In The Woods Book Review
In the suburban town on Knocknaree, Ireland, three children wandered into the woods to play as they normally did all summer long. But this day, they didn’t come out. One child was found covered in blood, the other two children were never recovered and the worst was presumed. The one child who was found never was able to remember what had happened. He had been too traumatized. The story picks back up twenty years later when the boy is no longer a child, but a cop on the murder squad. Rob is forced to face his secret past when another child is found dead in the same woods by Knocknaree where his friends dissapeared, and he is called in to spearhead the new murder case.
Tana French is a truly gifted writer. I was charmed and impressed with her insightful prose. She has a gift for literary expressions and creative descriptions. And her character development was well thought out.
I went through a wide range of emotions with In The Woods. At first I did not like our two main characters, Rob and Cassie. The way both of them clung to each other, snubbing everyone around them and finding something wrong with everyone and everything, I got the impression of fictional snobs. These were two people I would not get along with, not the way they interacted with people outside of their own little perfect bubble. They were both antisocial and found each other to be the only ones in the entire world around them who they could relate to. In fact, it seemed like they found something entirely wrong about everyone. I had to roll my eyes a couple of times at their internal little dramas. I hate snobbery and these two seemed like the worst offenders.
But that was at first. My feelings about Rob and Cassie changed as I got to know more about them. Slowly Tana French introduced us to the reasons and experiences which created the personas of our main characters. Sympathy followed. After realizing what each one had been through, it became easier to deal with their personality issues. Cassie's encounter with a psychopath was an interesting tidbit. I think we have all encountered one or two of these in our lifetime. That would be enough to make any person a bit jaded when it comes to emotional relationships.
The character development was great, but even greater still was the plot. Going through the murder investigation with Rob and Cassie gave the reader just another grasp on their realities and another way to feel connected. The book soon became a page turner. I was dying to find out what had happened. I found myself trying to figure out what really happened to the children who went missing twenty years ago by finding a possible connection with the newest victim while I was away from the book. I couldn't wait to read more each evening to find out "who dun' it".
Unfortunately, the ending was one big giant no show. It was such a great book but I feel it was ruined by the ending. Its potential was tremendous, what happened? I don't want to give away the ending, but there was no ending. No satisfaction for the reader or for our heroes. I was miserably disappointed. This book was absolutely wonderful all the way up until the very end. And I can't help but feel a little robbed. I wanted a resolution. That doesn't mean that we had to have a happy ending. But in the very least….I wanted to know what happened. Instead, I walked away even more confused than when I began reading it.
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