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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Excellent thriller.
This would have been a 4 star book if
This would have been a 4 star book if
Spoiler
the author had solved the more compelling of the two crimes and if the culprit mastermind hadn't been so easy to identify and so completely, unsatisfyingly evil.
Let me be clear: these four stars are reluctantly, angrily given - solely on the basis of the quality of writing and the well-craftedness of the suspense and mystery. Or put differently, these four stars are for the journey of reading In the Woods; if the review were for the ending destination alone, you'd have to viciously hack off at least one or two of them.
It's all the more frustrating because it is so compelling for so long. The central characters are captivating, the mystery's psychological undertones and tinges of the supernatural are ripped straight from True Detective S1 but with an added literary richness, and the procedural elements have a practical, logistical feel to them that makes the whole thing feel like a satisfying Rube Goldberg machine - that is, up until the marble rolls off its track and bounces away under the table, leaving the final bell or basket or finish line unrung or unfilled or uncrossed.
And that's the hitch - for as great as the writing is and for as much and as easily as you care about the characters, it's all ultimately for not. The riveting denouement slowly dissolves into a trifecta of unsatisfying and outright maddening un-resolutions, taking the implicit trust of the reader and wielding it against them like a knife. I'm usually a fan of the "realistic," anti-Hollywood ending (I've defended La La Land's epilogue ad nauseum, and will til I die), but there's a difference between subverting expectations to reach moving, bittersweet notes and weaponizing the reader's expectations as a means to cruelly prove a cynical point. And even that could theoretically be interesting as an exercise - it's just not an exercise I'm at all interested in participating in after 500 pages leading elsewhere. I don't need a happy ending, I just need an ending - and one that doesn't trick me for the malicious sport of it.
Anyways, as I said: the writing was good and I'll be reading the (supposedly much better) sequel out of curiosity/masochism. Stay tuned.
It's all the more frustrating because it is so compelling for so long. The central characters are captivating, the mystery's psychological undertones and tinges of the supernatural are ripped straight from True Detective S1 but with an added literary richness, and the procedural elements have a practical, logistical feel to them that makes the whole thing feel like a satisfying Rube Goldberg machine - that is, up until the marble rolls off its track and bounces away under the table, leaving the final bell or basket or finish line unrung or unfilled or uncrossed.
And that's the hitch - for as great as the writing is and for as much and as easily as you care about the characters, it's all ultimately for not. The riveting denouement slowly dissolves into a trifecta of unsatisfying and outright maddening un-resolutions, taking the implicit trust of the reader and wielding it against them like a knife. I'm usually a fan of the "realistic," anti-Hollywood ending (I've defended La La Land's epilogue ad nauseum, and will til I die), but there's a difference between subverting expectations to reach moving, bittersweet notes and weaponizing the reader's expectations as a means to cruelly prove a cynical point. And even that could theoretically be interesting as an exercise - it's just not an exercise I'm at all interested in participating in after 500 pages leading elsewhere. I don't need a happy ending, I just need an ending - and one that doesn't trick me for the malicious sport of it.
Anyways, as I said: the writing was good and I'll be reading the (supposedly much better) sequel out of curiosity/masochism. Stay tuned.
Wow! Read it in a day! Such rich settings and characters
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes