A review by angorarabbit
In the Woods by Tana French

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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.)
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