On the procedural front, there's everything a reader would expect from a modern detective novel: squad-room characters, a grumpy supervisor, the working relationship of Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox. Underneath, however, it's the story of that protagonist, Detective Rob Ryan, and his attempts to know and overcome his own buried memories. A girl is murdered, and the protagonist and his partner try to find the killer.

In the Woods is a police procedural on the surface. Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end. 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. But when a 12-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. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. 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. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. 'Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.' ( The New York Times )Īs dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. Richly atmospheric, stunning in its complexity, and utterly convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The Lovely Bones.The best-selling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of The Witch Elm and 'the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years' ( The Washington Post ). 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. As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home.

In the woods by tana french