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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book PMO.
This book started off pretty strong, even though I couldn’t stand the protagonist from the beginning. The last 15% ish of the book literally ruined so much for me & also his lack of character development was infuriating bc it just meant that none of his annoying character was redeemable at any point. I read another review commenting on his lack of detective skill after being duped by Rosalind bc seriously??? All of her conversations made that obvious imo. Loved Cassie & Sam & honestly loved the conversation with Jonathan at the end bc that made him all the more interesting to me. The “mystery” of it all was still enough to keep me reading but yeah this made me mad.
This book started off pretty strong, even though I couldn’t stand the protagonist from the beginning. The last 15% ish of the book literally ruined so much for me & also his lack of character development was infuriating bc it just meant that none of his annoying character was redeemable at any point. I read another review commenting on his lack of detective skill after being duped by Rosalind bc seriously??? All of her conversations made that obvious imo. Loved Cassie & Sam & honestly loved the conversation with Jonathan at the end bc that made him all the more interesting to me. The “mystery” of it all was still enough to keep me reading but yeah this made me mad.
I really enjoyed how this book was written, but by the end I was SO UNBELIEVABLY FRUSTRATED. There is ZERO closure to this book and I found myself audibly being upset a few times in the last 50 pages or so. I usually do like an unreliable narrator, but in the end I was more annoyed than interested.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Context: years ago I read a popular book that I didn’t like one bit. For some reason I thought Tana French was the author and so I avoided this crime series. Not only was I missing out on an excellent novel but I was wrong about the author. Ms French did not write the earlier novel and the names are not even close to one another. Fortunately I have now corrected the error.
Ms French’s character work and her descriptions of the surrounding environment are excellent. I was reminded of Kate Atkinson except Ms French’s adult female characters are much more believable. I particularly appreciated the depiction of how childhood traumas are carried into adulthood and continue to grow, disabling the person in ways those closest to them can not imagine.
As far as a murder mystery this is quite good. All the elements are there and the story is tightly woven with many red herrings to follow. I did not pick out the murderer for sure until the last few chapters. I did pick out who was the psychopath early on. If that was due to my being able to pick out a mystery novel trope or past unfortunate acquaintances I’m not sure. I did skim a chapter due to the intense gaslighting.
While I will always wonder what happened in those woods in the 1984 I found the ending satisfactory. Not all crimes are solved in the end.
Two things not really related to the book. In the afterwords Ms French discloses that in real life Dublin does not have a dedicated Murder Squad. She described the squad so well I’m a little disappointed that it doesn’t exist. Second the library that I checked this out from has a 7 day check out period and this was a 600 page book with a waiting list. I am thankful to my library but 100 pages a day is a bit much to expect. (Yes, I did put other things to the side and finished it on time.) (This also means I am reviewing the book without being able to look at it to refresh my memory.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Cursing, Pedophilia, Alcohol
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I just need to rant about the ending of this book. I usually don't go for mysteries, because I can't handle them in moderation- I get too stressed out and I can't ever do anything else until I've sat down and read the entire thing in one sitting.
After the first chapter and the recount of Rob's childhood unsolved mystery, I put the book down and said to some friends "Actually maybe I can get into mysteries- there's something thrilling about hearing a case and dying to figure out what the hell happened, and then watch it unravel throughout the book until the reveal!" And I happily resumed.
IMAGINE MY SHOCK AND ABSOLUTE AWE. WHEN THE ORIGINAL MYSTERY. IS NOT EVEN SOLVED! NOT AT ALL! It was dead interesting, and there are all these moments- Rob seemingly going crazy as his memories slowly resurface, him seeing figments of shadow creatures throughout the first half off the book, him seeing a creature run across the road. I saw someone saying it might have been trying to play on memory and haziness, but then why include the details about Sandra and the other teenagers also remembering some sort of horrifying noise/creature, all those moments of blurry memory we'd been collecting NOT JUST FROM ROB, who would understandably have missed things, but from the others as well?
I was toying with the idea of an animal, of some sort of illness, of a drug breach, ANYTHING... when I was nearing the last 50 pages I started to get anxious, and by the last 20 of Rob recounting how he never recovered from ruining his own pathetic life I was frantic. All that for nothing? All the details about the strange slices in his shirt, the blood in his shoes, the hair clip and old blood found at the scene. On top of it, the only slightly soluble story we have about the teenagers killing them is discredited right at the end with whatshisname promising they had nothing to do with it. I was so convinced as well that when they were digging up the site finally right at the end they were going to discover their bodies, but no- just some harrowing find of an arrowhead to prove that bad things happen constantly and the dig site was ruined despite what it had to offer. And all a red herring for nothing so I could be slightly distracted from Rob making moony eyes at a 17 year old girl who was obviously playing him?
And she was, by the way- there's this part where he says to the reader, "Oh before you judge me, know that you were fooled by her too-" I WANTED TO SCREAM! The second she went on about how Cassie just didn't seem to care and he was the only one that could possibly understand her alarm bells were going off. I'm not saying I suspected her of murder from the beginning, but I'm shocked how anyone could have been quite as obliviously engrossed in her little act as Rob was. To the point that he didn't even think it was an issue when her (rather shady) piece of evidence about the man in a tracksuit matched Damien's? And accused CASSIE? OF BEING JEALOUS? His character tanked TREMENDOUSLY in the last quarter of the book!
And do not get me started on Cassie and Rob. Cassie is easily the best character, and I would read her book for sure if I wasn't so scared French is going to betray me like she did with this one. I was so, so thrilled with their friendship, and when they sleep together I was devastated- but I thought I could get through it. Until he handles the situation in a way that made me convinced of his absolute lack of character. He did pretty much everything possible to hurt Cassie personally, his best friend... Then goes on to belittle her and call her a liar and a betrayer even after they're not talking. I really misjudged his character- I shouldn't have- looking back he was kind of like that from the beginning. I tried really hard to feel bad for him and just couldn't- he hardly takes accountability at all.
A GENIUS moment on French's part is that last conversation with Heather, his roommate- (who I thought was funny and nice the whole book, by the way, like come on Rob is it really THAT annoying that she likes Sex in the City and wants to chat a bit after work? But maybe that says more about my taste in characters than anything)- where she says Cassie didn't deserve the way he was treating her, despite seeing very limited slices of the situation, and she didn't either? And Rob is Shocked? It just made me realize I really couldn't trust ANY opinion he had on any other character Especially women. Though I guess I should have gotten that from all his paragraph-long soliloquies about how every short blonde woman he saw was a fluttering damsel that he wanted to sweep up in a gust of feathers and roses and deliver from harm and any sense of real human character traits- UGH, AND THE GIRL AT THE BAR THAT HE GETS BORED WITH RANDOMLY AND JUST DITCHES! Okay, he is a quite well written character. A very hate-able one.
Overall, fantastic book- my irritation over Rob and what an ass he turns out to be wouldn't stop me from admitting that- but the insane wild goose chase about the original case which was arguably the most interesting part of the book resulting in the cop-out of just Not Dealing With It is just too unforgivable to me.
After the first chapter and the recount of Rob's childhood unsolved mystery, I put the book down and said to some friends "Actually maybe I can get into mysteries- there's something thrilling about hearing a case and dying to figure out what the hell happened, and then watch it unravel throughout the book until the reveal!" And I happily resumed.
IMAGINE MY SHOCK AND ABSOLUTE AWE. WHEN THE ORIGINAL MYSTERY. IS NOT EVEN SOLVED! NOT AT ALL! It was dead interesting, and there are all these moments- Rob seemingly going crazy as his memories slowly resurface, him seeing figments of shadow creatures throughout the first half off the book, him seeing a creature run across the road. I saw someone saying it might have been trying to play on memory and haziness, but then why include the details about Sandra and the other teenagers also remembering some sort of horrifying noise/creature, all those moments of blurry memory we'd been collecting NOT JUST FROM ROB, who would understandably have missed things, but from the others as well?
