In the Woods by Tana French
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
I found this one in a Little Free Library around the neighborhood, out walking the dog with the kids, the kids who I will never let into the woods on their own, which is no problem, because we live in the urban sprawl, so no chance of a scary wood popping up nearby.
I was excited because I’d read almost up to the latest Tana French book without ever having read the first one. But I was a little apprehensive because my former state police father had soured on old Tara at some point, due to some police procedural issues he had with one of her books, and I suspected it was this one (he forgave the somewhat off-the-wall scenario in “The Likeness” where Detective Cassie Maddox turns out to be a doppleganger for a dead girl). And I can see where it would frustrate someone on an actual Dublin Murder Squad or nonfictional equivalent: the alarm bells that ring when Detective Adam Ryan takes on a murder case in the very wood where he was found, blood in his shoes, many many years ago, his two companions gone, presumed dead, are pretty persistent, throughout the book, as he gets more and more entangled in the two cases as they may or may not be linked. But as entertainment, she paints a great picture of someone suffering a bit of PTSD as the investigation intensifies and the action and intrigue is enough to keep you going.
More than her other books (or perhaps as much as the Likeness’s dead ringer premise), this one pushes willing suspension of disbelief a long way: not only do we have the dubious murder connections between the present day one and Ryan’s case from long ago, but we also have the will they, won’t they plot line between Detectives Maddox and Ryan that sort of is plausible, considering the emotional intensity of their work, but there was a small piece of me nudging that suspension of disbelief, saying, “Come on, man, you’re not buying this, are you? You’re not, are you?”
But she writes well, I couldn’t wait to get back to the story when I was away, and it drew me in, all the way to the end.