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natashavand 's review for:
In the Woods
by Tana French
This is my first book by Tana French, and having heard nothing but stellar reviews about her crime thrillers, I was so eager to pick this one up. And let me tell you, this does not disappoint.
This book is Book 1 in the Dublin Murder Squad series and read like an episode of Forensic Files intermingled with season one of True Detective. Apparently most of French's work focuses more on the psyche of the main detective of each novel and not so much the full case. I wasn't expecting this narrative to take that direction, but I felt like it really worked and put a unique spin on a genre that's frankly oversaturated. However, this choice to focus more on the individual rather than the cases at hand did leave me a little dissatisfied that only one of the two murder mysteries were solved by the book's conclusion. (And no, apparently the series never goes back to reveal the answer later on.)
Crime thrillers are really popular now, so when I read a high rated one, I really hope to be shocked by the reveal at the end, but French failed to blow me away. It started to feel a tad bit predictable by the time we got to the reveal, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's definitely worth mentioning. Nonetheless, I really loved French's style and already picked up another one of her novels. Reading about the more human sides of the detectives without it feeling like a soap opera was a great balance to the overall narrative and I love French's choice to present this story in that way.
This book is Book 1 in the Dublin Murder Squad series and read like an episode of Forensic Files intermingled with season one of True Detective. Apparently most of French's work focuses more on the psyche of the main detective of each novel and not so much the full case. I wasn't expecting this narrative to take that direction, but I felt like it really worked and put a unique spin on a genre that's frankly oversaturated. However, this choice to focus more on the individual rather than the cases at hand did leave me a little dissatisfied that only one of the two murder mysteries were solved by the book's conclusion. (And no, apparently the series never goes back to reveal the answer later on.)
Crime thrillers are really popular now, so when I read a high rated one, I really hope to be shocked by the reveal at the end, but French failed to blow me away. It started to feel a tad bit predictable by the time we got to the reveal, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's definitely worth mentioning. Nonetheless, I really loved French's style and already picked up another one of her novels. Reading about the more human sides of the detectives without it feeling like a soap opera was a great balance to the overall narrative and I love French's choice to present this story in that way.