I was toying with the idea of an animal, of some sort of illness, of a drug breach, ANYTHING... when I was nearing the last 50 pages I started to get anxious, and by the last 20 of Rob recounting how he never recovered from ruining his own pathetic life I was frantic. All that for nothing? All the details about the strange slices in his shirt, the blood in his shoes, the hair clip and old blood found at the scene. On top of it, the only slightly soluble story we have about the teenagers killing them is discredited right at the end with whatshisname promising they had nothing to do with it. I was so convinced as well that when they were digging up the site finally right at the end they were going to discover their bodies, but no- just some harrowing find of an arrowhead to prove that bad things happen constantly and the dig site was ruined despite what it had to offer. And all a red herring for nothing so I could be slightly distracted from Rob making moony eyes at a 17 year old girl who was obviously playing him?
And she was, by the way- there's this part where he says to the reader, "Oh before you judge me, know that you were fooled by her too-" I WANTED TO SCREAM! The second she went on about how Cassie just didn't seem to care and he was the only one that could possibly understand her alarm bells were going off. I'm not saying I suspected her of murder from the beginning, but I'm shocked how anyone could have been quite as obliviously engrossed in her little act as Rob was. To the point that he didn't even think it was an issue when her (rather shady) piece of evidence about the man in a tracksuit matched Damien's? And accused CASSIE? OF BEING JEALOUS? His character tanked TREMENDOUSLY in the last quarter of the book!
And do not get me started on Cassie and Rob. Cassie is easily the best character, and I would read her book for sure if I wasn't so scared French is going to betray me like she did with this one. I was so, so thrilled with their friendship, and when they sleep together I was devastated- but I thought I could get through it. Until he handles the situation in a way that made me convinced of his absolute lack of character. He did pretty much everything possible to hurt Cassie personally, his best friend... Then goes on to belittle her and call her a liar and a betrayer even after they're not talking. I really misjudged his character- I shouldn't have- looking back he was kind of like that from the beginning. I tried really hard to feel bad for him and just couldn't- he hardly takes accountability at all.
A GENIUS moment on French's part is that last conversation with Heather, his roommate- (who I thought was funny and nice the whole book, by the way, like come on Rob is it really THAT annoying that she likes Sex in the City and wants to chat a bit after work? But maybe that says more about my taste in characters than anything)- where she says Cassie didn't deserve the way he was treating her, despite seeing very limited slices of the situation, and she didn't either? And Rob is Shocked? It just made me realize I really couldn't trust ANY opinion he had on any other character Especially women. Though I guess I should have gotten that from all his paragraph-long soliloquies about how every short blonde woman he saw was a fluttering damsel that he wanted to sweep up in a gust of feathers and roses and deliver from harm and any sense of real human character traits- UGH, AND THE GIRL AT THE BAR THAT HE GETS BORED WITH RANDOMLY AND JUST DITCHES! Okay, he is a quite well written character. A very hate-able one.
Overall, fantastic book- my irritation over Rob and what an ass he turns out to be wouldn't stop me from admitting that- but the insane wild goose chase about the original case which was arguably the most interesting part of the book resulting in the cop-out of just Not Dealing With It is just too unforgivable to me.
This is my first Tana French book, and first, let me say that she's a great writer. Her prose is easy to read and paints a vivid picture of modern Ireland; it felt like traveling to a foreign land while sitting in my living room.
However, she's quite verbose and seems to always use two paragraphs when one sentence would suffice. This didn't bother me, until I was about halfway through and realized "I'm only HALFWAY through??!" (I read it on a Kindle, so it can be hard to tell).
I wouldn't have minded such a long book if one of the two mysteries—that French spent countless pages spooling out to us—simply WAS NOT SOLVED AT THE END. You can argue that this book is a psychological thriller and not a mystery novel, but it's literally billed as "Dublin Murder Squad, #1," so it's reasonable to think this is a mystery. And if you're writing a mystery, you need to give your readers closure at the end. What happened In The Woods when Adam 'Rob' Ryan was a little kid?? How can you string us along over 500+ pages and just...not address this?
