Long but excellent read. Great first novel. ( )

In the 1980s, several children in a small Irish town went missing, and were presumed murdered. One child survived the incident, but with no memory of what happened. 20 years later, that child is a detective, and ends up investigating a murder that has a lot of similarities to the earlier incident.

This is a delightful murder mystery. There are a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and the story is engaging and unpredictable. But what makes it truly outstanding are the characters, especially the main characters of Ryan and Maddox, who are very close friends. Their platonic but very close friendship is very believable and genuine. French is a very talented writer who really brings these characters to life.

I listened to the audiobook, and it is really weird that the narrator doesn't use an Irish accent for any of the characters. ( )

Not what I expected! Entrancing, really sucks you in. So many parts to it... Loved it. The ending pretty much blew me away. I scampered for the next book. ( )

Just watched the really excellent Dublin Murder Squad TV show so I reread this book to compare. Different a bit but still a really engrossing story. ( )

4.4 stars. It was slow at times, but I really liked the story and I adore Cassie. Can't wait to read the sequel ( )

Finished this one within 24 hours!!! This is heavier in characterization, plot development and prose quality than your average crime novel. In fact, some of the passages are downright breathtaking ("We are so used to things transmuting into whatever we would like them to be that it comes as a profound outrage to encounter death, stubbornly unspinnable, only and immutably itself"), the pacing was perfect and there were some moments of genuine poignancy in the final acts of the novel (amidst a murder confession, no less!!!). I dock the one star because stretches of the novel still abide by the standard boiler plate tropes of police procedurals (the cantankerous but loyal to his troops supervisor, the grizzly old veterans etc.) which this novel could have easily risen above. I couldn't buy the motivations/actions of some of the characters and some plot points stretched credulity. But overall, this is an astonishingly assured debut - I will be returning to the Dublin murder squad series again.

Also, can HBO already purchase the rights and cast Dominic West as Adam Ryan? ( )

Really enjoyed this book. In the top five for 2014, and looking forward to the other books in the series. ( )

A gripping murder mystery, with lots of undertones from the past adding depth to the characters. Very hard to find "stopping places" in this one. Once the main mystery was resolved, though, the author seemed to have several dangly bits left over that she tacked up rather awkwardly, I thought. Still, impressive for a first novel, and highly promising for things to come.
Read and reviewed in 2012 ( )

La detective Cassie Maddox ha sido trasladada fuera de la Brigada de Homicidios de Dublín, hasta que una llamada telefónica urgente la lleva de nuevo a una espeluznante escena del crimen.

Para sorpresa de todos, la víctima es idéntica a Cassie y, además, lleva consigo una identificación en la que aparece el nombre de Alexandra Madison, un alias que Cassie utilizó una vez como policía encubierta. Así, Cassie vuelve a trabajar de incógnito para averiguar no solo quién mató a esta joven, sino también quién era realmente. Tendrá que suplantar la identidad de la joven asesinada para investigar los principales sospechosos, cuatro peculiares universitarios.

En piel ajena es una historia de suspense que explora la naturaleza de la identidad y la pertenencia. ( )

A very well-written whodunit with interesting round characters and a very interesting though at times very annoying main character and narrator. ( )

Edgar award winning for the quality of the characters and the story and yet, i did not feel good reading it. Perhaps a bit too real to be enjoyable escape reading ( )

Good book. Awesome detail and the relationships were pretty good. Saw the 'bad guy' coming before the reveal, but it was still good. ( )

Struggling with how to rate this. A bit slow to start for me but then compelling and then frustrating. I liked it enough that I'll read another on the series before deciding on this author.

Overall it had a dark and gloomy feel to me but that makes sense for book focused on a child's murder and the disappearance of two others.

