Reviews - In The Woods | The StoryGraph

7.65k reviews for:

In The Woods

Tana French

3.71 AVERAGE

maddi_milano's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious 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

Slow burn but worth the time. Felt similar to Dennis Lehane which means I’m all in. I appreciate a mystery with no gimmicks, just good detailed writing. Will be reading more!

kaylac0727's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

lilykbond's review against another edition

3.5

I have mixed feelings! Spoilers!!!

Was sooooo invested in this. The unfolding of the Devlin case alone was very interesting but adding in the detectives own past was fun and super messy, I was interested to see how it was connected and then it just… wasn’t? I don’t know if I like this or not tbh. I enjoy the notion that our past can cloud our judgement and all that but I was sure we were going to find out more about what happened that day in the woods all those years ago just to not find out. I love an ambiguous ending, so I’m not complaining, I just reallllyyyy wanted to know!! Also the suggestions of like a monster or something? What? That stuff came out of left field for me. I love spooky shit but I had a hard time getting behind that. A metaphor for the monster that is Our Past?? Much to consider! Was also genuinely heart broken about Ryan and Cassie’s downfall. I love a good friendship 💔

anaveragelife's review against another edition

1.5

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

hrylander's review against another edition

2.0

When I started this book, I was in love. The characters were interesting, the story was fresh, and there were two interconnected mysteries going on. It was literally the perfect set up for me.However things took a shift the second half of the novel. I feel the character development dropped off and that parts of the story went unanswered and ignored. I don't think I will ever pick up another Tana French novel because of the lack of follow through I felt with this. This is perhaps the most disappointing book I read this year.

banrions's review against another edition

4.0

I lot of people appear to be frusturated with the ending of this novel. For fear of spoilers, I won't get into that too much other than to mention that yes, I was frusturated too. My frustration did not take away my investment into the story however. I read these books backwards. I liked the sound of The Likeness better, it had slightly higher ratings and reviews, and so I read it. I kept wondering what had happened to Cassie to keep mentioning this case to pique my interest, so I picked up this one as well. These books don't really need to be read in order it seems, characters crop up, and you get more out of them, but it's not vital.

To be honest, Rob pissed me off more than once. I had a hint of who the killer might be and why it happened, but I didn't fully guess it until right around when everything came about. Maybe I'm a little dense, or maybe the writing worked, but I didn't guess it very far ahead of time. Like Cassie, I had suspicions (and apparently I was right). Rob missing out on so many things, what happened with his relationship with Cassie, I just......I wanted to punch him in the shoulder and ask him what the hell was wrong. I still liked the guy. I felt for him, and I really enjoyed reading his voice throughout the novel. Cassie was definitely my favorite.

All in all, its a good story. Great writing, solid characters you both root for and want to punch, somethings are left unanswered, but, that's kind of how life works.