Buried in the Goodreads comments, I found the only possible reason: that Rob is actually a psychopath and therefore it's told from the POV of someone who is emotionless and self-interested. OK, that would be a great twist...except the crumbs of believability just aren't there to justify it. If Rob is really a psychopath, then how did he fall for Rosalind hook, line, and sinker? It's just not believable.
I didn't mind Cassie and Rob sleeping together—it's plausible that partners with such good chemistry would inevitably have a few drinks and hook up. And it's plausible that Rob would react to this like a petulant child. But are we really supposed to believe that after a year, Cassie is just going to go and get engaged to Sam, her new partner?? When the only hint of a relationship between the two of them is Sam wiping blood off her face after she arrests Rosalind because Rob doesn't want to show affection to her in public, since they're 'mad at each other' like little kids? Give me a break. Cassie is a strong-willed female character, and this reduces her to a romantic interest. It's gross.
Yes, the writing is good; yes, the characters are interesting (at least in the first half of the book); yes, there was an interesting murder case and a twist at the end; but this book just fell flat on its face. It's a murder mystery—SOLVE THE MURDER. And if it's a psychological thriller, then lean into that, but give the reader some resolution. However you classify it, it falls flat.
When I was 1/4 way through, I went and checked out the next Tana French book from the library, but unfortunately returned it once I had finished this. There are too many novels out there to waste my time on self-indulgent pap like this. It's a wonder this narrative ever made it past an editor.
However, she's quite verbose and seems to always use two paragraphs when one sentence would suffice. This didn't bother me, until I was about halfway through and realized "I'm only HALFWAY through??!" (I read it on a Kindle, so it can be hard to tell).
I wouldn't have minded such a long book if one of the two mysteries—that French spent countless pages spooling out to us—simply WAS NOT SOLVED AT THE END. You can argue that this book is a psychological thriller and not a mystery novel, but it's literally billed as "Dublin Murder Squad, #1," so it's reasonable to think this is a mystery. And if you're writing a mystery, you need to give your readers closure at the end. What happened In The Woods when Adam 'Rob' Ryan was a little kid?? How can you string us along over 500+ pages and just...not address this?
Buried in the Goodreads comments, I found the only possible reason: that Rob is actually a psychopath and therefore it's told from the POV of someone who is emotionless and self-interested. OK, that would be a great twist...except the crumbs of believability just aren't there to justify it. If Rob is really a psychopath, then how did he fall for Rosalind hook, line, and sinker? It's just not believable.
I didn't mind Cassie and Rob sleeping together—it's plausible that partners with such good chemistry would inevitably have a few drinks and hook up. And it's plausible that Rob would react to this like a petulant child. But are we really supposed to believe that after a year, Cassie is just going to go and get engaged to Sam, her new partner?? When the only hint of a relationship between the two of them is Sam wiping blood off her face after she arrests Rosalind because Rob doesn't want to show affection to her in public, since they're 'mad at each other' like little kids? Give me a break. Cassie is a strong-willed female character, and this reduces her to a romantic interest. It's gross.
Yes, the writing is good; yes, the characters are interesting (at least in the first half of the book); yes, there was an interesting murder case and a twist at the end; but this book just fell flat on its face. It's a murder mystery—SOLVE THE MURDER. And if it's a psychological thriller, then lean into that, but give the reader some resolution. However you classify it, it falls flat.
When I was 1/4 way through, I went and checked out the next Tana French book from the library, but unfortunately returned it once I had finished this. There are too many novels out there to waste my time on self-indulgent pap like this. It's a wonder this narrative ever made it past an editor.
The writing in this book is absolutely amazing. It really feels as if you’re there seeing the town and woods in person. Overall the story was really interesting and pulled me in.
My issue is the ending.
My issue is the ending.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder
I was into this book for about 85% of it. Interesting mystery, interesting dynamic with the detectives. Then, the most obvious stupid thing happens, and I completely lose any investment in the main character. Honestly it felt like the author lost interest too. The present day mystery got suddenly wrapped up and the past mystery was hardly mentioned again.