I want to know more. I think that means I liked it! ( )

Does what a detective story is supposed to do, which is to be gripping and have a good ending. Plenty of the peripheral stuff is I would say not particularly plausible, but what can you do. ( )

This novel takes a bit to get going, but once it does you're sucked into a really great mystery novel. The character are flawed but still very real and you find yourself caring about what's happening to them, asking yourself why they are making decisions that are obviously bad, and annoyed when you don't get the ending you've been waiting for since page one. Even better, Tana French immerses us into modern Ireland; a country that continues to ride the Celtic Tiger economy while dealing with all that implies. There are two issues I have with the novel. First, the author basically gives us two plots and gives equal time to both; however, only one of those plots ever reaches any sort of conclusion and the one we most want to see solved is left open ended. Second, while the other plot is resolved it's resolved in way that was very annoying and a major letdown. Maybe the author thought she was being different but ending the novel this way, but it didn't work. No, I don't think every novel has to conclude with everything nicely tidied up, but when I turned the last page I was just left with a feeling of disappointment. Still, it's great novel, especially for an author's first published work. ( )

I love all her books. I was a kid in Ireland at the same time as her characters! A real walk down memory lane. The freedom of being outside all day and no one worrying. Mr Whippy. Her stories are great too.

I was a bit disappointed not to find out what happened to Jamie & Peter. ( )

So so good. I was listening to the audiobook of this, but I got antsy and compulsively bought the book for my ereader when I was on disc 15 of 18. Yes, this book is so good I spent $13 just to read the last bit ASAP. I was spending far too much time in my car after I got home because I couldn't stop listening.

So, one of the things I love most in literature is the unreliable narrator (see my reviews of [a:Kazuo Ishiguro|4280|Kazuo Ishiguro|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1262833627p2/4280.jpg]). There's something about that device that's so intriguing to me. Detective Rob Ryan is the kind of narrator who talks directly to the reader, who says openly that he lies, who clearly wants you to like him and see things from his POV even though he realizes that he's kind of an asshole. You spend so much of the book trying to figure him out--and especially trying to figure out what's really going on behind his believable but somehow fishy descriptions of people and events. This is the kind of trick that can't really be pulled off realistically in any medium other than literature. I love it.

And, not to brag, but I will say I figured out the Katy Devlin case way before it was revealed. ( )

Some mysteries are never really solved. Such mysteries are, usually, found in mystery novels. But Tana French has a keen sense of what, and more importantly, what not to reveal. One mystery is solved; the other remains and is haunting. (One wonders whether or not French herself has an unwritten/unspoken solution to the murder of Rob's childhood friends. But I think not. I believe she, like Rob, has, if not made her peace with it, walked away leaving it unearthed.

Clearly, French's murder mysteries are not on the shelf of detective fiction one grabs for riveting but inattentive reads when heading out on a trip. In the Woods is a full-blown novel. it requires a lot of the reader, not only in terms of time, but in attentiveness and expectations. She is not writing to scratch an itch as so many mysteries are. Part of what she is about is considering the itch that one cannot reach. This is the first step into elevating a work from a murder mystery or detective fiction to something loftier. (Probably a bad comparison, but Crime and Punishment is fundamentally not a murder mystery/detective novel...and yet it is.)

Also, her prose is controlled, rich, and, when the moment requires, elevated and lyrical.

French is a good find! I am interested to see if her other books manage to be something more than the typical murder mystery. ( )

I've been terribly sick and had to show up at work anyway, so at home I've been doing nothing but curling up into the fetal position and reading entire books. Just recently it came into my mind that I desperately wanted to read a crime novel, which is presumably the illness talking because that's not my usual cozy read.

Anyway, Tana French was on my to-read list, and indeed In the Woods was the right crime novel for me. Apparently "psychological thriller" means "crime novel for people who like literary fiction"? Sometimes I don't really understand genre categories.

In the Woods was gorgeously written, the story of a Irish detective who was caught up in the disappearance of two friends at age twelve and is now investigating a crime in the same village. Ryan is a frustrating character, foolhardy and a bit clueless, but I enjoyed spending time in his head. Ryan doesn't remember the crime that claimed his friends, and his alienation from his past and the workings of his own psyche is mirrored by images of archaeological ruins and dark, devouring fairy tale woods. His friendship with his warm but reserved partner Cassie is a compelling portrait of a flawed but vital relationship.

