was such a delightful surprise with In the Woods. I occasionally found myself pausing to savor a particularly beautiful sentence or absorb a vivid description, and that’s the kind of thing that really makes me appreciate a book.
In the Woods is engrossing and frightening in that all-too-possible way, and it will appeal to seasoned mystery fans and cross-over readers alike. After devouring this great read, I can hardly wait to get my hands on The Likeness, French’s second novel, told from Cassie’s perspective. 4 out of 5.
Check out this book trailer for In the Woods, and visit Tana French’s website for more details.
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