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katemc 's review for:
In the Woods
by Tana French
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Jesus Mary and Joseph. I wasn’t sure she would land this plane but #tome this was the miracle on the Hudson. Thrillers can be so cheap and gratuitous sometimes and this was charged and tense but only rarely felt a little heavy handed (it was her debut so I feel like I can forgive her for it though). I haven’t read Donna Tartt in a while but French’s attention to her prose alongside her plotting felt Tarttish. This was a beautifully constructed story, from the writing to the setup to the execution and she had me in her thrall the whole way. I did have my private satisfaction near the end with my very loose theory paying off but it still felt fresh in how it came about.
I wish we could stay in this world with these vividly painted characters because you do get so close to them but I think that adds to how seriously this being more than a typical detective thriller feels. This isn’t the kickoff to a buddy cop action series but a specific and painful story within the detective infrastructure. I do have reservations about how nearly every detective story is a vessel for copaganda in some way so it’s impossible for me to kick that niggling distrust of its affect on your psyche, but this isn’t a cop hero story in the end (or throughout!) and it’s definitely not the procedural bits that are the standout here. French is comfortable in ambivalence and dissatisfaction and that is a tough pill to swallow!
I wish we could stay in this world with these vividly painted characters because you do get so close to them but I think that adds to how seriously this being more than a typical detective thriller feels. This isn’t the kickoff to a buddy cop action series but a specific and painful story within the detective infrastructure. I do have reservations about how nearly every detective story is a vessel for copaganda in some way so it’s impossible for me to kick that niggling distrust of its affect on your psyche, but this isn’t a cop hero story in the end (or throughout!) and it’s definitely not the procedural bits that are the standout here. French is comfortable in ambivalence and dissatisfaction and that is a tough pill to swallow!