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mirandadarrow 's review for:
In the Woods
by Tana French
I'd heard from bookish friends that this series of mysteries gets better after the first one, but I wanted to start from the beginning. So, knowing that things are supposed to improve, I have already tracked down the second in this series. But I am hoping that the story gets a little tighter, or else this series could go the way of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie mysteries, which vary wildly in quality with no discernible pattern. That's jumping ahead though, so let's focus on In the Woods. What about the big three: setting, characters, and plot?
The setting, the daily grind of the Dublin Murder Squad, working largely on location in a smaller Irish town which happened to be the hometown of detective Rob, was decently done. The background of the smaller town, which had an unpronounceable name, was richly drawn. There may have actually been more details than necessary, as the background did seem to drag on at times, and the sentence structure seemed unduly complex and rambley.
The two main characters of Rob and Cassie were both well done in that they were complex and dynamic with interesting backstories both of them. Cassie was clearly more likeable than Rob, which makes it something of a pity that Rob is our narrator. And what about Rob as our narrator? Recent mystery/thriller type books like featuring an unlikeable, unreliable, and sometimes even sociopathic narrator. Rob isn't that bad, but he isn't a good person. His involvement with the past disappearance of his two friends 20 years ago actually jeopardizes this investigation and he doesn't disclose this information to his supervisor, but instead to poor Cassie, who then has to cover for him or betray him. Nice guy, that Rob. Cassie has her own peccadillos, but she's certainly coming off as a better person that Rob.
Now about the plot - split timelines with past and current mysteries colliding is a thing. Everybody is doing it. This isn't the best execution of that trope. The current day mystery of the murder of the ballet dancer is decently done. Some very clear red herrings that the characters don't actually acknowledge are frustrating - spoiler example Ok, the current mystery was decent. The historical one was confusing and not that well executed. It makes me wonder whether it will be revisited in future mysteries in this series, but maybe not.
I'm going to stick with this series as it was decently done, and I've got big expectations for the books getting better. Let's hope they don't disappoint.
The setting, the daily grind of the Dublin Murder Squad, working largely on location in a smaller Irish town which happened to be the hometown of detective Rob, was decently done. The background of the smaller town, which had an unpronounceable name, was richly drawn. There may have actually been more details than necessary, as the background did seem to drag on at times, and the sentence structure seemed unduly complex and rambley.
The two main characters of Rob and Cassie were both well done in that they were complex and dynamic with interesting backstories both of them. Cassie was clearly more likeable than Rob, which makes it something of a pity that Rob is our narrator. And what about Rob as our narrator? Recent mystery/thriller type books like featuring an unlikeable, unreliable, and sometimes even sociopathic narrator. Rob isn't that bad, but he isn't a good person. His involvement with the past disappearance of his two friends 20 years ago actually jeopardizes this investigation and he doesn't disclose this information to his supervisor, but instead to poor Cassie, who then has to cover for him or betray him. Nice guy, that Rob. Cassie has her own peccadillos, but she's certainly coming off as a better person that Rob.
Now about the plot - split timelines with past and current mysteries colliding is a thing. Everybody is doing it. This isn't the best execution of that trope. The current day mystery of the murder of the ballet dancer is decently done. Some very clear red herrings that the characters don't actually acknowledge are frustrating - spoiler example
Spoiler
Cassie, the psychological genius wrote a "profile" of the killer as a 30+ year old man who has lived in this area a long time and knows it well. This was bandied about in the suspicion of the father and the developers. But then conveniently dropped when it was completely wrong. Oh well. And this came from Cassie, who suspected the older sister the whole time, and then realized she'd delegated to her barely 20 years old non-native patsy boyfriend? Tell me again how she's a psychological genius who can diagnose a sociopath in one conversation but is so wrong in her profile?I'm going to stick with this series as it was decently done, and I've got big expectations for the books getting better. Let's hope they don't disappoint.