In the Woods

A Novel

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony Award winner

Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel winner

Macavity Award winner

The bestselling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter and “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post).

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.”—The New York Times

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.

©2007 Tana French (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Critic reviews

"[An] ambitious and extraordinary first novel...rank it high." (The Washington Post)

"Part whodunit, part psychological thriller, and wholly successful...French’s plot twists and turns will bamboozle even the most astute reader.... A well-written, expertly plotted thriller." (NPR)

"In the Woods is as creepily imaginative as it gets." (USA Today)

Very mixed feelings (semi-spoilers included)

First, the narration was very good. I would listen to him again.

Second, the first half of the book was also very good even with the overwritten parts. I wanted to know very much what happened in both crimes. I also liked the main characters, and I loved the relationship between the main characters.

Third, the second half of the book really changed my pleasure in listening to the book. The anger and animosity coming from our main character, Rob, was so incongruous with how he had been I was thrown. A very large part of the book that I had been enjoying was the friendship between Cassie and Rob, and once that was taken away, I did not enjoy the book as much.

Fourth, so much of the book was unnecessary and irrelevant that I found myself drifting for long moments (especially during the second half of the book).

Fifth, the conclusion was ridiculous and unresolved and frustrating.

It was almost like two people wrote this book.

Not worth listening for 20 hours

This book starts with a great idea but it never really develops. There are two mysteries, one in the past, one in the present. The reader is led to believe that they are connected, but after lots and lots of dialogue, memories, etc we find that the first cannot ever be explained (due to "amnesia" on the part of the narrator) and the second could have been solved right away if the right technology had been applied sooner rather than later. The middle third of the book can be dispensed with- it doesn't have anything to do with either plot. Disappointing.

Looking for the Next Lee Child?

I'm always on the lookout for multiple book authors like Child, John Sanford, Crais and even Clancy and Grisham. Judging from this first book, Ms. French could be next.

This book was a nice break from the American, everything ties up neatly in the end approach. The characters are intriguing and flawed, and ultimately pay the price (and that's the good guy), but oh so compelling, the realpolitik is (gasp) realistic, the story complex and engaging.

The reader was awesome, crafting words and accents with care, precision and art. Definitely a pleasure and a lovely change of pace to listen to an English accent.

As other reviewers have said, I cleaned the kitchen much longer, took the long way home day after day and stayed up late multiple times to get to the end of this one.

First novels by great authors are one of the rarest and greatest pleasures in reading/listening. Don't miss this one.

Either love it or hate it.

It looks like people either love this book or hate it. It took me over 8 hours of listening to decide I'm part of the second group. The writing is excellent, even if it does have some language (for those of you who listen in the car with kids!) I just didn't like the ending. I gave it a 3 because it really is a well-written book.

so CLOSE, yet...

Oh my, this book was written more artfully than any I have read in years (and i've read many). I grew to care about the characters and became utterly absorbed in the story. This promised to become one of my all-time favorite novels. Near perfect.

But then the story declined, and left me cold. It became depressing to continue listening... One of the mysteries was solved, but I had the killer picked out early in the story. The second big mystery was left unsolved. I could have dealt with that, had the story involving the major characters come to a more positive resolution.

Tana, you are incredibly talented. You came SO close to writing the perfect novel. Please just work on your story line in the next one, which I can't wait to read.

In the Woods

This novel is a well written tale that takes its time without dragging. The protagonist is believable and not transparent. The reader is good, although a little "lispy." An excellent listen.

Took a left turn and fell off the tracks

This book started out so well, and then.... The main character and narrator is a man with a hidden past, a trauma in childhood that was never resolved. In spite of that, or perhaps because of that, he becomes a detective. He's talented, engaging, and persistent. As he and his partner delve into the murder of a child found in the same location as the site of his childhood mystery, the old trauma comes to the forefront and is always the elephant in the middle of the room. So far, so good, a real page turner figuratively speaking. Then it all falls apart. Our detective makes an error in his personal life and can't seem to recover. The mistake itself is hardly new or different in this world and cannot plausibly account for his permanent slide into incompetence and snarling depression. The current mystery gets solved, but not the old one, which might not be a disaster if the old mystery weren't the core of this man's story. Again, the elephant in the middle of the room on a grand scale. The old mystery has several bizarre features which cry out for some sort of resolution, otherwise why write them in? Why spend so much time on it if there is no progress at all? I almost felt the author had no answer to cover the bizarre set of facts of this old mystery, and therefore left that story line hanging. I might have recovered from the narrator becoming a waste of a human being OR the old mystery remaining unsolved, but not both. Tana French is a talented writer, but I'm almost afraid to read anything else she's written.

Terrible narration

What didn’t you like about Steven Crossley’s performance?

You can hear Crossley breathing and moving his mouth, and his performance contains far too many pauses. I actually had to listen to the book at 1.25 speed, just so I wouldn't hear the sound of the narrator swallowing. His voice is perfectly pleasant, but the rest of the performance is enough to drive a person mad.

The point is not the mystery

Having read three other Tana French novels - two of them on audio, I was anticipating ambiguity. She doesn't give all her secrets away. If you're looking for traditional procedural who-done-its, she's not your gal.
I love these novels for her use of language, the haunting beauty of her settings and how fully she describes the historical, economic, social and cultural constructs of Ireland, her adopted country. The resonant voice of her story telling, always first person and especially effective in audiobook form. These elements coalesce and slip down like a smooth, cool mug of Guinness.
With regard to In The Woods, French, writing as narrator and main protagonist, Rob Ryan, as much as tells us not to expect much in the way of clarity in the first line.
“What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this -- two things: I crave truth. And I lie. ”
The point of In the Woods is not the mystery. It is Rob Ryan and the damage he inflicts on himself and others because he can’t remember why his two best friends disappeared when they were children. Or why he was spared. There is resolution, though all is not resolved. As a reader, I didn’t feel cheated by the ending.

A little wordy

I found the story interesting and held my attention for the 20+ hours that this novel involves but could have been about 2 hour shorter.

There were many story lines that were behind the scenes but not fully explored and others were dragged on and on and on.

The ending was worth the additional time though.