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From Publishers Weekly
Irish author French expertly walks the line between police procedural and psychological thriller in her debut. When Katy Devlin, a 12-year-old girl from Knocknaree, a Dublin suburb, is found murdered at a local archeological dig, Det. Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, must probe deep into the victim's troubled family history. There are chilling similarities between the Devlin murder and the disappearance 20 years before of two children from the same neighborhood who were Ryan's best friends. Only Maddox knows Ryan was involved in the 1984 case. The plot climaxes with a taut interrogation by Maddox of a potential suspect, and the reader is floored by the eventual identity and motives of the killer. A distracting political subplot involves a pending motorway in Knocknaree, but Ryan and Maddox are empathetic and flawed heroes, whose partnership and friendship elevate the narrative beyond a gory tale of murdered children and repressed childhood trauma. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, land the first big murder case of their police careers: a 12-year-old girl has been murdered in the woods adjacent to a Dublin suburb. Twenty years before, two children disappeared in the same woods, and Ryan was found clinging to a tree trunk, his sneakers filled with blood, unable to tell police anything about what happened to his friends. Ryan, although scarred by his experience, employs all his skills in the search for the killer and in hopes that the investigation will also reveal what happened to his childhood friends. In the Woods is a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed in this intelligent and beautifully written first novel, and author French relentlessly builds the psychological pressure on Ryan as the investigation lurches onward under the glare of the tabloid media. Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans. Thomas Gaughan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well-Crafted Suspense with Deep Psychological Insights,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: In the Woods (Hardcover)
If you like good writing and enjoy psychologically complex mysteries, In the Woods will probably be one of your favorite new books this year. The best mysteries help us enter into the world of the detective, as well as into the world of the criminal and victim. Ms. French accomplishes this balancing act with aplomb while sharing many wonderful metaphors in lines of sparkling prose."What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with truth is fundamental, but cracked, refracting confusingly . . . ." In the Woods is the story of two crimes which occur in the same Irish location twenty years apart. The crimes are linked by the narrator, Rob Ryan, who survived the first crime with a case of amnesia. In 1984, three friends aged 12 headed into the woods, and only one was found . . . in near-catatonic condition with blood-filled shoes, scraped knees, slashes across the back of his shirt, and clutching a tree's trunk with bloodied fingernails. The survivor was called Adam Ryan, and his family soon moved away . . . and sent him off to boarding school in England. While there, he learned to speak with an upper-class English accent and started to call himself Rob. His passion? To become a Murder detective. The new case becomes his assignment because Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, happened to be playing Worms when the body of a 12-year-old girl, Katharine Devlin, was found on a pagan altar stone at an archeological site in Knocknaree where a motorway is about to be built. Ryan decides not to tell his supervisor that he had been a victim at the same age. Later, when potential connections between the cases appear, Ryan and Maddox agree to keep Ryan's secret. The investigation soon bogs down into endless checking through standard procedures, but no motives or clues surface to point out the guilty party. The investigation does, however, turn up many other secrets. The stress of the case take a large toll on the partners and Ryan finds himself irresistibly attracted to the gap in his past. Can he regain his memory? Will that solve the current case? The red herrings in this story are unusually well done. I suspect most readers will find the book's resolutions to be surprising and thought-provoking. Even if you don't, the stylish prose should keep you more than entertained. Much like in reading P. G. Wodehouse, I found myself stopping again and again to reread sentences that sparkled with precise and novel images.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fantastic Read..Highly Recommended!!,
By Readalot (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In the Woods (Paperback)
This has to be one of the best written mysteries I've ever read. French's writing is so fluid and lyrical I often re-read lines so I could grasp their beauty.Prose aside, it's a fantastic plot with a good deal of psychological angst and insight, and once you're involved you'll not want to put it down. Plus, you'll be kept guessing which is rare indeed. The story is woven with great intricacy and skill and if you're like me, you'll just love Cassie with her edgy, Irish humor. I can't say enough about this book - it's a must read, folks!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ending Unsatisfying,
This review is from: In the Woods (Paperback)
Though well-written and thought provoking in spots, the author has a tendency to go off on tangental flights of fancy as though she's writing in the midst of delerium. Whenever the story stays on track, it is interesting and there is a heightening sense of expectation for the "who done it" moment. However, only one of the mysteries is solved and the reader is left hanging as to the result of the other. I thought as I proceeded through the last few pages that at last I was going to get my answer. So, imagine my surprise when I didn't get it! Hugely let down, I felt like tossing the book away--something I almost never do. I looked at the synopsis of her next two books, hoping to discover that this mystery was being carried forward. Apparently, not. Perhaps she'll circle back to it in her fourth, or fifth book, but I'm not certain I will stick around and see.
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