In the Woods

In the Woods was an incredible story, especially for a first novel. Tana French showed her knack for writing an intriguing crime novel when she introduced Detectives Ryan and Maddox and the compelling whodunit that is hard to put down.

The book starts off quickly with a story from the past in which three children are playing in the woods, two disappear, and the third is found utterly terrified, his sneakers filled with blood and unable to remember a single detail of what happened in that wood or where his two friends have disappeared to. The case was never solved and now it's twenty years later and the young boy who made it out of the woods alive is now Detective Rob Ryan, protagonist of the story.

When a little girl is found murdered in the very same woods, Detectives Ryan and Maddox are on the case, and Ryan struggles to keep a clear mind to solve this case and not become haunted by his past. The further the two detectives delve into the mystery, the more Ryan struggles to keep it together, relying heavily on his amazing partner. The relationship between Ryan and Maddox is one to envy. They always seem to be more than just close friends or partners. Each one seems to be an extension of the other, knowing each other better than they knew themselves. They work incredibly well together and help each other through the roughest times of this tough case involving child murder.

French kept me flipping through the pages of this book the whole way through. She expertly threw in plot twists and turns that will keep any reader guessing until the end.

The one thing I found disappointing about this book was how things were wrapped up, or rather not wrapped up in the end. I hung on so tightly throughout the entire book, eagerly waiting to see how the case would wrap up, how it would tie into the original case from twenty years prior, and how things would wrap up with Ryan and Maddox. Somewhat to my displeasure, none of these aspects were finalized with any strong satisfaction. However, that has not prevented me from purchasing French's second book The Likeness which follows Detective Maddox once again. Despite my qualms with the ending, I loved the book as a whole and would recommend it very highly to any crime novel lover. I am looking forward to reading all of French's novels!