In The Woods by Tana French

In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad)

by Tana French

When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods with his two best friends. He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened.

Twenty years on, Rob Ryan - the child who came back - is a detective in the Dublin police force. He's changed his name. No one knows about his past. Then a little girl's body is found at the site of the old tragedy and Rob is drawn back into the mystery. Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet but hope that he might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods.

Reviewed by Alina on

4 of 5 stars

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The writing is exquisite, this book reads like a movie, I "saw" it happen in all its, sometimes gruesome, detail. If you let yourself be captured by the story, it will fully pull you in and you will live it.
I guess this also explains the absolute sadness I felt at the end. Not because it was the end, but because I was fully invested and hoped for good things to happen to less than perfect people (aren't we all a bit less than perfect?), and I wanted justice to be served and the world to be given to me in the sharp black and white of a perfect photo. Well...
This book reminded me life is never that clear cut, it's all shades of gray, forever twisting. Justice does not always prevail. Sometimes people do not get what they deserve. Sometimes there is no clear answer, no key to the "why?".
So much introspection from a murder mystery? Yes, exactly that much. Go read it and make your own mind up. I for myself know I will read more Tana French.

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  • 11 April, 2020: Finished reading
  • 11 April, 2020: Reviewed
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