In the Woods
Ratings319
Average rating3.7
I wanted to like this book so badly. It won multiple awards and has decent over all reviews, but it just completely missed the mark for me.
The main character was so frustrating that I found reading this book annoying and hard to continue. A large premise of the book was never wrapped up, and gave no answers or closure, and the closure on the main case felt almost like the author had to hit a deadline and just pulled together a story that “worked”.
Almost didn't finish reading this but was 80% through so said screw it and honestly could have done without.
After listening to the audiobooks of the fifth and sixth titles in this series, I've decided to go back and listen to the first four. I've read all four a while back and remember bits and pieces. Narrators who can perform these first person stories, with the appropriate accent and inflections, add layer upon layer to these already rich, intricate stories. Books by this author are known for complex characters for whom the case at hand is a portal into their past and present relationships. The pace of this first entry is slow, yet the atmosphere drew me in and kept me listening for hours. The police procedural aspects are (I imagine) realistic and certainly engrossing. The plot has tangents and some deliver better than others. I found the conclusion to be satisfying and thought-provoking. I'm eager to journey (and it's a 22 hour one) through the audiobook of the next title soon.
sorry but not i feel fucking crazy right now i cant be subjective in anyway about this book because while i KNOW its not perfect and i can easily see why other people would dislike it but i dont care it worked so perfectly for MEEEE i LOVE unreliable narrators i love unsolved mysteries (and i have my thoughts about that one hehe) i love cassie my wife i love detective novels i love characters who spiral from Just A Guy to someone put a bullet in my fucking brain this guy stinks jesus what an idiot Guy. I LOVED THIS it was all i thought about when i wasnt reading it and the length didnt bother me at all i genuinely loved the meandering descriptions and thought tangents. a new favorite easilyyy
Imagine fucking up a child murder case because you had the hots for a teenaged girl, couldn't be me
My first book where the MC is such an idiot till the end...but still got the case solved..Love the writing style so 4 star...
Really good. Not the same old dime a dozen crime book. Characters are well developed and the text is witty. They act like real people act, included doing stupid and terrible things. I'm sorry these aren't partners we'll see again.
Bien escrito, buenos personajes, dos misterios interesantes, pero... en un momento la investigación en curso no avanza (al igual que el libro) lo que hace que tenga momentos muy largos de aburrimiento. Y el final: malo, largo y dejan uno de los misterios (el más interesante) sin resolver.
I found this exasperating to read.
I was able to figure out the killer very early on and the rest of the story just seemed to drag and drag. The main character was infuriating which I could get past if the story wasn't such a slog. I don't understand how his partner put up with it. If the rest of the series were to follow the partner I would consider continuing.
I feel a little bit like...when you've been watching a matinee at the movie theater and you walk out into the sunshine after the credits have rolled, and realize how entirely you've been inhabiting some other world. I loved the characters and all their relationships and their banter — how real and likeable and flawed and human they were, even and especially when they became evidently unreliable and mysterious to each other and themselves. I loved the unfolding of every mystery. I loved the setting and the atmosphere, and how sometimes there felt like something else lurking around the corner. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who might read it, so I guess I've just resolved to report back to you about this book very vaguely and sounding a little bit like Harry Styles at a press junket talking about “a movie, like a real movie type of movie.”
A good read overall, strong (if flowery) writing and good character psychology. Unfortunately the twist was incredibly predictable and there's quite a bit of internalized “not like the other girls” misogyny. I struggled putting this into words, but the shorthand is that it feels somehow like Tana French got cheated on and blamed the woman (whom she envied for being more “feminine”) more than the man (whom she loved but saw as damaged and weak). I don't think thats a spoiler per se, but it captures the way in which this book ultimately frustrated me.
2 ⭐️
I did NOT get the hype on this one, lads. I'd heard rave reviews about this for years and finally decided to pick it up. My first letdown was when I realized the main character was a man – it didn't really matter, but I do tend to prefer reading about people who are not men. I continued regardless, but really found it to be a slog from start to finish. Every time I would pick it up, it was with a sense of dread because I was just bored.
Rob was truly the most roll-your-eyes boring white man. He's supposed to be broody and complex, with his PTSD and growing instability. I just found him to be insufferable, unprofessional, and of poor judgment. Do I have to like the characters I read? No, but I do need to find them somewhat interesting or compelling. Rob didn't hit either of those.
