Tuesday, June 14, 2011
In The Woods, by Tana French
Well, so much for me not liking mystery thrillers. This was a fun, exciting book. It was about two detectives (Cassie and Rob) investigating a child murder in a small Irish town where one of the detectives was from and had experienced childhood trauma. The characters were interesting and believable. Their relationship was complex and did not take the turns that I necessarily expected. The crime itself was a bit predictable - the author could have deleted about 3 sentences of over-foreshadowing from her book. The end of the book was satisfying in its unsatisfying way. Not everything is neat and tidy. It did make me wonder if the author intends to reprise these characters, though. I wouldn't mind; she is a very good writer.
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I read this book based on your recommendation. I really enjoyed it and probably was even more disappointed than you, that Rob's personal mystery wasn't completely resolved.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would let you know that in French's second book, The Likeness, the main character is Cassie. Rob is nowhere to be found, except for the odd sentence necessary to provide back story. That aside, this book was still a great read. The secondary character in this book is Frank Mackey. I'm telling you that for a reason.....
I'm currently reading French's third book, Faithful Place. This book's main character is Frank Mackey. (See the pattern developing here.) I'm only about a third of the way through, so I can't give an opinion yet.
Like you, I can't help but think that French is leaving her options open for the reapperance of certain characters. I have enjoyed her writing; particularly the character dialogue. I can only hope that she isn't setting herself up to become too predictable and formulaic.