![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Book review: In The Woods
Oct. 24th, 2010 11:40 amI don't usually feel moved to review books here, even when I really super love them (I just sort of post incoherent squee about them instead most of the time) but I just finished In The Woods by Tana French, and I'm compelled to write about it. At first, I thought "I have no idea what to say about this book" - reading it left me in kind of a daze - but then I realized that no, I really do know what to say after all.
In The Woods is a (modern) murder mystery about an Irish detective whose biggest case involves a child-murder in the town where he grew up, where when he was twelve, his two best friends vanished and he was left with no memory of the (obviously terrifying) incident. This is by far one of the best-written books I've ever read. Tana French has a way with words that I frankly never thought possible: she describes feelings and memories and atmosphere (not to mention places and people) using imagery that is so perfectly apt that I never imagined a writer could get them that right. Her descriptions resonate so strongly with me that when I read them, I thought, over and over, that I'd felt that exact feeling before, or had that kind of memory, or felt that atmosphere, but I always thought "There's no way anyone could describe that in a way that makes sense and does it justice." But Tana French does.
Even apart from that, the mysteries, both of the main character's past and the current murder, are so fascinating I never wanted to put it down. They're built up so carefully that every tiny detail seems important. The relationships between the main character and his partner is brought to this epic level of delightful BFF snarktastic chemistry (his partner, one of the only women on the Murder Squad, is my favorite character by far). The twists and surprises are really good, too - not obscure enough that I didn't have an inkling they where coming, but they ended up far more complicated than I expected.
If you're the kind of person who likes to know what sort of ending a story has before you read it - not what happens, or how things turn out, or any details whatsoever, just what sort of ending you're in for - I urge you to ( read under the cut before you ever think of picking up this book. )
Why this post calls for a Stamper icon I'm not really sure, but, uh, it does.
In The Woods is a (modern) murder mystery about an Irish detective whose biggest case involves a child-murder in the town where he grew up, where when he was twelve, his two best friends vanished and he was left with no memory of the (obviously terrifying) incident. This is by far one of the best-written books I've ever read. Tana French has a way with words that I frankly never thought possible: she describes feelings and memories and atmosphere (not to mention places and people) using imagery that is so perfectly apt that I never imagined a writer could get them that right. Her descriptions resonate so strongly with me that when I read them, I thought, over and over, that I'd felt that exact feeling before, or had that kind of memory, or felt that atmosphere, but I always thought "There's no way anyone could describe that in a way that makes sense and does it justice." But Tana French does.
Even apart from that, the mysteries, both of the main character's past and the current murder, are so fascinating I never wanted to put it down. They're built up so carefully that every tiny detail seems important. The relationships between the main character and his partner is brought to this epic level of delightful BFF snarktastic chemistry (his partner, one of the only women on the Murder Squad, is my favorite character by far). The twists and surprises are really good, too - not obscure enough that I didn't have an inkling they where coming, but they ended up far more complicated than I expected.
If you're the kind of person who likes to know what sort of ending a story has before you read it - not what happens, or how things turn out, or any details whatsoever, just what sort of ending you're in for - I urge you to ( read under the cut before you ever think of picking up this book. )
Why this post calls for a Stamper icon I'm not really sure, but, uh, it does.
