IN THE WOODS by Tana French is a novel about the investigation into the death of a child. But it is more complex than that; much more is going on with the people involved.
A murdered child, Katy, is found in the woods in Ireland, and two detectives, Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox, investigate the case. Compounding this mystery is Rob’s history with these same woods: 20 years before, when he was a child, he was one of three children lost in these woods and the only child of the three to be found. He has no memory of what took place in the woods.
The detectives wonder if the two cases might be related. And Rob and Cassie hide the fact that Rob may be personally involved.
A third detective, Sam O’Neill, joins Rob and Cassie as they investigate various possibilities and several people who are, were, might be, and might have been involved in both the present and the 20-year-old cases. In the process, we see Rob and Cassie’s great relationship deteriorate.
Unfortunately, I read French’s THE LIKENESS, the sequel to IN THE WOODS, before I read IN THE WOODS. I got a great deal on THE LIKENESS almost a year ago, and I didn’t get a good deal on IN THE WOODS until recently. I didn’t think it would be necessary for me to read them in order. I was wrong.
I didn’t like THE LIKENESS, and I think I would have liked it more if I had first read IN THE WOODS. I would have understood the main characters more, and I would have appreciated the way their backgrounds affected what they did in THE LIKENESS.
Even so, it’s still true that IN THE WOODS is far superior to THE LIKENESS. THE LIKENESS is too far fetched. And the interaction of the main characters in IN THE WOODS, which was really half the story and what led in part to the book’s popularity, was mostly missing from THE LIKENESS.
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Comments: 14
To see my other posts, click my name to go to my profile page. Then scroll down to "My Activities," and choose "posts" from the dropdown llist. My reviews are in my list of posts. I don't remember how far back in time you can go.
Like you, I was disappointed in THE SECRET SPEECH. It was a good book; it just didn't grab me as CHILD 44 did. I think that's because CHILD 44 was both mystery and thriller. But SECRET SPEECH was just thriller, which wasn't so thrilling without the mystery to build it up. Also, the juvenile love interest in the SECRET SPEECH seemed to be stretching it to me and was silly. But that book WAS historically accurate. There really were people who got around in the sewers of the Soviet Union, and the secret speech is all over the Internet.