In the Woods by Tana French

Can we just talk about this book for a minute?  I had seriously high hopes for In the Woods because of all the fantastic reviews I had read.  And even though I did enjoy it, I was left so completely unsatisfied and frustrated by the time I finished it, that I wanted to scream.  I mean seriously??!?!?!  There's 2 murder mysteries that are investigated throughout the book - but ONLY ONE OF THEM is solved?!!  Who does that?! I mean really?  Tana, you're killing me!  I can only hope that in the following books of this series that the author revisits that unsolved mystery, because I'm so utterly annoyed that I don't know what happens and was left hanging.  Ugh. 

The storyline itself was very intriguing and I very much enjoyed the banter between Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox.  When I finished In the Woods, I read the preview first chapter of the second book in the series (The Likeness) and I think my interest is piqued enough to keep reading - BUT if the author pulls any more stunts like that, I'm seriously going to lose my mind and drop the rest of the series. 

Description:  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, stunning in its complexity, and utterly convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The Lovely Bones. And look for French's new mystery, Broken Harbor, for more of the Dublin Murder Squad.


Rating: **** (It would have gotten 5 stars if I would have found out what happened!!)

Recommend: It is a great murder mystery, so if you're into those - then yes.