IN THE WOODS
Tana French
Viking Adult 2007
Reviewed by carol
★ ★ ★ ★
I started this series out of chronological order, which only
increased my appreciation for French. By some odd chance, I happened
upon a new copy of her second book, The Likeness, in the library just waiting to be checked out, while In the Woods had a wait list of at least 100 people. I followed with Faithful Place,
immersed myself in Ireland of forty years ago and promptly forgot to
get on the waiting list for Woods.
For a first book, Woods
is impressive, not only because French takes risks with her narrative.
It’s a psychological mystery, an exploration of friendship and a slow
disintegration of personality. I loved it, even as I dreaded the
direction of the story. In brief, Rob Ryan is a detective on Dublin’s
Murder Squad. One day, the squad gets its first woman detective, Cassie
Maddox. The two have an instant attraction and immediately begin a deep
friendship. They happen to catch a case in which a 12 year-old girl is
found murdered at an archeological dig, right where a highway exchange
is supposed to be built (shades of Arthur Dent that I half-heartedly
tried to ignore). Perhaps completely coincidentally, it is in the same
small suburb that Ryan’s two childhood friends disappeared when they
were twelve. Ryan himself has no memory of the incident, and very few
memories of the times after, but the case brings bits flashing back.
What a challenge! Ryan tells us from the start: “What I am telling
you, before you begin my story, is this–two things: I crave truth. And I
lie.” Is our narrator unreliable? Or not? The outright acknowledgement
that he might not be kept me guessing. At first, I loved his narrative
voice. Descriptions of himself and his two twelve-year-old friends,
‘Jamie,’ and Peter, reminded me indelibly of Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes
and the gold-edged memories of summer days and best friends. Ryan
captures some of that lost intimacy with Cassie, and it seems almost the
first time since then that he has re-connected with another person. His
voice had me chuckling with humor and sighing at his cynicism (see my
numerous updates while I was getting my car’s oil changed). Then
oh-so-slowly the voice changed, subtly, distractedly. I won’t say too
much more except that it was extremely well done (view spoiler)
I love French’s writing; the vivid descriptions, the integration of
memories into narrative and her character development of her primary
characters. Perhaps it fell apart a little at the end, and the red
herrings weren’t developed enough to be seriously considered. It felt a
little more hurried after the slow pace of the beginning, but these are
minor quibbles.
The finish was stunning, if my ‘stunning,’ you mean a slap to the
face right after someone answers your questions. Although I never
deliberately avoid spoilers, for some reason I had not read any reviews
before starting Woods
that discussed various issues with the ending. Somewhat discombobulated,
I went looking around for insight into French’s process, and why she
choose to do what she did. Interesting interview: http://www.dreamindemon.com/2009/01/0…
Yep, definitely kept me thinking after I closed the pages. But also while I read them. Highly recommended.