Monday, August 2, 2010

In the Woods by Tana French

Um, I think Tana French owes me an answer to the second mystery? There are two cases in the book and only one of them is solved - I was very very very disappointed when I finished! I know that it makes the book different and all that and that in theory it's a positive that all loose ends aren't tied up like in Hollywood, but I wanted to know who did it!!!

There, I got that out of my system. Kinda. Nah, I still want to know who do it. :-)

For the rest, I thought the book was great. I loved the Irishness of it, first of all, the specific way sentences and phrases were built and the distinctive slang of the Irish. I loved the writing, but only once I got into the story, so perhaps I was just following plot by then. I found the language way over-flowery at the beginning, to such an extent that I had to re-read sentences and was wondering if I shouldn't just put the book down.

What I loved most was the relationship between Rob and Cassie, the two detectives working the main case. I absolutely loved the way  they were with each other and the way their relationship grew. There was such warmth, such closeness in it. The way the author wrote them interviewing people and working in general was spectacular. That private relationship somehow made them think like one person, they knew each other completely and this was indispensable to getting witnesses to talk. I don't like what happened to them in the end but I understand that there wasn't any other place Rob's character could go.

All in all, a very enjoyable page-turner.

Have you read The Likeness? Is it worth reading?

Challenges: 2010 Countdown, Orbis Terrarum

11 comments:

Nicole (Linus's Blanket) said...

I have read all three of French's novels and The Likeness is my favorite by far. I think you won't be disappointed if you try that out.

Marg said...

I enjoyed The Likeness more than I liked In the Woods, so I don't think you will be disappointed either.

Melody said...

I knew what you meant about the other case not solved! Still, I loved this book, and I trust you'll enjoy her next book, The Likeness because personally I loved it more than the former!

Michele said...

The Likeness is better than In the Woods (although I loved that one, too). It's not as ambiguous as In the Woods. And Faithful Place was my favorite of the three so far!

Keep reading French...you won't be disappointed!

Ana S. said...

Sorry about the frustrating ending! But this still sounds like a great read,

joanna said...

Nicole - Yes, I should probably just get it...

Marg - another vote for The Likeness, looks like I started with the wrong book!

Melody - they better solve the case though!!

Michele - OK, I'm convinced, I'll keep reading. And will add Faithful Place to my list too. :-)

Nymeth - Yes, it is a great read, I think you'd love the main relationship too.

Iliana said...

I loved in The Woods and thought The Likeness was wonderful too but I can understand being disappointed by the ending of ITW. I had to sort of sit with it for a few days and think about it and finally I thought it was a perfect ending. I think that marketing it as a "mystery" book is a bit misleading as most mystery readers expect a case to be solved. At least I know a lot of people in my mystery group complained about that and I think it's because they are mainly mystery book readers and this book was different.

joanna said...

Iliana - maybe you're right, it's the mystery thing... I'm definitely not used to reading thrillers etc and not getting all the answers at the end. I think I understand why the ending is what it is, but I'm still curious to find out what happened!! :-)

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

This is one of those that I've seen everyone but have avoided for some reason. I'd be really disappointed if one of the mystery threads didn't get wrapped up, too! Some things just need to be neatly tied up.

joanna said...

Trish - I actually think you'd like this book despite that ending and it would make for good summer reading too! :-)

Amanda said...

I loved the Likeness even more than In the Woods. I think I was ok with the ending because I think (hope) that she solves that unsolved case at some point in her series.