In the Woods - Tana French

Date Completed: March 6, 2009
Genres: mystery, thriller, Irish
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

When Dublin murder detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox are called to investigate the grisly killing of a young girl in the woods of Knocknaree, Ireland, Rob has no idea that the case will be life-altering for him. Twenty years earlier Rob and his two best friends were victims of a crime in the same woods - a crime that left his friends missing, and Rob clinging to a tree wearing nothing but blood-filled shoes and ripped clothing, unable to remember anything that happened. Now, in order to solve his case, Rob has to come to terms with his past; and as the past begins to unravel, his life begins to unravel in the process.

This book is a well-written, often creepy psychological thriller that very literally made my spine tingle and my heart beat faster. Several fast-paced and riveting police interrogations had me turning the pages as quickly as I could to discover the killer's identity and motive. And the eventual outcome wasn't one that I was expecting. My favorite aspect of the story was that of Rob and Cassie's relationship -- part brother-sister, part old married couple, with enough underlying sexual tension to keep the reader wondering what might eventually happen between them.

Admittedly, I was a tinge disappointed in the ending, and for that I had to rate this one 4 stars instead of 5. I like that the author refused to tie everything up neatly; however, one of the story's major plot lines doesn't get any sort of resolution. I was frustrated at being strung along for nearly 450 pages to simply end at a question mark. However, overall, this is one of the better books I've read in awhile, and definitely one I'll be thinking about for a long time to come.