“There is a difference between intriguing and fucked-up.”
When the body of Katy Devlin is discovered in the woods, Detective Robert Ryan and his partner Detective Cassie Maddox get the case by accident. Rob happens to be the only known survivor of a traumatic mystery that took place twenty years ago in the same woods in Knocknaree. The obvious possibility that the two cases may be connected can not be ruled out.
Every lead leads to a dead end. As they try to dig deeper, long lost memories start haunting Rob. Consequentially, his relationship with Cassie, the one friend that can make his life worth living, strains to breaking point. Detective Sam O’Neill who gets roped in for help is affected in his own way. No life that comes in close contact with the Devlins will ever be the same again. Rob tells us the story because he knows more about both the cases than anybody else and because he by the end is the one that gets the most fucked-up.
Ryan has a detached dry humor and little self-worth, and Cassie is the instantly lovable little tough girl next door with her share of secrets. All the main characters remain intriguing even after the novel ends. There are a number of sub-plots and some of them like in life do not reach their end within the novel and we are aware that they won’t end well when they do. While the protagonists are warm, the cold ways in which they end up treating each other left me deeply hurt by the end of the novel. So much so that I didn’t want the novel to end, in a hope to avoid the impending tragedy, even though it is already a very long novel.
Tana French makes a very impressive debut with In The Woods. The first person narration isn’t always enchanting, but Ms. French holds it together for a complex character slowly disintegrating. Her second novel, The Likeness, in which Cassie gives the first person narrative now tops my to-buy list.
A very long time after finishing the novel, I had this sudden silly thought that is not so silly. There are a few parallels between Rob, Cassie and Sam, and Harry, Hermione and Ron. It may or may not be a coincidence, but that doesn’t take away any sheen off the story.
Image Source: Official Tana French Website
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