Book Review-- In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) Tana French

Synopsis: As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

The Nerd's Ramble: This book is extremely slow starting, and once it gets going, it finishes almost too fast. I read this as the selected book for a book club I'm part of on Goodreads. The characters are interesting and diverse and all around human. They make mistakes they do things wrong, they make corrections and sometimes things aren't as cut and dry as we want them to be.

Rob and Cassie's relationship is something interesting, and I like that it's again very human. There's attraction, and affection but like all relationships nothing's perfect. Their relationship and partnership evolves and changes, sometimes for the better, and for the worst.

The mystery in this book is also compelling and complex. A few details are predictable, but the ending really made me stop and think about a few of the clues that Ms. French dropped in the narrative. The setting for this book is gorgeous, and the research painstakingly well done.

This is the first in a series, and I'm still undecided if I want to pick up the other books. I really liked this story and the characters, but I don't feel the same pull and connection as I do with other series like this.

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Total Length: 429 pages
Format: Epub, Kindle, traditional
Publication Date: May 17, 2007 (Viking Adult)