The police procedural was pretty fun too and the mystery was satisfyingly dark. I'm certainly not well-equipped to judge books in this genre, but I liked this one and will be seeking out more by French. ( )

Murder procedural set in Ireland. The quirk is that the narrator and one of a pair of investigative detectives was, as a child, involved in a possible double-murder in the same area. The mystery itself I thought was decent - well constructued, difficult to spot.

The problem was the dialogue and the characterisations. This is a first novel, and it really, really reads like one. The relationship between the narrator and his partner is central to the book, but it just isn't written convincingly. Their banterish dialogue feels fake; their arguments feel fake. It's not just that relationship that is problematic, but as that takes up so much of the book it's easy to fixate on it. I dunno, ultimately, it feels like someone trying to write, rather than just writing.

( )

Would have been a four but made some new author mistakes on the police procedural part of the novel. Had a few moments where I actually asked myself, "really, that's doesn't seem very likely." liked it enough to read the next book. ( )

SO GOOD.
I did not realize this was Tana French's debut novel before reading. She is a whole vibe. I feel like you have to immerse yourself in the story to really enjoy it and know what's going on. Her books are long, like this one but worth it. I almost quit this one 75% of the way through but kept with it and the next plot twist brought me right back again. ( )

I have read two Tana French books, and I doubt I will read another. I can't get used to reading crime fiction written in a literary style, and the plot takes too slow to unravel. The denouement was a bit disappointing. It is quite unbelievable that they missed out such a critical clue, and it was only by sheer luck that Ryan found out about the missing tool which led to the resolution of the crime. ( )

3.5 stars.
I wonder if I’d have rated this higher if I hadn’t put it down for over a week. I really disliked the main character, as I found him to be a caricature of the DCIs we all know and love. He was so miserable by one point I audibly groaned. The writing style was fun and interesting though, I’ll likely be reading more by this author. ( )

*** SPOILER ALERT****COTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS****

This was a long read, or maybe it just seemed that way, and coming from a Stephen King fan......that's saying something. French keeps it interesting enough, however, that I was never impatient to finish.

This book was great.....I loved it......right up until it wasn't. Sadly, this started to fall apart about 3/4 of the way in.

The weaving of the 2 crimes.....the death of little Katy and the disappearance of the 2 children 20 yrs prior......was interesting and well done.

I loved the creepy, and at times supernatural, feel surrounding the woods and Detective Ryan's past. This isn't an element found often in Detective/ crime novels. It was a pleasant surprise in a genre that tends to be very clinical.

I knew this book was the first in a series and had decided, about 1/4 of the way through the book, that I'd definitely want to read the other books......we'll come back to this in a bit.

I loved both Detectives.....Ryan and Cassie....right up until Ryan showed what a narcissistic and self centered prick he is. The 180 in this character was super surprising and seriously disappointing.

I knew straight away that Rosalind....Katy's sister......was manipulating Ryan and therefore had her pegged as the killer, or involved in some way. Apparently....ascertained by comments made in the narration....the reader wasn't supposed to figure this out.....it was glaringly obvious to me. I also immediately recognized the missing trowel as the rape implement.

The last 1/4 of the book is awful. I don't usually give away spoilers, but this book seriously ticked me off! Everything that had been great about the story.....the relationship between Ryan and Cassie....the well done suspense.....the growing connections between the 2 cases....began to unravel.

The ending was so anticlimactic.....the current case is closed in an unsatisfactory manner......Rosalind gets off extremely lightly......the young boy she manipulated gets life with parole and we never get the pleasure of him acknowledging her deception. While I realize this is reality and happens in real life all too often.....it's not what we want on our crime fiction. Cassie and Ryan never reconnect, and she apparently marries Sam, another detective that she had ZERO chemistry with.

The old case involving Ryan is never solved.....wait what?!.....yep, the case that was the foundation of the story, the most intriguing and mysterious element that I was most interested in....left unresolved!

I tried to sooth my disappointment and aggravation with the knowledge that there are other books in the series.......this may not end here......maybe these things are resolved in the next or future books....only to find more disappointment.....the other books do not have the same protagonists.....there's only one other book about Cassie....Ryan isn't mentioned in the synopsis. I will read the book about Cassie and pass on the rest.

I would only recommend this to those who don't place importance on a satisfactory conclusion in their reading material. ( )