Book Review: In the Woods is a debut novel, a mystery, and has no right to be so good. If you want a warm, cozy, comfortable, mystery with a fully resolved and happy ending, this is not your book. It's not one of those cinematic novels coasting along a visual surface, rather it goes deep into hearts and minds and rough, painful emotional depths. At the end I hurt, too. This also is not a hard-boiled detective story, you'll know and care about these characters. Tana French invests her words with great weight: at the victim's autopsy a detective thinks, "she was so small." I got chills. The detectives dissect the smallest facial twitches, searching for clues to solve the murder, and to solve the tensions between them. Although more character- than plot-driven, there is still a mystery that drives the story along, and at one point I could not put the book down, reading well into the morning from the other side of the night. In the Woods has chilling, gothic elements that I didn't expect, but brought a twisted and disturbing side to the story. French also includes (small) touches of humor, and an underlying theme of rich versus poor, government versus citizenry; interesting how the government seems more like an occupying force than a representative of the people. I enjoyed In the Woods, Tana French is an impressive writer, this is an impressive book, and I'll be reading the next installment in the series, The Likeness, but maybe something a little lighter first. [4 Stars]
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