Around the halfway mark, I had already figured out who was behind the murder (although the means didn't fully come together until later on) and started to skim more and more. I didn't want to DNF after putting so much into the book already, but I certainly didn't want to take my time finishing either. Unfortunately, the ending was just as bad. There was a missed resolution that was essentially the only thing I had been waiting for, and it gave me a gut-punch far too emotional for how incredibly uninvested I had felt throughout the book.
I have to say I will not be recommending this to anyone in the future, but I know there are plenty of people who LOVED this, so take this with a pinch of salt.
Incredibly readable and absorbing, this feels less like a thriller and more like a very sad memoir. Initially, when I saw it was nearly 600 pages, I was sceptical that my interest could be sustained for that length, but it was an effortless and enjoyable read without being escapist or shallow. Characters with personality, depth and flaws, and a story that is complex and feels true. I look forward to Tana French's other books, which I understand are even better.
Though the story was interesting and there were plenty of twists, I cannot get over that you only solve 1 out of 2 mysteries in this book. I do acknowledge that in real life you don't get all the answers, however I feel like it was much too big of a plot point to just let fall to the wayside. I had a hard time sympathizing with our main character as he acted very self centered most of the time. Overall a good mystery, but probably won't purposely seek out the other books in the series.
“Cassie's eyes finally focused on mine, and I was shaken by the concentrated, diamond-hard hatred. ‘Legion,' she said.”
———
“If she had hurt me, I could have forgiven her without even having to think about it; but I couldn't forgive her for being hurt.”
I have a hard time liking books with unlikeable characters and Rob Ryan is absolutely unlikeable. Yeah he's going through a hard time, but he shouldn't treat people the way he does. Ugh.
Maybe I'll write a better review in the future, but for now I'm just really frustrated.
And it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. And in the end you still don't find out what happened to the kids!!!!!!!!!
It's hard when you start a book and it feels so promising only for you to get to a point about two-thirds through where you're begging for it to be over. That's what happened for me with In the Woods.
I am an avid mystery and suspense reader. I find the genre fascinating and engrossing. I admire the ways that different authors use the same old tricks and still manage to thrill me. And I know why I am attracted to the genre in the first place: in a chaotic and disturbing world, I long for order and justice.
Most of In the Woods consisted of two things I love: mystery and Ireland. I thought for most of the book that I knew what I was reading. But two-thirds of the way through the book something slid into place, and I realized I had been led astray—but not by a red herring or unreliable narrator.
The main character, at first someone I tolerated or at least moderately felt for, became whiney and melodramatic in an all-too-familiar way. He made misogynistic assumptions. He made excuses for his wrong actions that demanded sympathy but offered none to anyone else in return. Except for one person in particular...
That's when it hit me. The novel was suddenly, obviously hard-boiled. The conventions all clicked into place and I knew exactly how the book was going to end, with no surprises.
Other reviewers complained about a memorable paragraph at the end of the book where the narrator admits he was tricked, then excuses himself by adding “but so were you.” (No, actually, I wasn't.) It was frustrating. It wasn't the trick itself—that's why we read the genre in the first place, to be tricked—but that the real trick was something else entirely. The author bounced from the classic detective subgenre, to crime procedure, to supernatural thriller, only to land fully in predictable, melodramatic hard-boiled territory. Joke's on you.
What comes with that territory? A self-destructive anti-hero, speculation on the untrustworthiness of women, and irritating loose ends. At least when you go into a hard-boiled novel you expect that, but I found it to be the trick in this one. Maybe that was my mistake.
4.5/5 stars. Typical detective novel but what struck me was how gritty and dynamic the characters were. I listened to this and the narrator did a fantastic job as well. Predictable? Maybe a little, but I continued because of the subplots to the murder case. Would read again and am looking forward to “The Likeness” (#2) as well as others by this author.
I enjoyed this and I'm glad I read it but I can't shake feeling sort of unfulfilled. I know not everything has to be wrapped up in a story and I tend to like ambiguity but I did want to know what happened to Peter and Jamie.
My husband has been talking about this book for a long time, and he finally gave it to me for Christmas. I'm so glad he did. I don't often read mystery books, but this one is exceptional, largely because it isn't actually about the mysteries. Don't get me wrong, the mystery is very good, but the story itself is so much about the characters. I hate Detective Ryan. He's an awful person, and I couldn't look away from his story. That to me, is the mark of a well-written novel. The story is suspenseful, creepy, and rides a fine line very near magical realism. Recommended especially to people who think they don't like mysteries.